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Introduction
About
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Shelvock
Location
Geography
& Geomorphology
Origins
of the Family Name
Earliest
origins of the family names
Where
& When?
Occurrence
of the family names from the C16th - present day
A
History of Shelvock Manor
The
place and local environs providing the family name as well as
some other associated families
The
SHELVOKEs
The
story of engineering prowess and how a family name will become
extinct in modern times
The
SHELVOCKs
The
story of one couple's destiny to preserve the original family
name from extinction
A
Brief History of Halesowen
The
town that became the centre for the modern family name of
SHILVOCK
Demography
and Statistics
What
the data is telling us
Noted
People
An
offbeat listing of anyone with a notable recorded history
Commonwealth
War Graves, Memorials
The
names of those who served in the armed forces, those who
sacrificed their lives and other stories
Researchers
and Family Contacts
Names
and email addresses from around the World
Data
Bank
Birth,
Death & Marriage Indices, census information and other public
domain data from around the World.
SHELVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1581-present day)
SHILVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1639-present day)
"Most
Wanted"
Enquiries
still seeking an answer - maybe you can help?
SHELVOCK
- The Music
6
sets of instrumental music inspired by the place and
history.
Composed and played by the Webauthor
Contact
Info
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- The
Family Name: When & Where? -
C16th
- The Earliest SHELVOCKs
The first occurrences of the SHELVOCK
name as BMD (Births, Marriages, Deaths) are in C16th
Shropshire (Salop) from 1581 at Fitz, close to Ruyton. Records in
England before this time are rare, and were only recorded on the
orders of King Henry VIII from about 1534 (where church records
survive). The first known family record is the 1581 christening
of Katheren d/o Jeffrey
SHELVOCK at Fitz. The name of
the mother was not recorded, which was common practice at the
time.
Recent church records have shown a John
or Johannes SHELVOCK as vicar at
Ruyton 1568/84+ and then at Smethcott between 1589 & 1605.
This John holds the current record as the earliest named
SHELVOCK, some 13 years before the first family record, and the
earliest given profession - not surprisingly the church. There
are no records of any family connections to either later SHELVOCK
or the THORNES.
In 1587, at Oswestry (the ancient Hundred
of which Shelvock was part), is the marriage of a Richard
SHELVOCK & Katherine SIRMARTON.
Both Jeffrey & Richard, above, may be some of the "other
children" of Jeffrey THORNES of Shelvock, or their
descendants, or descendants of unidentified children of John
THORNES of Shelvock. Also, they may be descendants of bonded
families or tenant farmers of humbler origins at Shelvock Manor
or parts of the greater Shelvock estate, and had since moved on.
In 1599, also at Fitz, is the christening
of Ellen d/o Richard SHELVOCK &
Margerie of Fitz. This entry
may indicate a second marriage for Richard, a son of Jeffrey, or
some other relative. Apart from the above, these few earliest
references have no apparent connection to each other apart from
location, suggesting perhaps families using the name were not
necessarily genetically connected.
While this period was poorly documented,
the Parish Records for Ruyton prior to 1719 were apparently and
unfortunately 'burnt in a frenzy by an earlier incumbent'.
I do not expect to find any evidence of early use of the name
locally, unless some lost transcripts turn up.
Not all records have been located or
researched. We know that the surname was in use in 1583 from the
manorial court records as 'Roger
THOMAS and Roger
SHELVOCK were fined for
putting hemp in the river Perry.' A
law had been passed in 1541 to forbid the watering (the rotting
of the non fibrous parts of the plant prior to using it for
making rope) in any stream or pond where animals were allowed to
drink. Hemp is a plant group that includes cannabis, and the
effects on animals is not too dissimilar to that in humans.
Into
the C17th
The earliest known occurrences of the
SHILVOCK variant name are references in the early 1600's at the
city of Worcester, either as the result of dialect or simple
transcription errors. Worcester, like Shrewsbury, was an
important county and market town and commerce involving wool was
particularly important.
The SHELVOCK name continued to be recorded
in many of the villages and townships around Ruyton within the
Oswestry Hundred. These include (with relative distance to
Shelvock):
The Mormon records show approx. 30
individual family groups in this C17th period but records are not
complete. The majority of these cannot be reliably connected to
each other. Several represent second and subsequent marriages.
