For visitors to this site interested in the evolving Duggleby Family Tree, starting around the time of the Domesday book (1086), please see the special page by clicking here where you will find a copy of the latest update to the tree.
I have also provided some information about examples of the very old documents used to produce the family tree. If you are interested in these please take a look at my blog entries by clicking here, here and here.
Duggleby, in addition to being a rather unusual family name is also the name of a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Difgelibi‘ when detailing the lands and holding of Beringer of Cosney. The Domesday Book was a land survey and census from 1086. It was commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess the extent of the land and resources owned in England to determine what taxes he could raise.
The history of Duggleby can physically be traced back to about 3000 BC because it is the location of Duggleby Howe, one of the largest Round Barrows in Britain. The Barrow or burial mound is presumed to date from the late Neolithic period. It is 37 metres in diameter and aerial photographs show it is surrounded by a circular enclosure, 370 metres in diameter. There are two concentric bronze-age ditches one inside and one outside this enclosure. The origins of the Duggleby Howe are steeped in mystery. Its location is close to the source of the Gypsey Race, a ‘magical’ stream which rises through a series of springs and flows intermittently. This may well have influenced our ancestors’ decision to build Duggleby Howe. Folklore predicts that when the Gypsey race flows bad fortune is likely. Apparently it flowed in the year before the great plague of 1664!
A series of excavations were performed on the mound in the late 19th century revealing some of its secrets. It would appear that Duggleby Howe was used as a cemetery for a long period of time since the Late Neolithic. Some of the burials appear to have been of important people like chieftains who had flint weapons and ceramic articles buried alongside their bodies as well as tools and artefacts made from from flint, antlers, bones, boar tusk and beaver tooth. Other burials were cremations and the lack of any surrounding vessel or enclosure indicated they may well have been sacrificial offerings, possibly accompanying the burial of local chieftains. The broken bones of the ox, roebuck, red deer, fox, goat, and pig found at the site indicate the burials involved big ceremonial feasts. Interestingly among these were also human bones which had been broken and cooked. It would appear that at least some of the ancient English folk were cannibals (I have included a link for photos and more information about Duggleby Howe in the links section on the right hand side of the archives page).
Moving swiftly on from cannibals to my own ‘Duggleby’ history – it has been possible to trace my ancestors back to just after the time when the village of Duggleby was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The most notable early figure was Sir Henry Duggleby (born 1145). To give this some historical perspective this was around the time of the reign of King Richard 1 of England (Richard the Lion Heart, 1157-1199) and the third crusade. Sir Henry Duggleby was my GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER (23 ‘greats’). A major acknowledgement is due here to Ellen Reid for her painstaking work and dedication in uncovering much of the documentary basis for this trail.
Clearly some of the earlier dates are approximations. You will also see the variations in spellings of the name as it was registered in the documents over the centuries: it is not just today that people struggle to spell the name Duggleby correctly. A lot of the early information came from Last Will and Testaments. All except the last three generations lived either in Duggleby or villages nearby. The lineage from Sir Henry to myself appears to be as follows (for more detail take a look at the PDF version of the tree available from here):
Duggleby (possibly Difgelibi, first name unknown): Born approx. 1115 – died ? Wife’s name unknown?
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Sir Henry de Duggleby (de Dingelby) Born approx. 1145 – died ? (Brother Jollan): Wife’s name unknown?
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Adam Duggleby Born 1195 –? Wife?
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Adam Duggleby (de Dugleby) 1250 – 1300 (Brother Hugh): Wife Joan
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Ralph Duggleby (de Dugleby) 1275 –? (Siblings: John, Robert, Adam): Wife?
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William Duggleby (Willelmo de Dugelbi) 1305 –? (Siblings: John, Walter): Wife?
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John Duggleby (Dyngelby) 1345 –? (Siblings: William, Robert): Wife?
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John Duggleby (de Duggylby) 1370 –? (One unknown brother): Wife?
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William Duggleby (Willim Dogilby) 1402 –? Wife?
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Duggleby (first name unknown): 1424 –? Wife?
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Thomas Duggleby (Doggleby of Thornholme) 1460 – 1503 Wife Margaret
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Walter Duggleby (Doggleby) 1485 –? (Siblings: Joan, Alice): Wife?
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William Duggleby (Douglebi of North Dalton) 1510 – 1561 (Siblings: Cuthbert, John): Wife?
