ORIGINS

A WORKING SITE:
This is a developing website. Extra pages covering specific archive material will be added in due course. Information, both photographic and documentary, is always welcome. Care and a certain amount of delicacy will be exercised on the material published.

It must be emphasised that further research may well alter the conclusions drawn so far.

SURNAMES: The study of surname distribution is a relatively modern science. Along with the very precise study of DNA, surnames are a window into our past. In the surname we have a ready-made indicator of how families in the male line either die out or multiply and spread from area to area.

The hereditary use of surnames to distinguish firstly individuals and then families began in England shortly after the arrival of the new Norman landowners. The English had a very rich source of forenames, while the Normans used relatively few. It became fashionable to ape the Normans and this led to the necessity of adding a nickname to distinguish one from another, usually derived from a place, trade, personal description or father. This was not however a fixed and simplistic event where an individual without a surname, suddenly assumed or was designated a surname which then became fixed forever more down the generations. The 'stewart's' for example, assumed their surname from being hereditory High Stewards of Scotland. They in turn were descended from an individual belonging to the Anglo-Norman family of Fitzalan who in turn were descended from Alan who was descended from the Counts of Dol in Brittany), a member of whom who emmigrated to Scotland. In Wales the assumption of a truly hereditory surname often didn't take place until the nineteenth century. Even today, the changing of one's surname is not unknown.

Where or from whom a surname originated is of course another problem, as folk move, families die out in one area while a survivor carries on the surname elsewhere. Surnames are subject to sudden explosions followed by gradual decline in one area and only escaping extinction by blossoming in another. This is a warning to the unwary historian of how descent affects surnames in their distribution and survival.

The many Rawes branches existing today appear to support this rise and fall scenario. They follow a pattern of the occasional explosion of male offspring, often during a period of high birth-rate, followed by a gradual decline of those bearing the name. If this hypothosis is correct then the survival of a rare name is under greater threat during periods of a low-birth rate or high infant mortality. We are now in such a period of low birth rate and this is parallelled by the many Rawes branches which are now on the verge of extinction in the male line.

ORIGINS OF THE SURNAME: Charles Waring Bardsley in his 'Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames' 1901, gives an origin for the surnames Rawson, Raws as "Baptised 'the son of Ralph' or 'Rauf,' nickname Raw." Under Raw/Rawe he gives another possible origin "Local, 'at the Row,' i.e. the row of cottages. N.E. raw, from residence therein or thereby. Probably the latter is in general the true parent, being a North-English surname." Ralph is a Nordic forename, which entered this country through emigration from Scandinavia.

It is very likely that at least in some cases the surname 'Rawes' evolved from Raw / Rawe which had itself evolved from either a forename or a place. We could therefore be looking for a connection with a family bearing the surname Raw / Rawe. There is an interesting reference that may show such a process taking place in the Lake District:

"WINDERMERE: Wife of William Rawes was in Court in 1560 held by the Earl of Cumberland, so was Richard Rawes and Robert Rawe."
However, one must be careful before jumping to conclusions. In many cases individuals acquired a nick or surname which was either lost or changed a couple of generations later. A scribe could misspell a name, or the family might change their name to distinguish one individual from another.

The demographic distribution of Rawes from about 1500 onwards does not support Charles Bardsley's theory one way or the other. The distribution of 'Raw' is strongest in the counties of Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cornwall and indeed the occasional 'Rawes' does crop up in the Raw population, notably in Lincolnshire. However the densest concentration of 'Rawes' is in southern Westmoreland where Raw incidentally is relatively uncommon. The earlist instance of the name that has been traced so far is in 'Rawescroft'. In Farrer's Records of Kendal, Vol. 1, p.355. the following is recorded under the area of Underbarrow in the parish of Kendal:

"1220-46, Robert son of Thomas de Soulky released to his Lord, William de Lancastre, for 5 marks and a cape (cappa) of "bluette" 24 a. of land in the vill of Tranethwayt, namely, 3 a . in William ridding, 3 a. in Nicholas ridding, 2 a. in Bracanrig and Ulneshau with the moiety of Pademan meadow and of the meadow extending to William riddingh; also 12 a. in these places; from the new hedge to Rawescroft and Adam's assart and the high assart and so to Baynwythrig and into Hustides and Belle withy all the meadow within these lands and 4 a. in Ravnes ridding and Rogeres ridding. Witnesses; Roger de Lancastre, brother of William de Lancastre, Robert de Kerneford, Yngeram de Sandton (Sameton) T. de Marines, Richard de Preston, Swane the Chaplain, John the Chaplain (all domini); Gervase the clerk; D. at Levens. ii,f. 247b."
Is this croft named after an individual, or was an individual named after the croft - what did the name sygnify? There is also a Rawes hill in Cumberland, a Rawes Bridge, and a Rawsthorn in Yorkshire, but the origins of these names have not been dated.

DIALECTS: The pronunciation of the name is 'RORZ' and as one can see it bears little relationship to the spelling. This gives the bearers of the name the life-long irritation in having to spell out their name to all and sundry.

The variation in the way surnames are spelt is a common problem where the majority of the population was illiterate and dependent on the incumbent who was more than likely a stranger to the area. The same problem of course arises when an individual emmigrates to another area where his accent is alien and his surname unknown, or worse still, confused with a local and otherwise distinct surname.

