Bending One-Name Study

(Click on picture to enlarge) The seal of Peter de Bending b1190

Bending
One-Name Study

Topics

About the Bending One-Name Study
Data
DNA project
Links
Contact Details

About the Bending One-Name Study

There are two distinct families of Bendings, the Norman de Bendings, in various spellings, and the native Bendings who originated in Devon.

The earliest references to the Norman line appear in the 12C with Stephen and William de Bending, possibly brothers, owning land around Odiham, Hampshire. In the Dark Ages this area was known as Bintingas, from a Jutish tribe, and may have been the origin of the Norman name. William was Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset and a judge. Later branches of the family owned land in Charing, Kent, which they lost after getting in the clutches of moneylenders. In the 13C there were connections with Windsor Castle, and Bendings remained in the area until the 19C when a move was made to Norfolk, where the line ended with the death of Thomas Firth Richmond Bending in 1856 at Norwich.

The first mention of Bendings in Devon is in the Subsidy Rolls of 1543/5 for Payhembury and Honiton, which are a few miles from Bindon near Axmouth, known in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as Beandune, the site of a battle in AD 614. In the 1238 Crown Pleas of the Devon Eyre, Axmouth Hundred, Robert de Bendone was outlawed for murder, and the fugitive's lord was Philip de Bendone. 'Bendone' is indicating place of origin, and it is quite likely that 'Bending' was derived from this location. Even as late as the 1851 census two thirds of Bendings lived in or around Honiton.

The progenitor of modern Bendings, Robert Bending of Payhembury, born about 1530, is mentioned in the Parish Register of Payhembury in 1559 as a father, and in the Muster Rolls for 1569 as a billman. He appears to have leased land at Awliscombe, and may be classed as a yeoman. Robert has about 1500 descendants in the male line, of whom 500 are in the UK today.

There are Bendings in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA, most originated in England, others in Germany and Sweden. An early unwilling emigrant to America was Gilbert Bending, sentenced to be hanged in 1720 for stealing seven silver spoons, later commuted to 14 years transportation to Maryland as a bonded servant.

Anyone interested in this family is referred to the Bending Family History web site which with 22MB and 800 pages has full information, or to the major sections (see links below)

Data

Censuses, bmd certificates, directories, GRO, IGI, parish registers, wills, and 150 other sources, are on site

DNA project

I have opted for the 25 marker haplotypes, and the cost was sterling 135.81. The sample was received in the States on 22 Feb 2006, and the results were emailed to me on the 29th March 2006

I would welcome correspondence with any Bending who has been 'profiled' so that we may compare results to see if we have a common ancestor.