The Fardons of Gloucestershire, England.

- Return to the Introduction Page


The Family Groups

INDEX:- There is an index of first names for Fardons only, if a search is being made across all the chapters. To go to the index click this text.

Also at the bottom of this table are the Appendices covering Military Records.

Chapter 1
Introduction
This introductory chapter gives some overall background on the group of Fardon families that originated in the Gloucestershire area in the late 1600s and are indicated in the chapters below. There is background on the dispersal of families within the UK and abroad. Also outlined are the, farming related, occupations in which these groups of families were involved and some information on those who served in WW1.
 
Chapter 2
Research Sources
This chapter lists and discusses the sources used in this project. There are two broad categories. National, that can be consulted in central locations, such as the National Archives at Kew, near London, and the Family Records Centre in London, and increasingly on the Internet. Also there are Local, including parish records, directories of local residents and businesses, electoral registers, school records, and sometimes other documents such as wills and property deeds, memorials.
 
Chapter 3
The Earliest Families
The first known Fardon arrived in the area around 1698 and became Constable of Hailes. One of his sons moved to Temple Guiting, the head of a branch of the family that would be in the parish for two centuries. His son, and perhaps also he himself, was a farrier, which set the pattern for the family trade of blacksmith over several generations.
 
Chapter 4
C
James
son of John and Mary
This is a very large branch of the family, with perhaps 200 Fardons across the generations. The blacksmith business set up there, later in Stoneleigh, expanded to encompass more modern mechanical applications and appears to have prospered over three or four generations. Sons went forth and multiplied, resulting in large families of Fardons in north and east London, then spreading to Devon, Northamptonshire, and Berkshire among other places; and probably also to Australia. Of the descendants of this branch who fought in the World Wars, one was lost on the Western Front in 1917 at the age of 19, another perished in action in Italy in 1944. Descendants are currently known in Northampton, Sussex and in Australia and there are no doubt others in areas to which members of this branch dispersed.
 
Chapter 5
D
John
son of John and Mary
Little is known about John, who probably spent the whole of his life in Temple Guiting, and who died there probably unmarried at the age of 50.
 
Chapter 6
E
William
son of John and Mary
This branch of the Fardons provided blacksmiths at Temple Guiting and later Hawling for much of the 19th century. One of William's two blacksmith sons later went into farming near Winchcombe. Two of William's sons emigrated to America as young men, set up as farmers in Ohio, married and raised families there. In later generations Fardons of this branch were found in Lancashire and in the West Midlands, though not as blacksmiths - for example the West Midlands family were butchers. However, daughters outnumbered sons through the generations and some of the sons did not marry. Thus in spite of the size of this branch at the end of the nineteenth century the Fardon name here all but disappears in England in the twentieth
 
Chapter 7
F
Sarah
daughter of John and Mary
Sarah was born in Temple Guiting in 1799 later in 1831 she married a local man, George Bayliss from Naunton and they settled in Hawling. They both lived locally and appeared not to have had any children.
 
Chapter 8
G
Mary
daughter of John and Mary
Mary was born in Temple Guiting in 1801 later in 1824, in Cheltenham, she married Richard Cresser. Very little is known about the family after they married and therefore any information on them would be most welcome.
 
Chapter 9
H
Henry
son of John and Mary
A small branch which set up in the blacksmith trade in Leamington, developed the business over three generations, acquired property, and apparently became successful and wealthy. A stable branch in terms of occupation and residence. Unfortunately untoward deaths of male members, and thereafter the prominence of female progeny meant that the Fardon name died out after three generations. The ready availability of probate records, commercial directories and electoral registers in addition to the usual censuses and parish records has meant that there is a greater depth of information here than with most of the branches,
 
Chapter 10
I
Lucy
daughter of John and Mary
Lucy was born in Temple Guiting in 1805 and in 1837, at Temple Guiting, married Thomas Smith. Like her sister Mary little is known about the family as she was widowed early, and later makes appearances on visits to siblings, conveniently at census times and therefore any information on them would be most welcome.
 
Chapter 11
J
Emmanuel
son of John and Mary
Emmanuel was born in Temple Guiting probably at the end of 1807 but died within 16 months.
 
Chapter 12
K
Joseph
son of John and Mary
This is a small branch in which the Fardon name probably died out in Great Britain after the fourth generation. However, emigration in the fourth generation led to descendants currently in Australia. Also, a third-generation member emigrated to New Zealand but descendants have not yet been identified there. Initially the members of the branch followed traditional Fardon occupations of blacksmith and related trades, though one left the village life for the city, and pursued his skills in a Black Country ironworks. One fought in the First World War, was released with a disability pension and died shortly thereafter perhaps of war-related illness.
 
Chapter 13
L
Daniel
son of John and Mary

Daniel, blacksmith, probably spent most of his life in Temple Guiting, though he was living in Stanway when he died at the age of 35. He was married, but there is no evidence that there were children, and it is probable that after him the Fardon name died out in this branch.

 
Chapter 14
M
George
son of John and Mary
This is one of the smaller branches of the TG Fardon family. There is no documented evidence that any were blacksmiths, those of the first two generations being recorded as agricultural workers, though of these did become a carpenter. Members of a later generation would start in agriculture, but then leave the land for the towns in England, for example Cheltenham, Leicester, Birmingham, Southampton, and branch out into occupations such as baker, railway worker, postman, policeman. .At least one of the later generation, and probably others, served in the First World War. In this branch the Fardon name may have died out in Great Britain, but one male member emigrated to Australia, perhaps continuing the name there.
 