Detailed research can only be done if transcripts or historical
records are found.
Some families appear to be quite wealthy
for the times as John SHELVOCK
was found in the 1672 Shropshire Hearth Tax
paying £1-4s for 12 hearths [one
pound four shillings - (20s = £1)]. The
title "Mr." and 12 hearths makes him quite a large
house owner in Shrewsbury at that time. In the same records there
was a Charles SHELVOCK
paying 10 shillings for 5 hearths. This is the
only evidence to support the theory that some families with the
name may have descended from more wealthier families (i.e. the
THORNES) rather than the poorer servants at the Manor, although
it is most likely some families "made good" through
farming, marriage and trading in the intervening 150 years. In
1660 & 70's, John was a witness or executor to certain deeds,
agreement and wills (together with Richard REYNOLDS), some of
them giving his profession as barber surgeon. John died in 1685
and his Will suggests that Charles was his son, with
grandchildren John & Ellenor. Shrewsbury data suggests a
further child of Charles, George (c1675), who became the famous
Captain & Pirate, the family having to have moved to
Deptford, London sometime in the 1680's.
In 1626 a Roger SHELVOCKE, yeoman &
Dorothie his wife are mentioned in Lancashire Quarter
Sessions at Liverpool as being of Derby. This is the first known
occupation of any SHELVOCK outside of the church.
There is quite good evidence to suggest the
actual individuals who moved from their home village of Baschurch
to the Halesowen area in the 1630's, which was then still part of
Shropshire (see map below), although migration outside of the
county had clearly occurred. The period of the English Civil War
(1642-60) may have also led to others being displaced.
The Black Country dialect appears to be
responsible for changing the "e"
to an "i"
sound since almost all subsequent family references in Romsley &
Halesowen (part of the Stourbridge registration district) have
the SHILVOCK variant.
Some rare Stourbridge entries were made as SHELVOCK or other
variants (even into the C20th on the 1901 census), most of these
seem to be transcription errors.
The Halesowen area community did not appear
to have many contacts with the remaining Shropshire families
after this time, which may account for the establishment of the
SHILVOCK variant. A few may have had connections or ancestral
knowledge that resulted in the occasional use of the correct
family name. It can be categorically ruled out that the name
SHILVOCK has any independent or foreign origin. Unfortunately
firms selling derivations of family names that show the SHILVOCK
name to have some Polish origin connected to tailoring and plums
are plainly wrong.
The changing of SHILVOCK to SHELVOCK, and
back again, occurred many times over the following centuries and
within individual families. There are rare stories in modern
Halesowen SHILVOCK families relating to "lands in
Shropshire"; which are all the more remarkable for having
been passed down by word of mouth and surviving the intervening
350 years!
The first recorded clan members within the
parish of Halesowen were given as "Elizabeth,
the daughter of Roger SHELVOCK by Elizabeth his wife was baptised
the 9th of June, 1639".
Appropriately, the name which has been shown to have the earliest
origins in Salop is shown to be within the limited area bounded
by Oldbury, Warley (Abbey), Halesowen, Clent (sometime part of
Staffs.) & Romsley which specifically defined the then small
inlier of Salop county within Worcs., and shown in the northern
part of the 1832 map, above, in the area between Dudley &
Birmingham. This is no coincidence, as at the time it would have
been easier to relocate within the county. It is not known why
the family moved. The area was merged with Worcs. sometime before
the 1851 census. T
The SHELVOCK name also begins to appear in
London several times between 1668 & the 1700's. The majority
of the available evidence suggests that these were families that
went for a career in the sea. Others may have been involved in
merchant trading, perhaps as representatives of the Manor or the
merchant families in Shrewsbury. Records are few, but indicate
that the name essentially remained either close to the home
county or occasionally in London. London, in any age, was a
magnet for the poor and wealthy alike. Many earlier records in
London were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.
Reynold/Regnalde SHELVOCK and
his family were in London at least in the period 1614-1619 for
the christening of three children at the church of St. Jewry &
St. Mary Magdalene in Milk Street. Possibly the same Reynold had
a child christened later in 1623 at Shrewsbury. A possible
further descendant Reynald
of Deptford died aboard HMS Gloucester. The
bachelor's Will of 1697/98 left all his belongings to his sister
Ellener HARDING.
