French Families

One can only speculate as to the original origin of our French family. May be it started with men coming over during the Norman conquest or may be later. A fascinating piece of research from York University shows there to be five FRENSH of French origin in Cornwall in 1450 and five FRENSHE and one FROWNSHE in Dorset in 1525 of Norman origin. Surprisingly there were none found in Devon or Somerset. The Dorset ones are shown in the table below.

We now look at Frenches by geographical area, starting with the ones we know we are directly related to.

Wool

Albert had a brother, Arthur Edward. He was born in 1886 and was a Gunner in the “A” Bty. 189th Bde, and died in 1916. He is remembered at the Thiepval Memorial and his name appears on the Thorncombe War Memorial. Another Thorncombe relative, Albert Edward (a cousin of Albert’s) was born in 1890. He was a Gunner (164022), in the Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 123rd Bde. He died in 1917 and was buried at the Achicourt Road Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. His address at the time of his death was 13 Fernbrook Rd, Lewisham.

Chardstock & Thorncombe

Since both these parishes are so important in my French ancestry more details are to be found on their respective pages. See Chardstock & Thorncombe.