I have the majority of the GUMSLEY information thanks to my fourth cousin once removed, Dr Stuart WHOMSLEY, who has kindly agreed to be our resident expert.

Origins

The GUMSLEYs are very much a Newark (-upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire) family like the BECKs, who they married into. Again, their origins before the first marriage record we've found is a mystery. Stuart and I can't seem to find anything for the family, under any variants of the name that we have, before 1807.

History

MISSING: GEORGE GUMSLEY, aged about 50, husband, father of seven.

Don't panic, this isn't a recent runaway. Like the first Thomas BECK, George GUMSLEY (of various spellings that are listed below) was not with his family for the 1841 census. However, unlike Thomas, George was a bricklayer, not a waterman, so his wanderings are somewhat unexpected. Not to mention annoying. As George died before June 1847, we'll probably never know for sure if he was Newark born and bred.

The first record we have is George's marriage to Anne WINN in Newark in 1807. They had seven children, two girls and five boys, and a bricklaying dynasty was born. George, his sons George, Henry and Thomas, his grandsons George, John, Henry and Thomas (x 2), and his great grandson William Henry were all brickies who helped build rows of terraced housing in Newark.

Unfortunately, with World War I, the last Newark-based male lines of our (known) GUMSLEY family were killed. Harry and Thomas Federick are now listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web-site [External Link]. That doesn't, of course, prevent us finding more relatives, as we stumble into the descendants of the female lines. We also know of GUMSLEYs who moved out of the Newark area, but not what happened to them.

Professor of GUMSLEY-ology

Stuart WHOMSLEY, the 3 x great grandson of the first George GUMSLEY, has done a huge amount of research on this family and is definitely the man to approach for more information and to compare notes. He can be contacted at:

I have set up the e-mail link above so that your e-mail editor should open with GUMSLEYs of Newark in the subject line. If you use web-mail, please remember to put that bit in.

(And because I ought to mention it, his band has a web-site at: www.bossloper.com [External Link])

My Connection

The first George's granddaughter Susannah or Sussanah married Thomas BECK, grandson of the one mentioned above.

I would also love to hear from new relatives, and if you have any stories or information that you would like to share, please do! You can get in touch with me through the Contact Me page.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 10/07/2007.

Alternative Spellings

Some other ways of (mis-)spelling GUMSLEY that we've come across.

GOMERSLEY,
GUMMERSLEY,
GUMMERSLY

Related Families

These are the families that married into, or were married into by, the GUMSLEYs:

BECK,
COBB,
CORNELIUS,
DABELL/DAYBELL/DAYBILL,
FOSTER (x 2),
HICKMAN,
NORRIS,
PHILIPS,
ROBINSON,
ROUSTON,
SADLER,
WHOMSLEY,
WINN