The Family Trees of the Lawford's and the Pugh's

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Lawford Pedigree by Reginald Ames c.1880

It is fortunate that on both sides of my family, a great deal of work has gone into researching the ‘family trees’ (more properly ’pedigrees’) of my ancestors. 

All families are of ancient lineage, though most are difficult to trace beyond a few recent generations. In the U.K. records only began to be kept officially from 1837 when Registrars began to record births, marriages and deaths. From the beginning of the C17th births, marriage and deaths were only recorded by at a parish level by the Anglican Church but they were incomplete (they didn’t include non-conformists, Catholics and Jews for instance) and had until recently to be researched in person.

The U.K. also initiated a decennial Census in 1801. These can be researched on line - but only after 100 years have passed, so that today we can only see the Census data up to 1911 (but we will be able to see the 1921 data on FindMyPast in January 2022). One major problem with the Census however is that married women ‘lose’ their birth surnames and are recorded under their husband’s name. 

Before the C17th, family records are rare but births, marriages and deaths are sometimes recorded in family bibles. The Domesday Book recorded some family details but it is a record of material holdings and so can’t be reliably be used for tracing any but a few families.

Both the Lawfords and my mother’s family the Pughs have had significant histories and are therefore easier than most to trace. The Lawfords originated in the area near Rugby in the villages of Long Lawford and Church Lawford and although we don’t have any records before C16th a full pedigree was prepared by Reginald Ames in the 1880s showing the direct line back to Robert Lawford (1581 - 1641) of Co Warwick, Gent, after of Stoke Gifford, Co Gloucester, who died in Bristol. One of his sons, John Lawford (1609-1688) was mayor of Bristol in 1664 and 'Lord of the Manor of Tockington' in Co Gloucester, so we can conclude that the family was well-established by the C16th. Indeed, Valentine Lawford became Master of the Drapers' Livery Company in 1775 and many Lawfords had substantial businesses in banking and the law, as well as being prominent in the services.  The main source of more recent history into the Lawfords is my late Uncle Valentine (1911 -1991) who prepared several carefully researched files of our direct ancestors, including those found by Reginald Ames. He gave me a set of those files expecting me to carry on the work, but I arranged for the originals be held by my eldest cousin Jeremy, who is a much more assiduous researcher than I am. 

The Pugh's are an even older family with a long pedigree going back to the Welsh prince Rhodri Mawr, King of Powys in 867. They retained their importance throughout the middle ages and the Pugh’s of Mathavarn (north east of Machynlleth) were one of Wales most prominent families for several centuries. It is believed that Henry Tudor’s army camped at Mathavarn en route to battle of Bosworth (1485) and that Dafyd Llwd ap Llewellyn (a Pugh ancestor) sent his son with Henry to fight in the battle. Later in 1644 the house was burnt down by Parliamentary soldiers as the then owner Rowland Pugh, (a former sheriff of both Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire), was a staunch Royalist. Later his grandson John Pugh, a barrister, represented the borough of Montgomery in Parliament from 1702 to 1727 and several Pugh's have been MP's for their area of Wales since, one was one of Wales' most decorated soldiers, and his son led the secret raid on Goa in 1943 and another was the man who enabled Hunt's team to reach the top of Everest in 1953.

There is a horizontal Pugh family tree that covers just the last seven generations that extends to 15 closely written pages and incorporates every one of the members of the family (ie not just my direct line ancestors) since the Pugh's of Mathavarn with Humphrey Pugh in 1734. It was completed in 1982.  
 

The Pugh horizontal family tree 1982
 


A section of the Pugh family tree showing Christopher Evans's immediate family

The person who has the most knowledge of the Pugh's history is my cousin Christopher Evans, one time owner of one of the family estates, Lovesgrove (the other being Abermad) and the the grandson of one of Wales's most decorated soldiers, Brig-General Lewis Pugh Evans, VC, CMG, CB, DSO and 3 Bars who despite his surname is also a Pugh. The Pugh's and Evans's changed surnames in response to the wishes of those leaving them property, but they are all Pugh's!  

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