Chapter 15
N
David
son of John and Mary
David, the sole representative of this branch, was baptised in Temple Guiting with his twin brother George in September 1816. Thereafter no records have been found. It must be assumed that he died, and that this fact is missing from available records.
 
Chapter 16
O
Moses
son of John and Mary
The head of this branch of the family was also a blacksmith, at first in Temple Guiting, later in Bredon, Worcestershire. He married a niece. His wife and the one surviving daughter (of two) emigrated to the United States of America but he did not accompany them. With a single surviving daughter, the Fardon name died out after the second generation.
 
Chapter 17
P
Richard
son of Richard and Mary
Little is known about Richard, who was a blacksmith and who died in his early sixties almost certainly unmarried. It is probable that he was working with his half-brother James as a blacksmith.
 
Chapter 18
Q
John
son of Richard and Susannah
A very large branch. John moved from Temple Guiting to Bourton on the Hill, where he established a blacksmith business. This prospered under a son and grandson, and there was a Fardon presence in the village until the middle of the twentieth century. Another of John's sons set up as a blacksmith in Coventry; his sons moved to Nottingham, Warwick, London and Luton, where Fardon colonies were established; as well as some remaining in the Coventry area. Three of John's sons had large families (some 27 children in all) and there were many grandchildren. The result is that this is one of the larger Fardon branches, with representatives through southern England and the Midlands. The traditional Fardon occupation of blacksmith lasted through three generations in Bourton on the Hill. But elsewhere it did not go beyond the second generation, being replaced by light industrial skills. Members of this branch fought in World War 1 without loss, though with probably wounds. In World War 2 one was lost at sea, another perished at home on fire-fighting duty.
 
Chapter 19
R
James
son of Richard and Susannah
This branch of the family was again headed by a blacksmith, a trade which he apparently followed throughout his life. He was not settled, but, after marriage, moved briefly to Warwickshire, was then seen in a number of places in Gloucestershire, before moving to Oxfordshire, and finally returning to Gloucestershire. His three children were all girls, so that on their marriages (in one case death unmarried) the Fardon name disappears. One married daughter settled in Oxfordshire, one in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. One of the granchildren may have been the first of the Temple Guiting Fardon stock to become a student at an Oxford college.
 
Chapter 20
S
Isaac
son of Richard and Susannah
This is not a large branch, mainly because of a shortage of male children in the early generations to carry forward the Fardon name - just one from the first generation, two in the second. Isaac's occupations were in the licensed trade and in farming, and farming would be carried through several generations, with Fardons as both tenants and farm workers on many of the farms in the Winchcombe are up to the middle of the twentieth century. One of the third generation sons moved to London and joined the police force, and his descendants continued to live in the London area. In this branch there was an unusually high level of infant mortality in the first and second generations.
 
Chapter 21
T
Joshua
son of Richard and Susannah
A small branch, strangely unfocused, with a variety of residences and occupations (no evidence of any blacksmiths here). One daughter did well for herself as a solicitor's wife with servants. With male deaths and only female descendants by the third generation the Fardon name did not survive.
 
Chapter 22
U
Sarah
daughter of Richard and Susannah
Sarah was born in the Temple Guiting hamlet of Ford in January 1813. In 1830 she was in Winchcombe to marry Richard Mansell, a shoemaker born in the village of Didbrook. She lived what seems to have been a typically uneventful life of a rural housewife. She married a shoemaker, had children by him and grandchildren. She lived her life in north Gloucestershire, and died in her eightieth year
 
Chapter 23
V
Ann
daughter of Richard and Susannah
Ann was born in Ford, Temple Guiting, about 1815. In 1836 she married John Pope from Wolford, Oxfordshire, a labourer. They moved to the Warwick area where they lived for the rest of their lives, bringing up a family of probably nine children. Ann died in 1876 at the age of 61.
 
Chapter 24
W
William
son of Richard and Susannah
This is a small branch, with no known Fardons so far identified after the second generation. The family moved to Moreton-in-Marsh, where William was blacksmith. But after losing his wife and twins, probably in childbirth, he left the town, remarried, and was lost from the records. Two daughters can be traced later, but the two surviving sons who could have maintained the family name are also lost.
 
Chapter 25
X
Jane
daughter of Richard and Susannah
Jane followed the typical path of a woman of her age and situation. She married (William Hopkins, a native of Church Stanway) moved to her husband's village (Wood Stanway) , and spent the rest of her life there bearing and bringing up their children .
 
Chapter 26
Y
David
Son of Richard and Susannah
The last child of Richard and Susannah, born in July 1825. His life lasted only 22 weeks, and he was buried in Temple Guiting on the last day of the year.
 
Appendix
A
The Military Records
These records deal with Fardon military history and through the individual serviceman or woman's record they reveal the personal situations that they found themselves in at the time. The British Army First World War service records (Nat Archives catalogue reference Series WO 364) include those of soldiers discharged on account of sickness or injuries sustained during their service.
 
Appendix
B
The First World War Medals
Those who fought in the First World War were awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The medals were issued in their millions, but each one is unique in that it bears around the rim the name, service number and unit of the recipient. Listed here are the Fardons who were recipients of medals, along with other references to the Public Records Office Files if an individual family member wishes to undertake further research. Also included is a brief description and some background on the medals
 

Return to Top of The Family Groups


This document was last Updated 11 July 2015