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Robert Duggleby (Dugleby, Dougelbe of North Dalton) 1535 – 1589 (Siblings: Roger, Ann): Wife Mabel
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William Duggleby (Dougilbie) 1575 – 1620 (Siblings: John, Matthew, Richard, John, Audrey, Issabel) Wife Margaret
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Robert Duggleby 1605 – 1678 (Siblings: William, Thomas, Isabel): Wife Elizabeth
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John Duggleby 1675 – 1728 (Siblings: Nickolas, Elisabeth, Margaret, Beatrice): Wife Elizabeth
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David Duggleby 1723 – 1806 (Siblings: John, Rachel, Ann): Wife Elizabeth
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William Duggleby 1750 – 1794 (Sibling: Rebecca): Wife Elizabeth
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John Duggleby 1775 – 1830 (Siblings: Michael, William, Mary, Betty, Rebecca): Wife Jane
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William Duggleby 1804 – 1876 (Siblings: John, David, Bryan, Mary, Elizabeth, Mary, Anne): Wife Ann
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John Duggleby 1834 – 1911 (Siblings: George, William, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Jane, Matilda, Hannah): Wife Ann
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John William Duggleby 1879 – 1950 (Siblings: Seth, Wilson, Fred, Seth, Tom, George, Barbara, Mary, Frances, Ada): Wife Annie
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Leslie Duggleby 1907 – 1943 (Siblings: George, Maude, Adeline, Annie): Wife Elizabeth
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John Leslie Duggleby Born 1937 (Sibling: June): Wife Christine Helen
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Christopher Leslie Duggleby Born 1958 (Siblings: Matthew John, Helen Louise): Wife Monika
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Alexander Duggleby Born 1983 and Pascal Duggleby Born 1989
Chris Duggleby 
Thank you Chris & Vincent. That has made my job a lot easier. I also noticed in newspapers that there seems to be a Rev. Duggleby somewhere. I haven’t opened those pages yet as concentrated on looking at the ones that seemed relevant.
I am indebted to you and Bonnie and others who have placed so much information online. This is a branch of y sister-in-law’s family & I’m amazed that I got so much in one weekend.
That would have taken years when I
was doing my own
Chris I am happy for you to pass my email onto Vincent and other researchers.
It a pleasure Carmel,
I am just about to send your details to Vincent. Meanwhile you will see there is a bit more info from him in the next comment.
Greetings (back in Surrey, UK, today),
Chris.
Hi Ron. You have a very good point. There is no website with information comparable to duggleby.info which in my opinion is unlikely to return any time soon. That does not mean the information no longer exists. I have most of it on disc as well as my own very extensive paper based records and card indexes dating back to the 1930s which cover every aspect of the famil–parish records, censuses, wills, newspaper articles etc. So all is not lost. The problem is what to put back in the public domain and how to do it–something Chris might like to ponder (please contact me direct for some suggestions). The present chat orientated format is by definition limited but as I am not a computer expert I do not know how these things work and I’m afraid this dog is too old to learn new tricks. I still have a few copies of my book “Days Beyond Recall–a brief history of the Duggleby family” published in 2005 but it needs revising as some of the content (especially USA) has now been superseded. Which underlines the point that there are quite a lot of entries on the web which are out of date, contradictory or simply wrong. At the very least we need a basic guide to the family structure to encourage newcomers to keep up the good work. Best to all Vincent D.
Sorry it’s me again, Carmel but to save you a bit of time, the Reverend you have located is almost certainly The Rev John Taylor Duggleby (descended from the Ebberston/Cottingham branch) who emigrated from Yorkshire to Australia in 1912. He was a methodist minister who had quite a distinguished record in the first world war serving in the medical corps. He married Helen Milne in 1919 and had three children. Sadly his son was killed in WWII but there might be descendants of his daughter Mary Gertrude who married Edmund Harry Denton in 1950. Worth checking. Vincent D
Hi to all
I’ve just read the comments on this page after doing a little research into the Duggleby name. I thought I’d just mention that some of the US immigrants were also in Australia for a time. I have been researching a Marjorie Duggleby daughter of John Henry (1857-1935) who emigrated to Australia in 1886. According to the death index John Henry’s parents were John Paul and Mary Piercy. I believe they were at Bestwick Hall during the 1840-1870 era. In 1889 there were 2 other Duggleby immigrants to Australia and they went to same area & I believe were cousins of John Henry. These were Michael age 19 and Alfred age 17 making them born c 1870 and 1872. Looking through online records I believe these were sons of Alfred Waldby and Mary Hannah Simpson and are the same ones who went to Davenport Iowa. Michael married while here in Australia in 1893 and eldest son born here the following year. Then they went to New Zealand where a daughter was born and that was followed by a trip back to England and birth of a son before they went to Iowa abt 1903. Alfred must have gone to Iowa earlier since he married there in 1897. There is a record of an Alfred dying in Australia in 1941 possibly same area as the others had lived but I am still to find more information there as he is supposed to be a son of John Paul and Mary Brandom. With a different mother recorded I don’t know if he is the Alfred brother of John Henry who was born at Bestwick in 1861 or if he is another family again, If anyone has information to show that there is another John Paul or if John Henry’s father also married a Mary Brandom I’d really appreciate hearing about it.