The most famous family member, Captain
George SHELVOCKE of Ancient
Mariner fame was supposedly born
in Deptford, London in 1675 of Salopian parents (although records
suggest he was born in Shrewsbury, s/o Charles). His own book
states his Salopian roots. His son, also named George (born
around 1702), became the Postmaster-General of the Post Office in
London.
A Richard
SHELVOCK married Ann
CHILD at the church of St.
James, Duke Place in 1688 in London and their first child was
christened at St. Giles, Cripplegate in 1689. Richard, a mariner
on HMS Devonshire died at Kinsale, Ireland. His estate was
administered to his wife back in Cripplegate on 30th June 1696. A
John & Ann SHELVOCK
had four children christened at the church of
St. Andrew, Holborn between 1719 & 1734, possibly a son of
Richard & Ann. A Charles &
Sarah SHELVOCK had a child
christened at the same church in 1745. There may be other
records.
The first note of SHELVOCK & SHELVOKE
being referred to together is the reference for the George
SHELVOCKE, above, as an author: SCHELVOCK, or
Shelvoke, author, Artillery of
Simienowicz, in-fol., London, 1729. There
are a number of his books in the British Library.
Into
the C18th
The C18th still sees the SHELVOCK name
mostly around the Oswestry Hundred in Salop, as well as the first
known settler abroad, however not in great numbers. Records have
been found in Shropshire at;
It is noticeable that the number of family
groups (based on LDS records only) is only half that of the
previous century, and again they remain unconnected to a larger
family tree due to incomplete records.
The C18th provided the major opportunity
for the name to spread from the traditional rural regions and
market towns, which had been the focus for Britain's agricultural
heritage, to the rapidly growing towns of the Midlands
(Wolverhampton, Willenhall & Birmingham) - this was the
Industrial Revolution that had roots in Shropshire of the 1740's.
From the late C17th/C18th in the
Wolverhampton area, including Willenhall, there appears to be a
group of families with the name variant SHELVOKE. They are
probably related to the Shrewsbury SHELVOCKs as Wolverhampton is
along the main Watling Street Roman Road (now the A5 trunk road)
from Shrewsbury. The name variant seems to occur in this area
specifically, and then towards the SE and Aston/West Bromwich
near Birmingham (as the industrial city expands) and also in the
London area in the early part of the C20th (through one of the
SHELVOKE sons). The name survives into the C21st as a rare
variant only as part of company names founded by SHELVOKEs. In
2008 there is only one surviving family member bearing the
variant family name. There were only 9 records in the 1901 census
and one of the 2007 Electoral Roll.
For whatever reasons (infant mortality or
an apparent larger number of girls in families relative to boys),
even allowing for missing records, the SHELVOCK family name was
in serious decline from the end of the C17th.
The earliest known New World reference is
the marriage of a John SHELVOCK
at Pittston, Maine, USA in 1745 to a Polly
LAW. There does not appear to be any descendants of this family
in the US today. John & his wife either died or perhaps
returned to England. All modern US families can be traced back to
more recent emigration from the Halesowen area in the late
C19th, particularly via Chicago and spreading further afield to
California and other states. Their descendants are still in those
areas today.
Into
the C19th
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Distribution
of the SHELVOCK family name and several
common variants in 1881.
The dominance of the SHILVOCK
variant in WOR (Halesowen) is clearly shown.
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The C19th has only 8 named SHELVOCK
individuals in the LDS listings. The 1881 census has only 10
individuals of that name with Salopian origins (1 family group
and 1 female unmarried head of family, excluding one family of 5
of that name who were really SHILVOCKs).
There were only 20 of the name in the 1901
census (3 proven SHELVOCKs, the remainder appearing to be
SHILVOCKs, with several known SHELVOCKs missing (as in 1881)).
This suggests the name barely survived in England through a small
number of families. This family group is discussed in more detail
on a separate webpage.
It is now known that all the C20th/C21st
SHELVOCKs in Canada, Australia and those still in the Shrewsbury
area are descended from the children of one particular couple. If
it wasn't for the particularly large family of John &
Susannah SHELVOCK in the period from 1852, and the fecundity
of subsequent generations, the SHELVOCK name would now also be
extinct. There are numerous other records of the period, but no
other branches appear to have survived.
