It is no surprise to find that Lancs. Cheshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire contain the vast majority of the Darlington names. A few statistics might help to put things in perspective for those researching in other counties. It is highly likely that everything will eventually trace back to Lancashire and Cheshire. Even Devon and Cornwall which have well -established families may represent  a sailor or two who decided the local prospects were appealing and did not make the return journey to the Mersey. The Cornish Darlingtons continued to drift. Of the 24 in Kent in 1881, seven showed their origins in Cornwall. ( Some went further- several of the Australian NSW families also originate in SW England  JSD) .


Here is a breakdown by county:
The numbers are only slightly skewed by John and Susan Darlington and their two children Edwin and Lilian. They managed to get enumerated twice, once in Surrey and again in Kent.

Occupations make for fascinating reading. Many roles have long since been taken over by machine. What was a doffer?  A roper, carder, brace weaver, piercer or winder? Betsey of Stockport was a bump winder. These Darlingtons may have been underpaid but very few were unemployed.

A curious thing I noticed as I put in all  this data into the computer was that  so many Darlington men married women older than themselves. Often the differential was not great but occasionally it was as much as ten years.

Correspondence
Arthur Darlington wrote last autumn after his holiday in Spain. He sent some information about the fourth annual playing of the Darlington trophy in Portugal. This golf event for juniors had its trophy presented by Sir Geoffrey Darlington. He was made an honorary life member of the Algarve Golf Club in 1993. He is now 84 but the article said little more about him. It is easy to recognise Sir Geoffrey from Margaret Phillips' charts. He is her cousin Geoffrey St Clair born 25th Aug 1912.

Michael Parker has  passed on some gravestones from the Parish of Whixhall in Shropshire. The Darlingtons he found were members of a Congregational Chapel and  included burials as follows: Fred 1904, Elizabeth 1928, William 1946, William 1909, Joseph Henry 1918, Richard Sutton 1975, Thomas Owen 1937, Abraham 1964. At least two of these , Joseph Henry and Abraham are in the 1881 census and enumerated at Prees where they are shown as children of William and Emma. Those with connections with the Wem area of Shropshire might find some interest in these dates since the family were almost all born in Wem except for Emma. One of the children ,John, was born in Tilstock, which may be an indication of how the family moved about until they settled on 232 acres in Prees. ( Note-All three places are within a 5 mile radius  JSD)
Elton Darlington has sent me a list of all Darlington marriages in some of the Cheshire parishes from 1700 to 1900. At the time of writing the list contains  over 1000 marriages. I will never be able to find all the spouse names but  by using the charts i have received will certainly make an inroad into the total.

Trivia Time
I was amused to find that there are four occasions when Darlington men have married "Elizabeth Hall". This is of more than passing interest to me because my great great grandmother named her youngest daughter Elizabeth Hall Darlington in 1824.  I believe there was a family reason for that name but I have not been able to  make the link.  Elizabeth Hall went on to marry James Wibby in 1842. His death certificate is one which makes you speculate. He died on 1st Jan 1862 with the coroner stating, " took laudanum whether in mistake or not  there is no evidence to show."

Names are always fun for a genealogist. In 1881 the Darlingtons were still very traditional with John, William, Thomas and Richard leading the men and Elizabeth, Sarah, Ellen and Hannah still popular for girls.  A few bold ones had placed their children in school with names sure to attract the scorn of their peers . How did they treat 'Ormerod' from Farnsworth , ' Phidla' of Widnes, 'Lear',  'Relia' or  'Rosehether'  from Manchester?

The oldest Darlington  found was John of Pickton, Cheshire, listed as shoemaker, aged 89.

More early records

Elizabeth Wehrfritz  found sent me a collection of items garnered from the Society of Genealogists' Library. This shows that the name was once quite evident  nearer to the town itself. Elizabeth found these scraps of paper in the Fawcett Index of Clergy and North Country Families. Some of the town names are difficult to read. c1230 Peter Darlington was Vicar of Kelloe and Pittington both close to Durham.  Another Peter de Darlington is Canon of Guisburn and Vicar of Bridekirk in Cumberland. Simon  de Darlington is Vicar of Bedlington, Northumberland 1315 and Thomas is vicar of Guisburn 1455. William Darlington is identifiable as rector of Meldon, Northumberland. These were all gentlemen of the cloth so they probably did not contribute too many identifiable heirs. ( Maybe we all descend from their extra-curricular activities JSD )  However it does suggest that there are trails to follow in old church records for anyone with the ability to decipher  documents written in the Latin of the time. Maybe the name did, after all, originate in the North-East and travelled South somewhere about 1250-1300 leaving very few ,if any , members behind.
( Geographical note- if Guisburn is present day Gisburn it is actually now in Lancashire! It is also only some 20 miles from Goosnargh where I suspect my own branch originate. )

Down Under
Michael Riley has sent the following cutting from an Australian newspaper:

"It was a steamy Christmas Eve in 1911 at Dunn's pub in the copper-mining town. There had been trouble at the mine where English unionists had moved in to try to remove foreign scab labourers who had been brought in by the mine owners. Thomas Darlington 34 an Englishman at the forefront of the union movement hated the scabs.  The scab labourers for their part did not speak good English but were tough men. Digging and moving rock in the 50 degree heat was not a job for the faint-hearted............ This night was destined to be different. As the hot Pilbara evening wore on and thirsts were quenched Christmas cheer turned to violence.  Bitter words led to bloodletting. Fists flew as the bar became a ringside. The crowd could hardly believe what it was seeing. Mr Darlington went scarlet-his throat had been cut. He was dead within minutes. The identity of the culprit was clear. More than 20 in the pub saw the knife raised by a former French legionnaire known as Saleno. Mr Darlington was buried several hundred yards from the mine which is just west of the North-West coastal highway."

Which  Thomas Darlington this was is not clear. The 1881 census lists eight who could fit the bill assuming he was still resident in England in 1881.
Newsletter 11-Autumn 1997

Certificates available

John Darlington married Amelia Haythorn, 19th August 1891 at register Office Manchester. John was 20 yrs old, a spindle turner and son of John Darlington, a spindle maker. The groom lived at 48 Burnley St.

Richard Darlington married Mary Maguire, 18th June 1871 at Catholic Parish Church , Manchester. Richard was 25, a  carter and son of Thomas Darlington, a gardener. The groom lived at 1 Eldin grove, Brunswick St.  Witnesses William Hulse and S Darlington