The Whiteheads of Norman Court
29 July 2011
My name is Michael Whitehead. I live in Pennsylvania but have traced my ancestry back to Norman Court. My direct descendants include Thomas, Richard, Augustine, William, and Richard Whitehead according to what I have been able to discover, although later the family seems to have moved to Middlesex.
I would be very interested to know if there are still Whiteheads in the West Tytherley area and if so how I might be able to contact them.
Thanks you so much for any help you can offer.
I have studying your lovely town and I hope sometime my family and I can come to visit.
Kind Regards,
Michael Whitehead
20 August 2011
Dear Michael
There have been no Whitheds in the area since the mid 18th century. The first evidence I have found of the Whithed family in West Tytherley is in a document of 1421 when Robert and Thomas are mentionned (probably brothers). The family most probably purchased the land just a few years earlier and may well have been related to Roger Norman, after whom the estate is named and who purchased it in 1334. The family were previously from Southampton. Family ownership continued through the male line until Francis Thistlethwaite inherited from his uncle Richard Whithed, in 1733, Francis's mother being Mary, Richard's sister. She married Alexander Thistlethwaite of Southwick Park, Hants.
Under the terms of his uncle's will, Francis took the name Whithed in order to inherit, but he died unmarried in 1751. One of Francis's brothers then inherited without the obligation to change his name and the estate continued in Thistlethwaite family ownership until sold in 1806.
The purchase of West Tytherley Manor in the early 17th century, plus other lands nearby, gave ownership of the entire parish to the family and allowed them to become Lords of the Manor. They owned other Manors in Hampshire at various times and a number of memorials to the family were placed in the current church, following demolition of the earlier one in 1832. Little remains of their house as the majority of it was demolished when the Thistlethwaites build the current Norman Court in the 1750's.
Hope this is helpful, I have more!
Regards
David King (of Church Farm)
20 May 2012
Hello.
My maiden name is Whitehead and my father's name is Croyden Alastair Whitehead. We live in British Columbia, Canada. My grandfather, Ernest Whitehead (born deaf), died at 100 years old in 1977. We were always told that my grandfather and his brother, Matthias, left Norman Court when their father lost it in a gambling debt. Matthias moved to New Zealand and Ernest moved to Canada. I have a brass rubbing from West Tytherely Church of Anna Whitehead (wife of William Whitehead) dated 1480, supposedly the finest in the collection. Interesting!
Bev Boyle
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