By comparison, the 171 individuals (34
heads of family) on the same 1881 census with the SHILVOCK name
(including one SHILVOCK family each misnamed SHELVOCK, SHILVACK &
SHILVICK) demonstrates this variant to be thriving in the
Halesowen/West Midlands area and has expanded further.
At least one SHILVOCK is believed to have
been transported to Australia, although this remains to be
proven. Most modern families in both Australia & New Zealand
are descendants of relatively recent immigrants. One group of
mining families in the Capella region of Queensland, is one
example of early C20th migration, although some may be the
descendants of this convict.
As family members emigrated variable
literacy and dialect have ensured that the two main name variants
have become interchangeable, this is particularly so with many
surnames entering the US. There are now more people named
SHELVOCK abroad (especially the USA) than back in the UK as a
result of this.
C20th/C21st
- The Family Name Today
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Distribution
of the SHILVOCK family name in 1998
The
study did not cover SHELVOCK which had fewer than 100
individuals on the 1998 Electoral Roll.
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In addition to the area around
Shrewsbury, where the name remains as SHELVOCK, the name SHILVOCK
still concentrates in the Dudley / Halesowen / Stourbridge /
Clent area of north Worcestershire, now part of the industrial
West Midlands. Outside of these areas the name is still very rare
even in modern mobile times. This researcher has found that it's
not unusual for even slightly remote family groups outside of the
Stourbridge / Halesowen area to consider themselves unique and
perhaps foreign, rather than part of a wider clan. A lot of
family myths have resulted, not helped by inaccurate commercial
"genealogy" certificates of family origins. You don't
often meet a SHILVOCK or SHELVOCK in England unless you live in
the Black Country or Shrewsbury areas.
In the C18th & C19th the families in
the greater Halesowen area were mostly connected with the nail
making trade (a big industry supporting both construction at home
as well as abroad in the ever expanding British Empire), or owned
shops such as Grocers and Bakers. The families in the more rural
Clent area were more involved with farming, mainly hay.
The Black Country families have apparent
aliases which include the SHILBURN, DAY, BARLOW, PROPHET, &
MANLIE "sub-clans" which appear to stem from some
earlier maternal family names. This has been shown in the case of
DAY only, but not yet the others. These stories remain in certain
families and more information is requested from these families.
The 1998 UK Electoral Roll gave approx. 320
registered voters at 180 addresses for SHILVOCK. The one SHILLOCK
(telephone catalogue entry) matches a SHILVOCK on the Electoral
Roll. An approach to all these families in 1999 for my
"Millennium Project" resulted in a response rate of
less than 10% (which was an exceptional response rate based on
the history of postal polls!), so the majority of living
SHILVOCKs at the end of the C20th in the UK remain to be
connected. It is hoped they will make contact through the ever
expanding use of the Internet and exposure of this site.
Emigrant families have so far been found in
Canada, US, Australia & New Zealand but only as SHILVOCK and
SHELVOCK. Apart from a few exceptions all families abroad have
been tied back to UK family trees.
The UK 2000 Electoral Roll had only 25
SHELVOCKs of voting age at only 13 addresses (all but one proven
descendants of John & Susannah), and at least 200 SHILVOCKs
(the maximum allowable to list using unpaid search).
With the discovery of several modern
SHELVOKE references as part of company names this variant was
made the third official name in 2000. There are no known
occurrences of the name in the UK 2000 Electoral Roll except for
three registered firms, although the sole survivor bearing this
name was located on the 2007 Roll. With the passing of Mrs.
SHELVOKE, widow of engineer W. G. SHELVOKE, the name will become
extinct.
