The Wiltshire Washbourns of New Zealand

Welcome to the stories of the Washbournes from county Wiltshire, who settled  in New Zealand

The Washbourn family in New Zealand which originally settled in Nelson (where many members still live) originated from an ancient English family in the west country county of Worcestershire, which had even earlier origins in France (see the page on 'Ancestry').  The name dates back to the 13th century when, hearsay has it, the founder was knighted on the battlefield by William the Conqueror and was endowed with lands and manors of Little and Great Washbourne.  Sir Roger de Washborne was the first member of that family.  18 generations later, Ernle Washbourn died in 1743 without male heirs, and the main male line of the family came to an end.

There were however several cadet branches of the family (see the page on ‘Geography’).  The early family members were traditionally farmers; they moved across western England from Worcestershire, to Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.  One of these cadet branches, named the Wiltshire Branch by Richard Washbourn in 1961, was the ancestral branch of the present New Zealand Washbourns and it was from Surrey in southern England that William Everley Washbourn  -  the first of the New Zealand Washbourns  -  emigrated in 1852 to the colony for a better life.

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There was also a 'Wroughton Branch' of the family, also named thus by Richard Washbourn, which has common ancestry to the Wiltshire Branch, and which has family members alive and well living in England. This has recently been added to this site  -  see the page under the Descendancy page. 

The genealogy of the Washbourns in Wiltshire and New Zealand has been well documented.  Despite much careful work, there are a few remaining ‘brick walls’ which require solving to present a convincing descendancy. Note however that recent advances in DNA analyses have thrown some doubt on the traditional view that all Washbourns (and their variant spellings) can count their descendancy from the original English family  -  see the notes elsewhere on the  'Records' > Puzzles  page.  

There are several published genealogies, notes, and at least one book on the family (see the page on ‘Records’) which are mostly accessible on the internet or from family members.

This website is a work in progress: it has been set up so that family members have a place to learn of their ancestry, to share the knowledge and to explore. Its general structure is shown in the diagram in the box to the right.  Please feel free to point out any errors, or to make suggestions for additional information that you feel should be included. The limitations of this website do not allow for the reproduction of large documents.

© Roger Washbourn; 2015.

E:  rogerw@southnet.co.nz