......a
Yorkshire one-name study.... |
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......a
Yorkshire one-name study.... |
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Midgley Arms and Crest Motto: Resurgam "I shall Rise Again"
"By various ingenious signs and
marks drawn on the covering
"The Ancient family of Midgley of Midgley Township in the parish of Halifax have been traced back seven centuries. ...the family produced noted clerics, lawyers, physicians and authors and once owned vast estates from Erring- den, Thornton to Bingley"13. "The Midgleys' are probably one of Yorkshires oldest families"14. i.e. there are records going back to the 1100's &1200's.
Midgley used as a First Name. "Lawyer Midgley " of Halifax appears in the1500's to have transferred many Latin deeds in a beautiful hand. The Midgley's were the greatest conveyancers of these parts of Airdale and Calderdale for many years2 Midgley of Cullingworth -tracing names can be difficult. A property near the church entered into the Midgley family of Cullingworth in the 1400's who were amongst the oldest landowners there. At the start of the 1800's there were thirty-eight buildings in the village. The main street consisted of eight farmhouses, four on each side of the road and a few cottages. All the farmers were christened John! In 1816 prior to the Enclosure Act, a survey was carried out where it was found that James Fox was Lord of Cullingworth Manor and John Midgley was amongst the principal farmers. This John was also a road manager, he would survey and contract for the highway for 20-30 miles around Cullingworth15 Midgley of Breary Following the "Dissolution of the Monasteries", Edward Midgley settled at West Breary, parish of Adel, where he purchased an estate. His brother, Richard alsopurchased an estate . These estates were part of what had been the Cistercian Kirkstall Abbey. The Norman church at Adel had a large graveyard built from 1160 to 1170. Several members of the Breary Midgley family are buried near the entrance to the church and elsewhere in the graveyard. The first page of the Parish Register has an entry" Suzan, daughter of Samuell Midgley was baptysed the 25th Maye, Anno Domini 16062. . |
A Yorkshire name from the 11th century. There are many English names with the suffix -ley (leah), from Anglo-Saxon (now referred to as Old English) meaning wood or clearing in the forest and later as a field or meadow. The prefix represents: i) The Old English name Mycge as the head of a group which settled here i.e. Myg a danish name perhaps relating to the conditions of the low country from the Old High German Mucca4 OR ii) the condition of the field/clearing i.e. infested with midges OR iii) The middle field referring to the position of the lands held iv) A fourth derivation has been suggested by Milnethorpe Midgley of Tasmania as being "Migge " or large (O. Scandinavian)11 These people probably migrated from what is now the low country of Northern Germany and Denmark from 500 A.D. Why are two places in West
Yorkshire called Midgley?
A jewel in the English crown In the 1300's the name came to indicate anyone who originated from
the villages
of Midgley e.g.William de Midgley. Any
male with the surname Midgley has a direct
genetic link through the male line going back
to the inhabitants of one of the villages#.
is inherited
along the
male line. #note: There
was also
another hamlet of Midgley in county Durham.
.
Sir Thomas
Midgley
A word about Mottoes: A Caltrop is a device, laid upon the ground & designed to lame cavalry horses; they are composed of metal with protruding spikes. Sign Midgley Guestbook
Limited edition book which describes West Midgley available from June 2007 see here for application form. 
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