In 2008, publicprofiler.org launched a free
"World Names" website, based on national electoral
rolls, telephone directories and other public domain data for the
Anglo-Saxon world. The statistics and location maps now follow
(FPM = Frequency Per Million):
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SHELVOCK
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SHILVOCK
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SHELVOKE
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Top Countries
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GB (0.59)
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GB (6.22)
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GB (0.02)
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Canada (0.23)
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NZ (2.15)
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USA (0.17)
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Canada (0.46)
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USA (0.31)
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France (0.05)
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Focal Area
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Focal Area
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Top Locations
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West Midlands, UK (3.89)
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Shrewsbury
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West Midlands, UK (58.62)
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Stourbridge, Birmingham,
Kidderminster, Cradley Heath
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SW England (Kingsbridge)
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Ontario, Canada (3.16)
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Taranaki Region, NZ
(38.51)
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after a number of decades
with no representatives, the most common name highlights the
anomaly of Edythe SHELVOKE
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California, USA (1.55)
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Yreka
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Wanganui Region, NZ (19.1)
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East Midlands, UK (1.52)
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South Dakota, USA (6.1)
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Washington, USA (1.22)
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Custer
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BC, Canada (5.09)
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Location
Maps (2000-2005 data)
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Shelvock
USA & Canada
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Shelvock
GB
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Shilvock
USA & Canada
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Shilvock
GB by Area
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Shilvock
GB by County
(note
the microscopic "high" in the West Midlands
conforming to the Halesowen & Stourbridge clan)
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Shilvock
NZ
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Spelling
Variants
Some of the known name variants - current
total = 46 variants:
SCHELFAC
SCHELVOCK
SHELBROKE
SHELBROOK
SHELROCK
SHELVACK
SHELVACKE
SHELVICK
SHELVOCH
SHELVOCHE
SHELVOCK
SHELVOCKE
SHELVOCKS
SHELVOUCKE
SHELLVOCK
SHELLVOCKE
SHELVEOAK
SHELVOKE
SHELVOLK
SHELVONK
SHELVOOK
SHILCOCK
SHILIOCK
SHILIOK
SHILOCK
SHILOOCK
SHILLVOCK
SHILROCH
SHILROCK
SHILSCOCK
SHILVACK
SHILVECK
SHILVERK
SHILVICK
SHILVOCH
SHILVOCKS
SHILVOKE
SHILVOOK
SHILVOUCK
SHILWOCK
SHILWORK
SHIOLOCK
SHIVLOCK
SHOLVOKE
SHULVOCK
SSELVAK
For modern Worcs., (Halesowen in the Black
Country) confirmed variants include SHELOOCK, SHILCOCK,
SHILLCOCK, SHILLOCK, SHILOCK, SHILOCKE, SHILOOCK, SHILOOK, &
SHILOOKE. These variants are entirely due to mistranscription
or misread original Parish Records during the completion of the
LDS (a common occurrence, since the LDS contains many errors),
and St Catherine's Indices whereby scripted ilv
has been interpreted as ilc,
ilio or ill,
and the v transcripted as s
or c, as some examples. Other
possible variant names include CHILCOCK, CHILLIACK, SCHILICK,
SHELCOCK, SHELLCOCK, SHILCOCK, & SHILLCOCK, although
some of these names are unrelated and stand as a surname in their
own right. Original PR's confirm the correct family name, with
usual allowances for phonetic spelling due to dialect.
Due to the number of missing family members
in the UK 1901 census a number of spelling errors have been
identified, due to the way data was transcribed & transferred
to the PRO database.
Source
Material
Some progress has been made in compiling
and analysing the most common sources. The LDS listings have been
covered and UK Indices to a large extent from the start of
General Registration in 1837 to cover the period including
"living memory". Readers should note that data is far
from complete for a variety of reasons, and errors inevitably
exist. Transcription errors are common, variants should be
checked (including the order of first names), and some people
seem to be simply missing from the records. Information should be
used as a guide only, and serious researchers into their own
families should confirm the data at source. Corrections would be
appreciated.
Transcripts for 1559-1643 for Halesowen
(1910), as well as 1717-36 (1987) & 1736/37-61 (1983) have
been examined. Registers were for the church of St. John the
Baptist. Salopian parishes have not been explored in detail at
this time to fill in the early picture. Halesowen falls under the
Stourbridge registration district for births, marriages and
deaths. West Midland BMD into the C21st are being incorporated
into the indices on this website.
The World Wide Web (Internet) is proving to
be a valuable new source for contacts and information and in 2008
I joined Facebook & MySpace to connect with new family
members.
It remains my hope that more connections
will come from today's families themselves, as the interest in
genealogy increases as a hobby. Please get in touch!
© Mark A S Grace,
September 2008 update
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