The first known male migrant from Langford Budville married at Kenton, Devon, in 1712, followed by another who wed at Wrington, Somerset, in 1756.
Three males from Langford Budville and neighbouring Nynehead took Wellington brides in ceremonies in that town in 1814, 1815 and 1816, the first moving on quickly to Chedzoy (Bridgwater) to continue agricultural employment, the others apparently remained in the parishes from which they had come; the next male to marry in Wellington (1851) had been baptised in Langford Budville. Six children born in Wellington (1842_1850) of a Nynehead marriage were subjects of the earliest Wellington baptisms (1850).
Original destinations were often staging posts for later generations. The areas mainly affected by the pre-1900 exodus can be summarised as follows:
General reception area. |
Earliest birth/baptism |
Earliest marriage |
Total related births/baptisms to 1913 |
|
Devon |
|
1713 |
1712 |
13* |
Somerset |
Wrington |
1767 |
1766 |
10 |
|
Banwell |
1786 |
1828(F) |
16 |
Bristol |
|
1841 |
1810 |
42* |
Somerset |
Wellington (town) |
1842 |
1814 |
77 |
|
Bridgewater |
1818 |
1852 |
25 |
London |
|
1827 |
1855 |
24* |
Hampshire |
Portsmouth/ Southampton |
1852 |
1851 |
26* |
Yorkshire |
Bradford |
1864 |
1885 |
17 |
South Wales |
PontyPridd |
1865 |
1888 |
10 |
|
Cardiff |
1871 |
1870 |
5 |
|
Pontypool |
- |
1872 |
- |
|
Swansea |
1873 |
1880 |
32* |
|
Newport |
1873 |
1851(F) |
18 |
(F) female. * for earlier/other unidentified items see Appendix A.
In 1841 two unmarried Langford Budville males, and in 1852 a female member of the Banwell family, with husband and children, emigrated to Australia. The absence from St, Catherine's House indexes of records of marriages and/or deaths in a few cases may indicate that others also left the Country.
In the 1988 telephone directory there were no Waygood subscribers in Langford Budville or the adjoining rural parishes in which the curate's earliest descendants lived.
19th century times were hard, and most migrants forsook rural life for town and other locations where employment was more readily available.
In 1851 a motherless 14-year-old male member of the family was in Taunton Gaol for 14 days for stealing 12 eggs and between 1852 and 1900 eight adult members died in Wellington Union Workhouse, most at advanced ages. The Workhouse area covered Wellington and neighbouring parishes, and the inmate total at 1871 census was 160.
The mass move to Wellington resulted very largely from the availability of work in the woollen manufacturing industry located there, and to South Whales from employment opportunities in coal mines and ports. The earliest Portsmouth, Southampton arrivals became merchant seamen; the three brothers who moved to Bradford, Yorks., are thought to have continued employment in the woollen industry. Plasterer, sawyer, tailor and Weaver were among the occupations of the first Bristol arrivals.