Dialects have a very strong influence on the spelling of surnames and Rawes is not immune. In Somerset and surrounding counties an 'L' is added to make 'RORLZ. In the eastern Lakes Rawes (Rorz) is indistinguishable to 'Rause' In south-western Yorkshire accent may have an effect on the name as it often appears as Rawse, perhaps to be confused with the surname Rouse 'ROUS'. Across most of the south-east of England there are early references to the name Raus(se), is this another surname with a different pronunciation? In the Ulverston area and western Lakes 'Rawes' and 'Rose' are confused. The spelling is clear to those who now bear the name but from the early nineteenth century backwards, when individuals could not spell, spellings drifted from one event to another for the same individual between Rose, Ross, Row, Raw, Rawles, Rawse, Rause, Raues. When this happens the boundaries between one surname and another become blurred.

ORIGINS OF 'THE FAMILY': it is clear now that there is no single individual who assumed the surname Rawes at a given time and from whom all Rawes are descended. The synopsis at present is that there are two main areas where the surname arose and became fixed: Westmorland/Lancashire and Somerset/Dorset.

The majority of Rawes living today however, originate in the large Westmorland Parish of Kendal, northern Lancashire and north-western Yorkshire. There are four early Rawes branches in the mid-16th century: one on the western banks of lake Windermere near Hawkshead; one on the eastern shore around Bowness; one in Hartsop set deep in the Lakeland dales in the remote and beautiful parish of Patterdale; one amongst the rugged and bleak Shap Fells in the north eastern corner of Kendal Parish. The nomenclature of these branches suggests a common ancestor with forenames of John, Gerrard, Robert, Lancelot, William and Myles. There does appear to be a concentration of the name around the shores of Windermere, which may be suggestive of a 'homeland' for a western group of Rawes (no living descendants of the 'Western' Rawes have been traced). There are virtually no early occurrences of the surname in Cumberland and northern Westmorland. There are some early individuals spread across the large parish of Kendal and on into north-western Yorkshire and northern Lancashire, where the spread of the name becomes thinner with generally later incidences. This does appear to indicate the Parish of Kendal as an epicentre.

The other hotspot if one can call it that, is on the Dorset/Wiltshire border. The earliest occurrence found so far is that of William Rawes who married Mary Orcharch at Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset in 1579. Rawes in this case may stem from ‘Rawles’, which has a fairly large spread across Somerset.

DISTRIBUTION: A large number of Rawes branches now existing stem from the union of William Rawes and Isabel Wilson, who were married at the Selside church in the parish of Kendal, in 1736. William was apparently part of the family long settled on the Shap Fells at the junction of the parishes of Kendal, Longsleddale, Shap and Orton. The first recorded home of William and Isabel was at Sleddale Hall, in the parish of Shap, shortly before moving to Green Farm in Wetsleddale where they had many children, most of whom were sons. These sons in turn produced many more male children.

Without our knowledge of earlier Rawes, it would be simple to assume that Rawes originated in the area of the Shap Fells. There was however at the time of William and Isabel, other families of Rawes spread across the north west that have since died out or are on the verge of extinction in the male line.

GERMAN RAWS: The surname 'Raws' also appears in German records. The distribution and origins of this surname is unknown. References go back to at least the late sixteenth century, an American branch of Rawes is descended from a Rawes entering America from Germany. Caution therefore has to be exercised with Rawes living abroad, particularly in America with its large German element.

RAWS: This is a major variant almost indistinguishable from Rawes. There is however an ancient branch of 'Raws', now almost extinct, originating in the 17th century from Sedburgh, north-west Yorkshire. Sir William Lennon Raws, CBE, of Melbourne, Australia was a member of this family.

RAWSE: The variant Rawse is centred on the Bradford area in Yorkshire. A large number of these Rawse are descended from a nineteenth century Rawes branch who are themselves apparently descended from a Cumberland family surnamed Ross. There is also a possibility that the remaining individuals may originate in the area. The spelling is similar to the surname 'Rouse' which is normally pronounced 'ROUS'.

RAUSE: There are early references to this name spread eastwards of a line from Lincolnshire to Hampshire. The assumption is that the name is pronounced 'ROUS', however, Rawes is occasionally spelt in this way.

RAWLES: The major variant or surname Rawles, which has not been researched, appears to have its origins in Somerset where very early references exist and it may well have sired at least one major Rawes branch based in Dorset and southern Wiltshire.

ROSE: Like Rawse, spelling and perhaps pronunciation has caused confusion. In the Ulverston area, and perhaps elsewhere, the names Rawes and Rose have been used by the same family. This is not an easy problem to solve as the name Rose is a fairly common surname.

THE STUDY

Study of the surname began in 1976, during my attempt to find out more about the origins of my own branch. As 'Rawes' is a fairly rare English surname (I had never met another Rawes outside my own immediate family), I extracted all Rawes entries from the UK telephone directories and wrote to the individuals found therein; there were approximately 85 entries. Only a minority replied, nevertheless, material gathered from those that did helped to build up a picture of descent, origin and distribution of the name.

All Rawes' were extracted from the National Registry indexes of births, marriages and deaths, which start in 1837. Wills and administrations are listed nationally from 1858, the indexes were searched and copies acquired. The IGI (International Genealogical Index) listing of parish register extracts was also consulted. The material extracted both enhanced and confused the picture. From my work emerged thousands of jigsaw pieces and what appeared to be a truly daunting task of fitting them all together.

There are about 1050 Rawes births between 1837 and 1987 registered in England and Wales. Over 618 were born in north-west England and about 90 died before there were ten years old.

Part of the archive is now computerised but as information grows so does the need for an efficient administrative and filing system become ever more necessary, there is little good in collecting material if it cannot be accessed. The Rawes archive is continuing to grow as people occasionally contact me and we are able to help each other. Additional information is of course welcome.