There's lots more information on the
Windgeat People
A-Z List 
Out of date now - will be updated in the coming year.
NOTE: If you have anything to add (or to contradict) or know of any other interesting Windeatts, Wingetts or Wingates from Devon please leave a message on the Message Board.
Artistic Windgeats
- There are two enigmatic references to an Emma WINDEAT and a
William WINDEAT who are listed as artists on an Italian website:
http://www.comanducci.it/Database/RisultatiE.asp?Ricerca=windeat
William is down as being a nineteenth century artist and Emma as belonging to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the spelling they would appear to belong to the North Bovey branch. I haven't explored further as the website does not meet the usual web credibility criteria. It appears that anyone can submit the name or names of artists and the aim appears to be to sell biographies to those willing to pay. The site, which offers free birthdates, may even be targeted at naive family historians.
[Later: 21st April 2006]
I have now found references to both these artists courtesy of the Gale databases which were freely open to search during April 2006:Emma S. Windeatt, d. 1926, fl. 1884-1922
- Dictionary of Women Artists. An international dictionary of women
artists born before 1900. By Chris Petteys. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.,
1985. [DcWomA]
Source Citation: Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1980-2006 - Biographical Index of Artists in Canada. By Evelyn de R. McMann.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003. [BiInAC]
Source Citation: Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1980- 2006
William Windeat, 1826, fl. Toronto, 1858-1870, 19th cent.-
- Biographical Index of Artists in Canada. By Evelyn de R. McMann.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003. [BiInAC]
Source Citation: Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1980- 2006 - Who Was Who in American Art. 400 years of artists in America. Second
edition. Three volumes. Edited by Peter Hastings Falk. Madison, CT:
Sound View Press, 1999. [WhAmArt 2]
Source Citation: Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1980- 2006 - The New-York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America,
1564- 1860. By George C. Groce and David H. Wallace. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1957. [NewYHSD]
Source Citation: Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1980- 2006
So it would appear that they are genuine artists, apparently from Canada, and, maybe, father and daughter.
Clues as to their identity:
- In the Penn State University Special Collection there is a record of a photograph taken by a W. Windeat in Toronto, Ontario some time between 1860-1900. This could be the same person.
- The Library and Archives of Canada lists a WENDEAT , WILLIAM, aged 45 from ENGLAND living in TORONTO WEST, St. George's Ward with a WINDET , LOUSIA, aged 56 from ENGLAND also living in St. George's Ward, Toronto West (see the Federal Census of 1871 (Ontario Index)).
These point to a connection with the Staverton tree (see below) but I am not sure how. If anyone has access to the reference books quoted above, it would be very interesting to see what they say.
- Dictionary of Women Artists. An international dictionary of women
artists born before 1900. By Chris Petteys. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.,
1985. [DcWomA]
W. N. WINGET, c. 1930
The Burnet-Morris index lists a W..N. WINGET who was an artist and whose topical cartoons (1927) and collection of local pictures (1930) were reprinted in the Torquay Directory.- The Staverton tree,
has an artistic branch headed by John (1823-1900) a hairdresser and
wigmaker in Plymouth, two of whose sons also became hairdressers and another of
whom became a compositor and printer. His youngest son, James, emigrated
to the US and became a portrait photographer in turn of the century Chicago . .
. [more ]
Heraldic Windeatts
Arms aren't granted to a name but to an individual so these coats of arms can't be regarded at all proprietarily but they do illustrate a sense of humour being canting arms (canting = punning) and confirm the original meaning of the name - windy gate.
The following two websites used to display different examples of WINGATE coats of arms - at the time of writing (12/08/04) they have disappeared.
- Wingate of Harlington, Bedfordshire
- The windy gate here appears as a crest.
- Wingate
- A full-blown windy gate or portcullis as a charge.
I have a bit more about this on my Origins page.
Infamous Windeatts
Oral history tells of a Windeatt hanged for sheep stealing but I haven't come across such a record yet. There is an early record of a Robert WYNDOUT fined one pound in Exeter in 1332 and, much later, in 1666 Daniell & Phillip Windeat appear in the Walkhampton Manor Court Rolls: "Daniell & Phillip Windeat spoylinge the comons by Cuttinge ffaggs". There is the usual sprinkling of base children to Windeatt women but not more so than in other families except for the strange circumstances in Walkhampton in 1705 where three women (Mary, Jane and Rose Windeatt) were all on parish relief - presumably for having bastard children? In 1792, a maintenance order for the support of Ann Williams' bastard child was taken out against Richard WINDEATT of Ermington (he married someone else a couple of years later). But, on the whole, they seem to have been a reasonably well-behaved lot - well at least while they were in Devon. Check out the criminal trials page for various crime reports of Windgeat variants in London, Bristol and Wales.
The most interesting Windeatt so far would seem to be Thomas White Windeatt (1769-1827) who is probably the same gentleman as the Thomas Windeatt who features in several works by Crossing as the vandal who destroyed Childe's tomb at Fox Tor farm on Dartmoor in 1812. The full story is intriguing and I have devoted a whole page to it - see Thomas White Windeatt - Pastor, Poet, Vandal?
