JMF genealogy - Entwistle

Entwistle

Origin of the Entwistle surname

Around 1200 Henry de Radcliffe gave his daughter’s dowry of 30 acres (12 hectares) of land in the township of Edgworth (Lancashire) to her new husband, Robert of Entwistle. Entwistle family historian Bannister Grimshaw suggests that Robert may have possessed this land as Henry’s tenant prior to the marriage. If so, there was probably a dwelling already built there. Nevertheless, Grimshaw says that Robert, once he had title to the land, built a manor house that was called Entwistle Hall and held by Robert’s descendants until about 1546.

While Robert did not have a surname, he was the first recorded generation of the family that later adopted Entwistle as its surname. It is a toponymic name, as are over half of all English surnames. Toponymic surnames can be based on specific locations, such as the individual's place of origin, residence, or of lands that they held; or can be more generic, derived from topographic features (e.g., Marsh, Rivers, Hill, Ford, Atwater).

The land’s name, Entwistle, was originally a combination of two Old English words: henn meaning hen; and twisla meaning confluence or junction. Twisla was derived from the Proto-Germanic twisila meaning fork or bifurcation, which was itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European dwis meaning twice or in two.

So, the early place name Henntwisla referred to a spit of land at the junction of two rivers (twisla) where birds (henn) came to build their nests. This naming methodology also produced the names of nearby Oswaldtwistle, Extwistle and Birtwistle as well as Tintwistle in Derbyshire. This river junction is clearly visible at the southern end of the modern Entwistle township (see accompanying map). Robert built Entwistle Hall near the confluence of these two waterways, Broadhead Brook and Cadshaw Brook.

Over the centuries, the leading “H” and ending “A” were dropped and the usual spelling became Entwisle. Based on various spellings in early documents, it is likely that the “S” was pronounced as a “Z” as in twizzel, rather than as the “S” sound in whistle. In any case, an extra “T” entered the spelling in the nineteenth century and has become the usual spelling: Entwistle.

Fleming migration to Australia

Many Entwistles arrived in Australia as convicts. One of these was my 4G grandfather James Grime the younger, whose mother was Betty Entwistle. James arrived aboard the Malabar in 1819 in the company of his cousin and fellow-convict William Entwistle. Ten other members of their family were sentenced to transportation as convicts between 1809 and 1826. I am not aware of any other family that produced a dozen convicts across just two generations. Read more here.

Fleming pedigree

Our Entwistle ancestors include the following people. Click on any name to access a computer-generated page of information about that person and a list of the information sources.

Betty Entwistle (b. Mar 1764, d. 15 Jan 1831)
- William Entwistle (b. 1 May 1743, d. 27 Mar 1827)
  - William Entwistle (b. 22 Jun 1704, d. 19 Apr 1767)
    - William Entwistle (b. Oct 1670, d. 9 Apr 1719)
      - William Entwistle (b. ca. 1640, d. 7 Apr 1701)
      - Ellin Greenhalgh (b. ca. 1640, d. 1 Aug 1678)
    - Katherin Entwistle (b. May 1677, d. 15 Dec 1758)
      - Richard Entwistle (b. ca. 1650)
  - Sarah Knowles (b. ca. 1714, d. 20 Apr 1791)
- Alice Haslam (b. 1740, d. 6 Feb 1791)

Surname clan

The earliest known ancestor of our Entwistle clan was William Entwistle (1640-1701). Note that his son William married Katherin, a daughter of Richard Entwistle (1650 - ). Here are their known descendants.