Stenson
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Stenson One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Contact Details

About the Stenson One-Name Study

Welcome to the webpage of the Stenson One-Name study.

Access is available, via this site, to the GRO references for births, marriages and deaths for individual Stensons. Furthermore, I have been able to group many into specific family groups, tracing their family lines back to the early 1800s. Some of these groups contain hundreds of names, with links to siblings, parents, grandparents etc.

For those of you using this site to look at the GRO reference material, can you please send a mail to the address given below, and I will gladly share any information which I have been able to gather on your specific Stenson family line.

I have accumulated all the GRO references for Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales up to 1983 - although the database shows that I have the records on death up to 1949. In addition, I have the records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Ellis Island databases, as well as all the BMD references from the Victoria Archives centre in Melbourne/Australia and all references given on the IGI database.

Variants

I am not currently working on acquiring any references to variations of this name.

However, it is clear in my research that, from the early 1800s, in particular in Leicestershire there was irregular spelling of the surname. Some used to have business cards with the spelling as 'Stenson' although their businesses were advertised under the name 'Stinson'. If you are unable to find a 'Stenson' on one of the census databases, try 'Stinson' instead. All the variants such as Stinson, Steenson, Stemson and Stenchion, amongst others, are closely linked. At some future date, I will add these variants to this ONS.

From the information which I have gathered, it would appear that the surnames (Stenson/Stinson) didn't get 'frozen', and established as two seperate surnames until the late 1800s, probably as a result of advances in literacy at schools. Pre 1850, it would appear that the spelling recorded in documents, and particularly parish registers, were at the whim of the recorders ability to interpretate the local dialect, as would appear to have occured for example in Leicestershire (predominantly of local country accent) and Leeds (predominantly of Irish decent)

There are a number of marriages throughout the 1700 and through into the 1800s, which show a number of Stensons marrying into the Stevenson name. One child was even named John Stevenson Stenson. The two surnames (Stenson and Stevenson) are linked by marriage - not a variation of the same name.

Origin of the surname

The earliest recorded reference to the name Stenson, which I have found, is that in the Doomsday Book. It is listed as Steintune. Today, this in the hamlet of 'Stenson' just south east of Derby on the Trent & Mersey canal. The following reference can be found in Pigot & Cos, 'Commercial Directory for Derbyshire', dated 1835.

'TWYFORD is a village, and with STENSON, form a chapelry, in that part of the parish of Barrow which is in the hundred of Appletree, pleasantly situate on the banks of the Trent, five and a half miles S.S.W. from Derby. The chapel is dedicated to St. Andrew, and the living is connected with the vicarage of Barrow. The chapelry contained, in 1821, 235, and in 1831, 219 inhabitants.'

The earliest birth record which I have been able to find is that for John in 1561 baptised at St Peters in Derby.

The earliest marriage record found to date is that between Richard Stenson and Agnes Holme at Kirby Lonsdale in 1539, and the earliest death record is that of Margrat in 1656 in Newcastle upon Tyne.

With the distribution of the name centering on the Derbyshire/Nottingham area in England and the counties of Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon in Ireland during the 19th century, I hope to be able to establish either a link between them, and/or to establish the origin of the name.

From research in Yorkshire, I can trace the Stensons of Leeds/Bradford back to circa 1750 and would conclude that the origin of this Stenson line is from Ireland.

Historical occurrences

One of the notable Stensons was John (b.1805) who established the Baptist Church in Pimlico, London. Other Stensons were connected by marriage to Dr. John Clifford, the President of the General Baptists in the 1880's.

William (b.1773) bore the first mine shaft in the Derbyshire coalfields. Together with the Stevenson family, he built the first railway line between the mines and the city of Leicester, thus enabling the coal to be further transported onto London. The town of Coalville has strong ties with Williams' family.

There are a handful of Stensons tried at the Old Bailey. One of these was Thomas Stenson who was tried on the 18th April 1798 - accused of pickpocketing. Fortunately, he was found not guilty. Less fortunate was Elizabeth Stenson, who at the age of 16 in 1825 was found guilty of stealing a pair of shoes and deported for 14 years. She served out her sentence and spent the rest of her life on Tasmania. A stone is laid in her memory on the 'Convict Path' on the island. Through their viewing of this webpage, I've been in contact with direct relations of Elizabeth, who currently live in New Zealand.

There is also a B&B in the seaside town of Cromer (UK) named 'Stenson'.

The Hewara & Normanby Star newspaper (New Zealand) reported on the 27th November 1895 that a J. Stenson was elected Mayor of Lyttelton (Christchurch).

The name Stenson appears on the cricket scorecard of a game between Auckland and Canterbury in January 1890.

There was a racehorse called 'Stenson' which ran in Auckland (New Zealand) in 1899.

Lt William Henry Guilland Stenson of the 19th Field Regiment Royal Artillery and Lt Frank Stenson of the 8 Battlion Royal Fusiliers were both commended for the Military Cross for action in Italy during WW2.

Frequency of the name

On the 1841C England census, 347 Stensons are recorded. This grew to around 535 on the 1881C.

The number of Stensons on the GRO Birth register between 1837 to 1983 is approx 2500 individuals. The number on the GRO Marriage registers for the same period is approx 2000 names.

I have approx 10000 names in total which I have been able to group into ca. 850 families. The single largest grouping totalling around 2500 named individuals.

Can I please ask anyone accessing this webpage to send me an email at the address given. I have already established a link for most Stensons and would be very willing to examine this with any of your own activities. I am also 'in touch' with a number of others who are looking at localised Stenson families and would be willing to put these researchers in contact with anyone enquiring.

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Nigel Rixson
71 The Thatchers,
Bishops Stortford,
Hertfordshire
CM23 4GU
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

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