Impoverished Windeatts
Only the Totnes tree WINDEATTs seem to have managed to hold on to any money across the centuries. And even they had a few bankruptcies in the nineteenth century. Other WINDEATTs were agricultural labourers or craftsmen. On Dartmoor, a name occasionally appears as a tenant on a lease, but they never seemed to stay there for more than a generation and this is probably why they are so hard to trace.
Mike Brown has written a very informative page for Genuki Devon called Settlement & Removal in Rural Devon Parishes. This illustrates exactly how such people managed to move around in those days before 1834 avoiding the immobilisation imposed by the Settlement acts. He also includes the records of Mary WINDEATT who seems to have caused the Overseers of the Poor some expense in Walkhampton in 1705 as they unsuccessfully sought settlement for her in Newton, Exeter and Lamerton. Mary was one of the three Windeatt women receiving relief for bastard children in 1705. What had they been up to? This family seems to have disappeared shortly afterwards possibly surfacing in Kingsbridge towards the middle of the century?
In another page for Genuki Devon Mike Brown quotes the life of a William WINDEATT in Ugborough as an example of the miserable existence of the paupers in past times:
"Amongst the late C18th inmates of the workhouse was William WINDEATT, who was made to work on the roads for 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year, for nearly 25 years - Sundays was always a day off, but the only “holiday” was Christmas Day (back on the roads on Boxing Day)" (1).
I am in the process of putting together some index lists of WINDGEATs who appear in the Poor Law records. So far I have found over 50 poor apprentices and 27 employers:
- Index page of Apprentices and Employers from Devon Poor Law Records.
And index page to other records: settlement and removal and bastardy hearing will follow eventually!
Of the 265-odd WINDEATTs in the 1851 census for Devon the following are listed as paupers
- Susan WINDEATT, a 78-year old Widow born in Westbury Wiltshire was living in Leechwell St. Totnes. We do not know who she is.
- Mary Grace WINDEATT, a 16 year-old Servant, born in Ipplepen, Devon was in the Newton Abbott Workhouse. She was born in Ipplepen in 1835, parents were a William and Mary but there is no other trace of them in the area so presumably they were just passing through? We are not sure which family this is.
- John WINDEAT, the father of William and Mary Ann (formerly FRENCH), was living with them in Dean Prior. He was aged 76 and classed as an Agricultural Labourer Pauper. It was shortly after this census (probably when the old man died) that William and Mary Ann emigrated to Canada and a better life. This family can be found on the Staverton tree.
In addition James WINGYETT, a married painter and glazier aged 34 from Plymouth is in the Sherriff's Ward for Debtors in Exeter and one John WINDEATT, an unmarried labourer aged 33, was a patient pauper in the Devon County Lunatic Asylum also in Exeter the same year. This is perhaps the John who died three years later in the Plympton Workhouse. The cause of death was given as "Chorea (10 years)". I am unsure where these two patients fit onto the current trees.
Literary Windeatts
Only the Totnes tree can make much in the way of claims to have written literature: Thomas White WINDEATT (see above), his daughter-in-law, Mary, and a distant cousin, Richard KING whose mother was a Windeatt, all wrote poetry - or at least were included in the West Country Poets book. Thomas White WINDEATT's grandsons, Edward Windeatt and John Sparkes Amery wrote many local history papers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In this century a Mary Fabyan WINDEATT (1910-1979) has written many books for children about the lives of the saints. Mary Fabyan Windeatt was Canadian and a catholic and I cannot work out how she fits into the staunchly non-conformist Totnes tree. She must belong there though because there are two other Mary Fabyan WINDEATTs on the tree and it was clearly a family name. There is a brief biography on the Race for Heaven website - select the Windeatt Biographies link from the left-hand menu. (American Vital Records give her birth date as 22nd August 1910 and her death date as November 1979 at Vincennes, Knox, Indiana.)
Funnily enough, for such a rare surname, it has appeared in at least four works of fiction:
- John Galsworthy, in a short story called A Stoic, mentions some WINDEATT Almshouses. Galsworthy's family originally came from Devon so the writer must have come across the name there.
- Eden Phillpotts included a 'Widow Windeatt' as one of the characters in his play 'The Farmer's Wife'. Hitchcock later used this play as the story for one of his early films. Eden Phillpotts must have been well aware of the family since he based one of his Dartmoor novels on the story of Thomas White Windeatt and Fox Tor farm (see above).
- Rosa Praed (1851-1935) wrote a book in 1915 called Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land. Set in Australia, it includes a minor character called 'Windeatt', a sheep farmer.
- Mary Wesley has a character called Hubert Windeatt-Whyte in her novel 'A Sensible Life'. On enquiry she replied that "she thought she had taken the first part of the name from a solicitors' brass plate" in her home town of Totnes. She then turned the name around to use in the book.
