Chattaway facts and fun

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 Where and how did the chattaway name originate ?
Berkeswell near Coventry is the ealiest source of the name we now know as Chattaway, and as far as I can see all the known Chattaways in the world come from Thomas Chatweye and  Ann in 1600 (married 1624)  obviously they had parents but the name was hard to find before then, so I expect the varation before Thomas was significanly different.
Before this time it could have been chete way chat way  or a hundred different spellings.
A central area for the chattaway beginings was Solihull in Birmingham, there was and still is a chadwick end area, and long ago there could have been a large hamlet called chadwick .Then it takes little imagination to think that someone who lived near there lived on the road to chad,
 eg chads way (weye) this is probably the most likely scenario.
 From 1600 to mid to late 1600s the spelling kept changing to chatway chatoway, chatway, chatteway, chetway and many other variations.
Because soley of illiteracy and a standard way of writing.
Towards the end of 1600s it stabilises to chattaway, with one or 2 Ts.
There are many instances of the same person having their name spelt in various ways
Why was this ?     The litteral people of the time still didnt have great communication and no concensus of opinion, so some spelt words as they sounded.
There are many many instances right up to the 1900s where names where spelt phonetically even by cencus takers.
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Estimated chattaways from 1600 ad to 2010 is/was only 2800 total.
Chattaways alive right now est. about 1,200 
 
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Chattaway Births around the world in 410 years (approx)
1600-1700    =  56 chattaways
1700-1720        30
1721-1750        38
1741-1770       33
1761-1790       76
1791-1810       115
1811-1830       190
1831-1850       320
1851-1870       405
1871-1890       342
1891-1910       330
1911-1930       310
1931-1950       280
1951-1970       170
1971-1990        91
1991-2010        70
  
The chattaways peaked in 1851-1871 as I suspect most english families did during the industrial revolution, as work was easy to get and they could feed large families
The last two figures will rise a little as I havent got all the data yet - but the trend is clearly downwards.
Note: 5 years after these figures were put on the website, and even more data collected-they are suprisingly accurate
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Most occurring Male and Female Chattaway names

   
  1. William  192                                    1. Mary
  2. John        180                                  2.Sarah
  3. Thomas   131                                  3. Ann(e)
  4. Arthur      67                                   4. Elizabeth
  5. Joseph      64                                  5. Emma
  6. Richard    57                                   6. Hannah
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The Main UK centres for Chattaways were Coventry/ Bradford/ Birmingham/ Stepney      There were very few outside of these 4 areas. from 1600-1850

Then from 1850-1860  we popped like a mushroom .....exploding spores

all over the world.

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Interesting Chattaway forenames:-

   Abyah

   Alethea

   Alonzo

   Barnabus

   Beaula

   Bebbe

   Blanche Primrose

   Brydie

   Caley

   Christabel

   Cosmo

   Darla

   Darrick

   Ducilla

   Eliyahatt

   Eustace

   Felix

   Florence Nightingale

   Granville

   Gwenndine

   Heric

   Indianna rose

   Isaiah

   Jannell

   Jasper

   Jaunita

   Joy devine

   Judd

   Laetitia

   Lottie

   Mae

   Massie

   Micah

   Nesta

   Patrisse

   Polly

   Renee

   Ruskin

   Scooter

   Salome

   Sheldon

   Smiley

   Sol  loui

   Stafan

   Stitt

   Tara

   Urwin

   Verity

   Whilemina

   Yoome

   

If  every Chattaway had unusual names this project would have been finished years ago !!!!

 

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Foleshill Coventry was also a focal point for the early chattaways

-heres a small arcticle on it

Foleshill, a town, a parish, and the head of a poor-law union in Warwickshire. The town stands adjacent to the Oxford and Coventry Canals, 2 1/4 miles NNE of Coventry, has a station on the Coventry and Nuneaton branch of the L. & N.W.R., and a post office under Coventry (money order and telegraph office, Coventry), and participates in the ribbon, silk, and'other manufactures of Coventry. The parish comprises 2689 acres; population, 8664. It includes the hamlet of Longford, which has a post and telegraph office and a station on the railway. Iron-founding, coal-mining, and brick-making are carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £260 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. Population of ecclesiastical parish, 4559. The church is ancient, was restored in 1889, and has a Norman font. The church of St Thomas is a chapel of ease erected in 1874. St Paul's is an ecclesiastical parish constituted in 1842. Population, 4105. The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Vicar of Foleshill; gross value, £321. The church is a red brick edifice in the Early English style. There are Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a workhouse.