The Gingell Family of Lyneham

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Lyneham, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
Surname/tag: Gingell

Lyneham in Wiltshire is a parish of four hamlets. These are Bradenstoke, Clack, Preston and Lyneham.^[1][2][3]

Those living in any of these hamlets may have used either the hamlet or parish name for official purposes such as registering births or in census records. The parish register for Lyneham almost invariably records the hamlet of residence for christenings, marriages and burials.

Job Gingell (abt.1807-) is the fourth great grandfather of Nathan Goodwin. When his eldest son Mark Gingell (bef.1833-) was christened he was described as a labourer. In this rural part of Wiltshire he would be expected to have been employed in agriculture. The year before his marriage there had been serious uprisings, known later as the “Swing Riots”, which had resulted in the deaths of many in Wiltshire.^[4]

Whilst the christenings for his other children also state he was a labourer the census record actually reveals more. In 1841, along with many in the hamlet, he was employed as an excavator. This employment was likely to have been in a neighbouring village where the Great Western Railway was being constructed. ^[5] This construction was completed this same year and he had to return to working as an agricultural labourer.^[6] There was a James Gingell killed during the excavations who has not yet been linked to the family he appears to have been born in Lyneham so is likely to be a relative. ^[7]

A report in the newspaper on 7 December 1844 shows how little the family had to live on and how weather dependant their existence must have been. His brother Charles Gingell (bef.1804-bef.1871) is also mentioned the reports appeared in a number of papers but the original report is not currently online.

In 1846 a Job Gingell is chairing a meeting of agricultural labourers, “for the purpose of taking into consideration the distress of the people, and of petitioning parliament for the repeal of the corn-laws”, in Bremhill, Wiltshire. The description fits for this being the same Job Gingell. ^[8]

John Gingell (1841-1919) a son of Job moved to Ystradyfodwg, Glamorgan, Wales where he became a collier. His son George Edward Gingell (1875-) was found in the newspapers in 1918. This also explains why John had his grandson Walter Gingell (1896-) living with him in 1901 and 1911 and what susequently happened to this grandson.

One of the members of the Wales Project found some information regarding the area where John Gingell moved to and the mining industry in that area.^[9]

Another son of Job Fred A Gingell (1849-1903) emigrated to New York and in 1903 he was found in the local newspapers.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol9/pp90-104
2. ↑ https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/Lyneham#S93
3. ↑ https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=148
4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2009/02/23/swing_riots_salisbury_feature.shtml
5. ↑ https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol9/pp90-104
6. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway
7. ↑ Salisbury and Winchester Journal 11 November 1839 page 3 Col 6 Local Intelligence. Inquests held before Mr Whitmarsh Verdict, “Accidental”
8. ↑ Worcestershire Chronicle 18 February 1846 page 7 Col.3 The Agricultural Labourers and the Corn Laws
9. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Background_information_on_Coal_Mining