Musical Windeatts
The Horrabridge tree has two branches which include professional musicians:
- John (1805-1885) and the eldest of the seven brothers had a son called
Charles
Allen Windeatt (1837-1897) who was a music teacher. Charles' first two
sons were in the building trade (a carpenter and a plasterer) but at least
three of his other children were professional musicians:
- Corelli
Ernest Windeatt (1868-1947) composed light orchestral music and led The
London Dance Orchestra
- George Windeatt, whom I assume is Corelli's son: George Allen, is also referenced on a few web pages as an
orchestrator
of light music and as the
conductor
of some songs of the stage from the '30s and '40s.
UPDATE (2006): George now has an entry on the IMDB (Internet Movie Database).
- George Windeatt, whom I assume is Corelli's son: George Allen, is also referenced on a few web pages as an
orchestrator
of light music and as the
conductor
of some songs of the stage from the '30s and '40s.
- Frederick Albert Windeatt (1870-1955) was a violinist
- Frederick's son Louis Vernon Windeatt (1898-1918) gave his occupation as a musician when he was called up to fight in the first world war - from which he sadly never returned.
- Charlotte Elizabeth (1879-?) was also a violinist.
You can find quite a long list of Corelli's compositions and George's dance arrangements if you do a search of the British Library's holdings. Corelli's records occasionally appear on the web for sale and you can sometimes find them by typing the surname Windeatt and a selection of the words music/jazz/swing.dance into a search engine. There are also a couple of references to his band, the London Dance Orchestra, in some web pages about Sir Arthur Bliss who dedicated a One Step dance to him: see Sir Arthur Bliss from ASV and Bliss (One Step) from Chester Novello. Before he moved to London he must have played in his home town, Weston-Super-Mare, because a correspondent has a postcard photograph of Weston displaying an advert for C. WINDEATT's Band at the Grand Pier Theatre. The postcard is thought to date from about 1920.
Link to web pages of family history information about Charles Allen WINDEATT and his descendants.
- Corelli
Ernest Windeatt (1868-1947) composed light orchestral music and led The
London Dance Orchestra
- John (1841-1890), the nephew of the John above, gave his
occupation as 'professor of music' on occasions. Earlier in his life
he was an asylum attendant and later a coal dealer. Descendants tell of his
being able to play a variety of instruments including the piccolo.
Link to web page of family history information about John WINDEATT.
Respectable Windeatts
Latter-day pillars of society are the many members of the Totnes tree who became solicitors, local historians, town clerks and mayors of their home town: Totnes. There is even a Windeatt square in Totnes which was, presumably, called after one of the three gentlemen below:
Totnes worthies:
William Fabyan WINDEATT (1807-1865), son of Thomas White Windeatt, Attorney in Law at Practice, Totnes Workhouse Union Clerk and Superintendent Registrar.
NOTE: There may have been a shadow over this gentleman's respectability since it is possible he fathered a child (Jane Windeatt Tucker) by one of the Workhouse inmates and then moved the family to some rooms at the back of his law offices. Of course, he may just have been being charitable and the child was named after him in gratitude!Thomas White WINDEATT (1804-1903), son of William Fabyan above.
Solicitor. Mayor of Totnes, 1900, 1902,1903."Whether a mayor, churchwarden, sidesman, councillor, volunteer, officer or manager of church schools, he did his duty faithfully and honourable, and left behind him a name and reputation untarnished and unsullied" (2)
Edward WINDEATT (1846-1921), brother of Thomas White above.
Solicitor. County Alderman. Town Clerk of Totnes for 23 years, Mayor of Totnes for five terms.
Author of numerous papers on local history. President of the Devonshire Association (3).Here is a photograph of a George WINDEATT, Town Clerk, from the Totnes Image Bank. And a further reference to him when he was Deputy Town Clerk (gosh, those boys sound like a handful!).
The Ughborough tree also boasts a mayor:
George John WINGETT (1903-1983), Mayor of Plymouth 1958-9.
Sporty Windeatts
I haven't found any records of sporting prowess in earlier centuries but, more recently, WINDEATTs from both the Staverton tree and the Torquay tree have distinguished themselves as swimmers. Graham Windeatt , of the Staverton tree, won a silver medal for Australia in the 1972 Olympics while Malcolm Windeatt of the Torquay tree swam for the British Olympic Team at the same event. This amazing co-incidence (WINDEATT is a rare surname) does make one wonder about possible genetic links between these two trees.
- Wikipedia entry for Graham Windeatt
More recently Terry Windeatt and Claire Windeatt, also from the Torquay tree, appear frequently on web pages about swimming events. Claire Windeatt now has her own profile on the British ASA (Amateur Swimming Association) web site.
Links to other sites mentioning WINDEATT family members:
See my LINKS page - click on the grey button below or at the top of the page.
References:
- Brown, M., Dartmoor Press Online Magazine: Ugborough, (2001) [online] Available from: http://www.dartmoorpress.clara.net/indexpugb.html#Some%20Notes%20on%20Ugborough%20Families [accessed on 20/04/01]
- Windiate-Blackmore, R. Real Names, letter to Family Tree Magazine, October 1995, p.40.
- Obituary Notice, The Devonshire Association, Vol. 35, p.44.
