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| The Wait Crest |
Impressive crest isn't it. Unfortunately since investigating my Wait family history, I have not come across any aristocracy amongst my ancestors - yet. But this is on-going research, so we will have to Wait and see!
I have always had a love of history, which I seem to have inherited from my father. My research began back in 1995 after discovering a paperback about genealogy in a book shop in Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex. This was before any genealogical information was available on the Internet. So through dogged perseverance I pursued various branches of my family tree. I spent many hours reel spinning microfiche film at The Public Records Office in Chancery Lane and trawling the books in Somerset House in London. But two years later I had reached the stage where I needed to access parish records. As both maternal and paternal sides came from London, the train journeys to the archives were proving too expensive, so reluctantly I decided to stop.
In the meantime interest in genealogy grew at a phenomenal pace and more and more records (including parish records) were uploaded onto the Internet. I watched the TV shows with interest and glanced occasionally at the numerous magazines and websites. Finally at the beginning of this year I succumbed and re-started my research.
I have traced my ancestors through two World Wars, the Zeppelin raids, onto the Titanic to Three Cups Alley in the east end of Victorian London and beyond. But unfortunately the records have become unwieldy. The details are stored on several computer programs and in various note books. So I decided it would be a lot easier to upload it all on to a blog, so that family and friends can easily access my research.
Each blog post will have links to dates and names of members of the family at the bottom of the page. By using those links it will enable the reader to follow all the individuals and time-periods.
But let's begin with the actual Wait surname. This is what two Internet sites tells us:
"The name Waite (also Wait, Wayt, Wayte, Wayght, Waight, and Weight) derives from the Old English word for Watch (as in Watchman). The term described the minstrels who originally performed for noble families and later referred to the men who called out the Watch (hour) and performed music to entertain the passers-by.
All the Waites of England and Wales are believed to be descendants of Ricardus Le Wayte of the County of Warwick, who was Escheater of the counties of Berkshire, Wilts, Oxford, Bedford, and Bucks in 1315. Ricardus was a direct descendant of Ralf de Waiet, whose wife was Emma, sister of Roger, Earl of Hereford, and cousin of William the Conqueror. In 1075 A.D., William presented the Earldom, city and castle of Norwich, England, to Ralf de Waiet on his marriage to Emma.
And there is more information on the surname here:
"This is an early medieval English occupational name for a watchman, introduced into England by followers of William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and derived from the Old Norman-French "waite", Old French "guait". The name applied specifically to a watchman in either a fortified place or a town. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the name bearer, and later became hereditary. The singers and musicians of the Christmas "Waits" today carry on the tradition of the Waits of medieval England who combine the duties of watchman and musicians. "At the last he came to a Castel and there he herd the waytes upon the wallys", Malory, "le Morte Arthur", 1485.
In the modern idiom, there are more than fifteen possible spellings of the name ranging from Waith, Wait, Waite, Wayt, Weight, and Waight to Whate. Thomas Waite (1615 - 1688), was a colonel in the parliamentary army in 1643 during the English Civil War and M.P. for Rutland from 1646 - 1653. He was also one of the judges of Charles 1, and signatory to his death warrant in 1649, and was imprisoned in 1660 at the Restoration of Charles 11. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger le Wayte, which was dated 1221, in "County Records of Suffolk (Ely)", during the reign of King Henry III, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling."
The earliest recorded references of the surname Wait are :-
Ailward Waite 1180-1187 Early London Names
Roger la Waite 1197 Feet of Fines
Ralph Laweite 12th Century Nottingham
Ralph la Waite 1202 Curra Regis Rolls Hampshire (also known as Radulfus Vigil 'the watchman')
Robert la Waite 1207 Pipe Rolls Essex (also known as 'de la Waite*' in 1206
Roger le Wayte 1221 Suffolk British Museum
John la Wayte 1243 Assize Rolls
Hugh le Weyt 1251 Assize Rolls
Roger le Wate 1296 Subsidy Rolls Sussex
Adam le Whaite 1349 Calendar of Letter Books
Richard Waight 1595-1610 London*de la Waite meant of the watch
But what about that glamorous crest above? In the General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales the crest of Wait is described as:
chev. betw. three buglehorns stringed sa. garnished or. motto - Pro Aris Et Focis.
The Latin motto Pro Aris Et Focis can be interpreted in various ways, either for our homes and alters, for our hearths and home or for God and country. It has been used by institutions and military regiments all over the world. The phrase was used by the 'Wait' family of Scotland, during the French Revolution and more recently by the Navy SEAL's that killed Bin Laden. It seems the crest was last used by a William Savage-Wait (1817- 1847) of Woodborough Manor, near Radstock in Somerset, England.
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| The Wait bugle horn stringed and garnished |
Although this blog will mainly follow the Wait side of my ancestors, it will also include other branches of both maternal and paternal families. Along the way there will be plenty of images of census returns and of course birth, marriage and death certificates. But I have also tried to add as much historical detail to the information as I can. Like most family history there remains mysteries. But hopefully through time and patient research those questions will be answered and memories of this family will be kept alive for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I hope my family and friends will find this journey back in time as fascinating as I have.
Sources: The Internet Surname Database
Dictionary of British Surnames by P.H. Reaney
House of Names.com
The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales by Sir Bernard Burke
