Boddington families
Looking for our past!
BODDINGTON Family StructurePlunging into the database will be interesting if one knows of a particular individual or line to look for. However, it will not give the viewer the broad overview of all the various lines of the family. This page tries to provide a view with links into each line in the database. The family name seems to have been prevalent in a number of hotspots across a broad sweep of agricultural England from north east Warwickshire, through Northamptonshire, then Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and with small settlements in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Some interesting clues as to the origin of the name are given on the Origins page. Their occupations seem to have been, like the majority of the population in those days, agriculture and related trades. Early industrialisation attracted some into the Northampton shoe trade and this area has certainly seen the most notable expansion of the family. Henry Boddington's departure into brewing was also an industrial departure but still related to agriculture from whence the raw materials came. The Hanley Boddingtons were attracted into the rapidly developing pottery trade, possibly soon after the great expansion was brought about by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1760's. It was the latter who promoted the early canal system in the midlands and some Boddingtons found their way to working as carriers, canal agents and canal company employees. One of the greatest Boddington dynasties is that of Charles Boddington who was born into the shoe making Boddingtons of Northampton but after marriage emigrated to Toronto in Canada and, by virtue of having 15 children (11 into adulthood), ensured a wide and, to this day, continuing spread of Boddington blood. In fact in October 2009 I was sent a brilliant history of this family and it has provided hundreds more entries for this part of the family tree. It is now by far the largest tree on this web site. Australia is another Boddington hotspot. Ever since Thomas Boddington the baker was 'transported' for a minor criminal offence (and he wasn't the only one!) his family has discovered and developed Western Australia in particular, had a town and gold mine named after them, developed a number of huge sheep stations and are still thriving there today. So much for honesty being the best policy! One of these Boddingtons married his Aboriginal housekeeper in the 1930s and as a result I have more than 80 Aboriginal Boddingtons on my database. Links
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