Thanks Carmel
Hallo Carmel. As you have worked out John Henry Duggleby is from the mainstream Beswick line of the Duggleby family. His father John Paul Duggleby was one of 11 children born to Thomas Duggleby and Ann Jefferson (who are my great grandparents). There is a great deal of research material already in existence on this branch.
John Paul and Mary (Piercy) had 10 children, In about 1883, three of the children emigrated to Australia: John Henry and his younger twin brothers, Edwin and Alfred and they initially settled in Queensland. In 1887, they were joined by two more Duggleby cousins (albeit from an early generational link)–Michael Waldby and his younger brother Alfred Waldby Duggleby. As you say they were the sons of Alfred Waldby Duggleby and his wife Mary Hannah Simpson. They were from the “breakaway” Cottam branch founded by John Waldby Duggleby the forbear of the very substantial group which later settled in Davenport Iowa.
So at this stage (1887) it seems there were five Duggleby men in Australia, two of whom were called Alfred. In 1888 John Henry married Emma Ann Green and they had five children, one boy and four girls (including the Marjorie mentioned). Michael was the next to marry, in Brisbane (the date I have is 23 August 1892) and his wife was Allys Mary Gore. Soon after his brother Alfred went back to England and in 1893 he emigrated to the USA with another brother Johnson Duggleby arriving on 10 July 1893 and settling in Davenport, Iowa.
Back in Australia, Michael and Allys’ eldest son, Alfred Francis was born on 26 May 1893. Sometime in 1894 it seems that he and his cousin Edwin decided to move on to New Zealand and we know that Michael’s second child Irene Louisa May was born at Napier, NZ on 11 January 1896. Meanwhile in 1895, Edwin was admitted to a mental hospital in Christchurch NZ and 15 months later on 31 January 1897, he was found dead in tragic circumstances well documented in contemporary newspaper reports. Whether Michael and his family were still in New Zealand is doubtful but certainly he was back in England for the birth of their third child, Stanley Zealand Duggleby at Malton on 3 May 1897. Sadly he died just over one year later. Michael and Allys had seven more children, three of whom were born in Yorkshire and the last four in Iowa after they had emigrated to the USA arriving on 10 May 1903.
The final bit of the jigsaw concerns John Henry’s brother Alfred who married Lillian Manktelow in Queensland in 1910. They had four children and he is the Alfred who died on 26 February 1941. Some of this information is based on official records, other bits from the recollections of Michael Duggleby in conversation with my father Bernard Waldby Duggleby during visits to England in the 1930s (Michael died in 1940). I hope it will prove helpful. There is much much more, if you would let me know your email address via Chris. Best wishes Vincent Duggleby
Thanks Vincent,
This is a super review. Carmel would you mind letting me know if it is OK to forward your e-mail address directly to Vincent. By the way if any visitors to the site wish to communicate with me in confidence (and do not have my e-mail address) please just add the word ‘Confidential’ at the top of your comment and I will make sure that the content is not published without your prior permission. As a precaution I have set up the site so that I have to approve all comments before they are published on the site (this is necessary to allow me to filter out the approximately 50 spam ‘comments’ I get on a daily basis – most of which appear to be promoting Viagra!). This will explain why sometimes it may take a day for comments to get published – depending on my connectivity during my travel.
Please continue to use the site for this excellent communication – you are helping to bring the global Duggleby community ever closer together,
Kind regards from Bavaria,
Chris,
Just a one liner from me this time. The date of Stanley Zealand Duggleby’s birth confirmed by an in memoriam card was 3 November 1897 NOT 3 May. He died on 25 March 1898. Regards Vincent.
Hi Carmel, My name is Dan Stuart and I am the Great Great Grandson of the Alfred Duggleby and Mary Hannah Simpson. The Alfred Duggleby that married Mary Hannah Simpson and the Alfred that went to Australia are the same person. He did not die in Australia. They both did go back to England and eventually on to Davenport Iowa the ended up in Indiana. I don’t know if you happen to be on Ancestry.com or not but I have several pictures of Alfred along with some family history. I would love share any information. Thanks, Dan Stuart
Sorry, I was incorrect in my earlier post. Alfred and Michael are the son’s of Alfred and Mary Hannah Simpson not the same person.
Thanks Dan,
Let me know if I can help in any way,
regards, Chris.