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(courtesy of Margaret Lee) Just click on any of the links on William Martin Family Page 1 or Page 2
PHOTO ARCHIVE
I hope to put all of the photos on this site onto a CD (high quality). If you would be interested in this, when available, just e mail me (at bottom of page)
Welcome to the
MUDLE FAMILY HISTORY
dedicated to my ancestors
"Without your existence I would not be the person I am today, in my makeup I carry the genes of each and every one of you. If you had not lived your lives as you did, when you did, I would not be here now. You have given me the greatest gift of all - the gift of life."
Also featuring the associated names of STIRK, PRIDMORE, CLAYTON, MARCHANT, MILLARD, GABELL, and MARTIN as well as many other names. As the origins of this family have been traced back to Dorset in the 17th century, where spellings of the name varied considerably, it is quite possible that lines with the names MUDLE, MUDDLE, MUDDELL or variants may be related.
This page gives a
summary of the history of the family as far as is known. Obviously as
documentary evidence becomes thin on the ground (beyond 1780), the information
given is less reliable and difficult to prove. Clicking on most of the
photographs will take you to a page with a larger version, and clicking on the name links at
the side will take you to a page with more information on that person or family.
This is a photograph of our side of the MUDLE family, when we had a reunion in 1999, on the occasion of Mother's birthday. We are from left to right, Colin, Adrian, Lynda, Kelvin, Geoffrey. Mother (Constance Vivian) is seated and Kelvin's daughter Teigan Kaylah is next to her.
Our father was Godfrey Martin MUDLE (1925-1994). He married Mum in 1948 in her home town of York, her maiden name was STIRK and she came from a family with 5 sisters and 3 brothers as well as an adopted brother called Tom.
Godfrey
was the only child of William Henry MUDLE (1896-1972). William married Dorothy
Edith PRIDMORE (1898-1976) in 1923 who was one of five children.
For more about the PRIDMORE family, click HERE
William Henry
was one of four children, his parents being Henry Martin MUDLE and Emily
Matilda
(nee JONES). William was the eldest child. Henry Frederick 1897-1979 (know
n
as Harry) was next. He eventually ended up living in Australia and the story of
him and his descendants will be found by using the 'Henry Frederick' link. Next
came Nathaniel Thomas (1900- 1961) and then his sister Emily Lily
(1905 - ?). Their father, Henry Martin died young at the age of only 42 years
(1874-1916). It is said that, after Henry's death, Emily remarried, but no
evidence has been found to date. However there is no death entry in the name of
Emily Mudle. so it is very likely she did take another name.
Henry Martin was
one of ten children of William Martin MUDLE and Sarah Georgina CLAYTON. William
was born around 1830, but his exact birth record has not been found
although I found one for his elder brother and sister. He died in March 1898 and
lived his entire life in London apart from his early career as a mariner before
he married in 1862. He was a very devout man and an ardent follower of the
teetotal movement. His children were Georgina Louisa (1863-1940), William George
Martin (1865-1943), Leonard Martin
(1867-1936), Arthur Martin (1869-1955),
Henrietta (1871-1875), Henry Martin (as above), Jane (1876-1933), Frederick
Jesse (1879-1960), Thomas (1881-1941) and Alfred who was stillborn in 1884.
William was one of five known children of George MUDLE also known as George MARTIN and George MUDDLE. George was baptised in Wimborne Minster Dorset in 1795 and with the rest of his family went to London in the first decade or two of the 19th century. It is believed that he met his wife Mary Ann in London and must have married around 1824. There are five children that we know about, Elizabeth Ann Martin (b.1824), George William Martin (b.1826), William Martin (as above), Jane (b. circa 1833) and Charlotte (b.circa 1838). George was a tailor for most of his life and lived in Westminster and Chelsea until the 1850's and then Lambeth. He was widowed before 1861 and died at the age of 75 in a workhouse in Grosvenor Street. Quite why he died in a workhouse, when he was not without money is one of those mysteries that may never be solved.
