Appendix 3
Below is a provisional list of reported occurrences of the surname Simnel(l) in England and Wales over approximately the last 500 years, based on internet sources.1 So far, 102 entries have been found. However, entries which are close together in name, date and location may refer to various events in the life of a single individual. Thus the total number of Simnel(l) s represented by the list is almost certainly less than 100. Probably about ninety separate individuals are represented.
However, it is obvious that the list, as it stands at present, does not constitute a complete record of Simnel(l)s over approximately the past 500 years. For example, an Edward T. Simnell was married in 1944, but there appears to be no record of his birth. Nor is there any record of his death. Possibly he was an American serviceman who married in the UK during the Second World War, but who had been born in the USA. However, Edward T. Simnell is by no means the only example of incompleteness in the list as it stands at present.
No Simnel(l) entries have so far been found in the current (2013–14) BT online phonebook – but of course if there are living Simnel(l)s, they may not have landline telephones, or they might have chosen to be ex-directory. Reportedly no entries, under either spelling of this surname, figure in the UK voters registers for the period 2002–14. That would appear to suggest that no adult UK citizens now bear the surname Simnel(l). Nevertheless, in January 2014 there were several examples of the surname on Facebook – though an attempt at investigation subsequently showed that at least one of these was a pseudonym. (No answer was received in respect of the other Facebook enquiries.)
It is worth noting that there is also a record of at least one male Simnell emigrating from the United Kingdom to the United States of America, in 1912. Thus, it would be useful to conduct a search for living Simnels in the USA – and also in other parts of the English-speaking world. However, although the surname appears forty-seven times in Australian and New Zealand records dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the current situation in Australasia appears to be similar to that in the UK – there seem to be no living Simnel(l)s.2
The UK list below – incomplete though it appears to be – certainly indicates that during the past 500 years the surname Simnel(l) was never common in England. But it was by no means unknown. To offer a statistical comparison, similar searches over the same time period were conducted, relating to three of the rarer surnames which figure in my own ancestry. These produced the following figures:
|
SEVIL |
approximately 470 entries.3 |
|
BAULSOM |
approximately 280 entries.4 |
|
MINEVEH |
only 16 entries.5 (However, Mineveh is very rare because it is a rather idiosyncratic variant of the slightly less rarified surname Minifie.) |
There certainly are living individuals in the UK bearing the surnames Sevil and Baulsom. Therefore it is not completely impossible that living Simnel(l)s also still exist somewhere.
If there are any living males who bear the hereditary surname Simnel(l), I should be delighted to hear from them. It would be interesting to explore whether there is an identifiable Simnel(l) Y-chromosome. In other words do/did the bearers of this surname represent a single family? It would also be very interesting to be able to compare the Simnel(l) Y-chromosome(s) with the Plantagenet Y-chromosome!
|
Simnell, ? |
buried 1645, Hampton, Middx |
|
Simnell, unnamed male |
d. 1869, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Abigail |
buried 1695, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Agnes |
buried 1641, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Alce |
married 1570, Boxsted, Essex |
|
Simnell, Alce |
buried 1630, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Alce |
married 1639, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Alce |
married 1797, Manchester, Lancs |
|
Simnell, Alece |
buried 1588, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex |
|
Simnell, Ann |
bapt. 1633, Hayes, Middx. |
|
Simnell, Ann |
buried 1685, Holy Trinity, Cambridge |
|
Simnel, Anna |
married 1645, Hurworth, Durham |
|
Simnell, Anne |
married 1632, St Benet, Paul’s Wharf, London |
|
Simnell, Anne |
living London, 1661 |
|
Simnell, Anne |
living London, 1676 |
|
Simnel, Anne |
buried 1749, Burslem, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Audrey T. |
married 1944, Lichfield, Staffs |
|
Simnel, Clement |
buried 1735, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Dorothy |
married 1635, St Martin, Ludgate, London |
|
Simnell, Edward T. |
married 1944, Wenlock, Shropshire |
|
Simnel, Eliza |
b. 1854, Stafford – still living 1871 |
|
Simnel, Eliza Jane |
bapt. 1861, Eastchurch, Kent |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
buried 1615, Ipswich, Suffolk |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
bapt. 1631, Hayes, Middx. |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
buried 1631, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
buried 1643, Acton Middx. |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
buried 1682, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Elizabeth |
bapt. 1737, Mold, Flintshire |
|
Simnel, Elizabeth |
buried 1739, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Elizth Hanh |
bapt. 1820, Plymouth, Devon |
|
Simnel, Elizabeth |
b. 1830 – buried 1831, Wolstanton, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Elizabeth |
d. 1895, Bangor, Caernarvonshire |
|
Simnell, Elizth |
b. 1877, living 1881, Cannock, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Elz |
married 1603, Westminster, Middx |
|
Simnell, Elz |
married 1626, St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, London |
|
