ADDITIONS TO GOWLLAND FAMILY WEBSITE

Latest alterations to website

14^th Decembeer 2017

We discovered that Stephen Leversha Gowlland was a freemason: - https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-46510493/ars-quatuor-coronatorumfreemasons-being-the-transactions-of-the-lodge-quatuor

This is the only known case of freemasonry in the Gowlland family.

27^th November 2017

More information about John George Blantyre Gow(l)land – click here

20^th November 2017

Details of a watch manufactured by Arthur Gowlland (1832 – 1904) – click here.

4^th October 2017

Details of headstone of John Gowland, and his daughter Elizabeth, in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Findsbury – click here. John Gowland was a Grocer; in the Inventory drawn up after his death he had over £100 worth of shop goods in stock (Consistory Court of Rochester Inventory, DRb/Pi24/9) - about £6,000 in today’s money. A John Gowland, (same man ?) an Exciseman, appears in the Baptism Registers in 1704.

From this, as well, we know that this John Gowland was born in about 1687 and his daughter Elizabeth in about1703.

22nd August 2017

Details of a Mary Gowland living in Chilham (next-but-one parish to Canterbury) in early 18th century. More investigations to be made, clearly. Click here for details so far known.

8th August 2017

Record of 1560 Marriage of George Gowland and Godlie Heinger in Faversham, Kent - click here.

7th August 2017

1794 baptism record from St Andrews, Canterbury, of William Henry Gowlland, son of Richard Symons Gowlland, published - click here. He died a few months later.

3^rd August 2017

A new family tree has come into our possession, and it is proving very interesting. There are some obvious errors, but by and large it coincides with ours.

The major departure is that it shows six Gowl(l)and entries predating Joseph Gowland’s 1734 marriage, the point at which all trees and accompanying records begin; and these six entries carry dates. As will be seen in the extract so far published (click here), they are, in date order, Richard (1529), George (1540), Huimphrey (1611), Stephen (1613), Thomas (1638) and Joseph (1710). There is no indication as to whether the dates refer to Birth, Marriage or Death; nor the source(s) of the information.

Five of the names are commonly found in subsequent generations of Gowllands but “Humphrey” has not been found elsewhere. As of today there is no trace of this Humphrey anywhere. However, there is a Humphrey Gowling of the era and, according to http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gowland (below) this was used up to the 17^th Century as an alternative form of Gowland. More research is needed on this.

Last name: Gowland

Recorded in several spelling forms including Gowland, Gowlin, Gowling, Gowlling, and possibly others , this deceptively simple name is in fact of complex and conjectural etymology. There are three (at least) possible sources, and all that can be said with relative certainty is that in its modern spelling form it is 17th Century. The first possibility is that the origin is medieval English, and a developed form of "Gulling". This was a nickname diminutive derived from the (sea) gull, and supposedly described one with a pale complexion, however, given the rapacious habits of seagulls, it may have other interpretations. The second possible origin is French Huguenot, from "Gouelin", again a nickname diminutive which translates as "the younger gourmet", from the Old French word "Goulu", a big eater! The third possibility is as a variant form of the popular locational name Gowland, which derives from some "lost" medieval village believed to have been in East Anglia. The name also appears in Devon, but not before May 3rd 1721, when John Gowland married Joan Taylor at Kenn, near Exeter. Interesting recordings from London Church Registers include: Jean Gouelin, a witness at the French Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, on March 31st 1678, and William Gowling, the son of Humphrey Gowling, who was christened at St. Botolph's without Aldgate, on October 1st 1690. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Gulling, which was dated 1203, in the "Pipe Rolls of Hampshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gowland#ixzz4ogUYCt8j

15^th May 2017

Rosemary and John had the very great pleasure of meeting the grandson of Henry Orford Gowlland (1865 – 1928) from Canada, with his delightful partner. Also John finally overcame the apparently insuperable problems which had prevented publishing new details to the website for many months.

24^th July 2016

Mention of a “J H Gowlland” as a prisoner of war in Germany 1043 – 45. Stalag 357 was occupied mainly by Army detainees, although there were a small number of Air Force personnel. There used to be a website where individual’s stories about their captivity in this particular camp could be found . Regrettably this disappeared in mid-2017.

Clearly this is John Hollingsworth Gowlland, who we know flew on some of the most important bombing missions in WW2. He was very helpful in providing information for us in the early days of developing the website; and we hope it may be possible to add to it a biography of his quite eventful war service.

20^th April 2016

Photo of Shirley Park Hotel added to biography of Egbert Gowlland – click here.

6^th April 2016

A relative in Australia very kindly sent us originals of two letters from Geoff Gowlland on the subject of the Family Tree – one of four pages to Bruch Berckleman click here) and the other of one page to Ruth Harrison (click here).

27^th February 2016

A report following on from that below concerning the Gowlland Bombora – click http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/gowlland-bombora-ended-a-brilliant-career/news-story/e948265ad8f16c1c8ce2f84b041e98e1

10^th February 2016

Report in the Manly Daily of a near-fatal encounter with the Gowlland Bombora - click http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/dangerous-bombora-almost-claims-three-more-lives/news-story/23cbce2d9103a8ea79e37a52970cd149 Manly is a suburb to the north of Sydney.

15^th December 2015

Further information regarding the two books written by Henry Orford Gowlland – click here.

5^th October 2015

List of monuments in Port Royal Parish Church added to biography of James E Gowlland (died 1860) - http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/Barche15.htm[

Inclusion of John George Blantyre Gowlland in Victoria Gazette of Medical Practitioners for 1913 (page 120) - click here

Details added to John Thomas Ewing’s biography of the quotation from his unpublished journal recorded in “Professional Savages” by Roslyn Poignant (Pub 2004) page 48 – click here

Last name: Gowland

New speculation regarding Jane Gowlland, the third entry in Loose Ends – click here.