George was one of ten children of William MUDDLE and Elizabeth MARTIN, which is where the MARTIN name appears to come into the picture. William was born in the small village of Lydlinch in Dorset in either 1759 or 1760. He had two sisters who survived called Bettey and Jenny and two called Ann who died young. By the 1780's the family had moved closer to Wimborne, and William married Elizabeth MARTIN in 1784 shortly after his father died. Over the next 14 years they had ten children Elizabeth (1786), Jane (1787-1791), William (1788-1859), Leonard (b.1789), James (1790-1816), Jane (1792-1862), Charles 1793-1862), George (as above), Anne (b.1796), Harriet (b.1796) and Richard (1799-1834) who was born after his father early death in August 1799. William followed his father in being a yeoman farmer for his early years, but in 1798 the militia ballot described him as being infirm and an inn keeper.
Now the surfeit of William's in the family tree starts to get confusing, so if there is doubt I will put the date of birth of possible date of birth after the name. The father of our William(1760) mentioned above was also a William (1732) as it was traditional at this time to give the first born children the names of the appropriate parent. This William was baptised in 1733 in the parish of Buckhorn Weston to the north of Lydlinch and was one of at least 11 children most of whom lived in Marnhull, but for some unknown reason were all baptised in Buckhorn which was several parishes further north. As paper records start to get thinner on the ground, the information we have about this and earlier generations is very sparse, mainly only connected to the major events in their lives - and some of this is missing!
I believe that William(1732) was the son of William and Elizabeth as indicated on the baptism records, but I have not found the birth of this William, although I suspect it was around 1700. I have however found the baptism of John in Marnhull in 1698, his parents being John and Elizabeth (We have a surfeit of Elizabeth's as well!). Now IF this John is the eldest son of John, William MAY be a second brother as these were the only family of MUDDLE in the parish or neighbouring parishes. The father of John(1698) might be John who was baptised in 1668 in Hammoon (son of another John) as he was buried in Marnhull. The Protestation Rolls of 1641 and the Hearth Tax records of 1662 show a John in Hammoon who could well be the father of the John above as he was the only MUDDLE in this area of Dorset at that time.
Although I will continue to investigate as and when time allows, lack of records may prevent the 'tidying up' of our roots. All I can conclusively say is that we are descendants of good solid Dorset yeomen. If you have got this far and understood some of the above, you may wonder at my reasons for doing this:-
OPEN LETTER TO MY ANCESTORS
To me you are people, my people. As I have found each and every one of you it has been a discovery of myself. When I began searching for my ancestors over thirty years ago I never realised the joy of discovering seamen, tailors, labourers, railwaymen, yeoman � the every day working man. I wish I could have known you, for even though I can paint pictures of your lives I am sad that it is impossible to have known you.
I have felt sadness as I have discovered the tragedies of your lives, the children you lost, the wives or husbands who died young. I have felt the joy when your children grew into adulthood, married and produced grandchildren, hopefully before your own short lives ended.
Your lives for the most part were hard, you had to labour six long days a week for as long as you were able, for without a wage you could not support your family or yourselves even into old age. There was no one to help you if you were sick and retirement was something you had never heard about.
Research gets harder the further back I go, but each one of you that I find is like a jewel in my ancestral crown. I will go on finding you and endeavoring to discover as much about your lives as I can, for as long as I can. It will bring me joy and it will bring me sadness, but I will be proud to do it. Without your existence I would not be the person I am today, in my makeup I carry the genes of each and every one of you. If you had not lived your lives as you did, when you did, I would not be here now. You have given me the greatest gift of all, the gift of life.
The information provided on this site is the result of many years work, not just by myself. Thanks are due to Margaret Lee who has done a great deal of research and provided material, especially the photographs. Derek Miller who is doing a study of the Muddle name, has freely shared information and given advice. Many other people, too numerous to mention, have provided or loaned material on their own family history. Thank you to all of you, I hope you approve of the combined results of all the work and contributions.