Simnell, Emily |
b. 1856, living 1881, Nottingham, Notts |
|
Simnell, George Charles |
married 1886, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Hannah |
married 1869, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs |
|
Simnell, Henry |
buried 1641, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Hernicus [sic] |
buried 1626, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Henry |
married 1899, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs |
|
Simnell, James |
buried 1641, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Jane |
married 1666, St Aug. & St Faith, London |
|
Simnel, Jane |
b. 1860 – still living 1881 London, St Giles |
|
Simnel, Joan |
married 1594, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnel, Joan |
married 1615, St Clement, Ipswich, Suffolk |
|
Simnell, Joan(e) |
married 1624, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnell, Johannes |
buried 1635, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, John |
married 1576, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnell, John |
bapt. 1577, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnell, John |
married 1598, Westminster, Middx |
|
Simnell, John |
married 1610, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnell, John |
buried 1612, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnel, John |
buried 1613, Westminster, Middx |
|
Simnell, John |
b. 1857, living 1881, Derby, Derbyshire |
|
Simnell, Joseph |
b. 1835, living 1881, Derby, Derbyshire |
|
Simnell, Joseph |
married 1883, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs |
|
Simnell, J.H. (male) |
b. 1887, left Liverpoool for Boston, USA, 1912 |
|
Simnel, M. |
bapt. 1759, Neston, Cheshire |
|
Simnel, Margaret |
married 1613, St Clement, Ipswich, Suffolk |
|
Simnell, Mary |
married 1657, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Mary |
buried 1667, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Mary |
buried 1739, Maidstone, Kent |
|
Simnell, Mary |
b. 1809, living 1881, Liverpool, Lancs |
|
Simnell, Mary |
b. 1811, living 1901, Worcester, Worcs |
|
Simnell, Mary |
b. 1823, living 1851, Shoreditch, Middx |
|
Simnell, Maureen |
d. 1993, Ogwr, Glamorganshire |
|
Simnel, Michael |
married 1589, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnell, Micheall [sic] |
buried 1593, St Margaret, Westminster |
|
Simnel, Michael |
buried 1594, Westminster, Middx |
|
Simnell, Nancy |
b. 1773, living 1851, Newington, Surrey |
|
Simnel, Philip Stephen |
b. 1966, East Ham, Essex |
|
Simnell, Phoebe |
b. 1833, living 1881, Derby, Derbyshire |
|
Simnell, Richard |
married 1567, Chelmsford, Essex |
|
Simnel, Richard |
buried 1630, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Richard |
married 1642, St Bartholomew the Great, London |
|
Simnell, Richard |
buried 1667, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Richard |
b. 1826, Stafford – still living 1871 |
|
Simnell, Rose |
married 1698, Holywell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Samuel |
bapt. 1855, Bebington, Cheshire |
|
Simnell, Samuel Thomas |
b. 1901, Loughborough, Leics |
|
Simnell, Sara |
buried 1626, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Sara |
buried 1638, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnell, Sarah |
b. 1691, buried 1776, London |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
buried 1620, Westminster, Middx |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
married 1629, Heston, Middx |
|
Simnell, Thomas |
buried 1630, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
married 1632, London |
|
Simnel(l), Thomas |
married 1645, Hurworth, Durham |
|
Simnell, Thomas |
buried 1666, Somersham, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
bapt. 1722, St Clement Danes, Middx |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
buried 1723, St Clement Danes, Middx |
|
Simnel, Thomas |
bapt. 1723, St Clement Danes, Middx |
|
Simnell, Thomas Frederick |
b. 1858, Wolverhampton, Staffs. |
|
Simnel, William |
married 1588, Bures, Suffolk |
|
Simnell, William |
married 1590, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex |
|
Simnell, William |
married 1643, St Peter, Cambridge, Cambs |
|
Simnell, William |
married 1686, Whittlesford, Cambs |
|
Simnel, William |
married 1695, St Ives, Huntingdonshire |
|
Simnel, William |
buried 1757, Neston, Cheshire |
|
Simnel, William |
bapt. 1759, Neston, Cheshire |
|
Simnell, William |
b. 1838, living 1911, Birmingham, Warks |
Map showing locations in England and Wales in which occurrences of the surname SIMNEL have been documented over the last 500 years.
Notes
Abbreviations
|
CPR |
Calendar of Patent Rolls |
|
ODNB |
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
|
PROME |
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England |
1. http://www.findmypast.co.uk, accessed January 2014, and searched under the surnames Simnel and Simnell.
2. http://search.findmypast.com.au/search/australia-and-new-zealand-records?lastname=simnel&lastname_variants=true&page=10, accessed January 2014. I am grateful to Olga Hughes for her help with this.
3. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/all-records/results?forename=&includeForenameVariants=true&_includeForenameVariants
=on&surname=Sevil&_includeSurnameVariants=on&f, accessed January 2014.
4. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/all-records/results?forename=&includeForenameVariants=true&_includeForenameVariants=
on&surname=Baulsom&_includeSurnameVariants
=on&fromYear=&toYear=&Region=UK&Search=Search, accessed January 2014.
5. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/all-records/results?forename=&includeForenameVariants=true&_includeForenameVariants
=on&surname=Mineveh&_includeSurname
Variants=on&fromYear=&toYear=&Region=UK&Search=Search, accessed January 2014.