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It was quite by chance that during Lockdown 1 of Covid-19 I heard about “The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland“. They were running a limited period of free access to their data on the internet (which I decided to take a look at). Of course I looked up Bodenham and as a result thought they might be interested in the research my father had carried out over the years. Following an email enquiry (of which they were inundated with emails at the time) informing them of this website I received a response to say they would get back to me in due course – but I never really expected a reply.
We are currently in Lockdown 3 and out of the blue I have received a detailed response. I will need to check the precise details myself but Dr Peter McClure (co-editor, Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland) states that “there is no reason to think that your family is not descended from the medieval gentry-cum-merchant family that once lived in Dewchurch and in Gloucester.”
I have copied here their revised entry for Bodenham which makes for very interesting reading. This in essence relocates our family roots to Herefordshire in c1200-1300 (rather than Gloucestershire in c1500).
Here is an old map of the county of Herefordshire. An old map of Gloucestershire is available too, in Sources.
Draft entry from the unpublished 2nd edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ed. Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, and Peter McClure (Oxford University Press).
Bodenham
Frequencies: GB 1881: 238, GB 2011: 554; Ireland 2008: 6. main GB location, 18812: Herefs; also Shrops, Worcs, and Warwicks main Irish location, 1847-64:-
English, Locative name: from Bodenham (Herefs), recorded as Bodeham in 1086, Bodenham in 1249. The place-name is from the Old English Personal name Boda (in the genitive case Old English Bodan) + hamm ‘land in a river-bend, hemmed-in land’.
Early Bearers: Hugh de Bodeham, 1180 in Pipe Rolls (Herefs); Laurence de Bodenham, about 1277 in TNA (Dublin, Ireland; Robert de Bodenham, 1300 in TNA (Hereford, Herefs); Robert de Bodenham, 1327 in Subsidy Rolls (Wormington in Much Dewchurch, Gloucs); Walter Bodenham of Little Wormington, merchant of Gloucester, 1377 in TNA; Johannes Bodenham, 1377 in Poll Tax (Woodstock, Oxon); Johanne Bodenham, 1379 in Poll Tax (Walterstone and Chanstone, Heresfs); Willelmo Bodenham, 1379 in Poll Tax (Bredwardine, Heresfs); William Bodenham, burgess of Gloucester, 1380 in TNA; Johannes Bodenham, 1381 in Poll Tax (Southwark, Surrey); Roger de Bodenham, 1396 in Heresfs Record Office (Dewchurch, Heresfs); John Bodenham, 1578 in IGI (Hereford, Heresfs); Anna Bodenham, 1597 in IGI (Fugglestone Saint Peter, Wilts); Thomas Boddenham, 1597 in IGI (eastham, Worcs); Thomas Bodenham, 1635 in IGI (Eastham, Cheshire); Joice Bodenham, 1701 in IGI (Dowles, Shrops); William Bodenham, 1814 in IGI (Wellesbourne, Warwicks); Benjamin Bodenham, 1835 in IGI (Kingston, Heresfs).
Other info: For an account of the family history see https://www.bodenhamgenealogy.co.uk/. References: Heresfs Place-Names, pp 44-5; Watts, Dictionary, p. 67.
It will certainly be worth subscribing online to The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland in order to follow this up (or purchasing the 2nd edition of the book when it comes out). Once I have had a chance to look into this in more detail I should be able to formally add this exciting addition to our family tree! Dad would have been thrilled with this development!
Andrew Bodenham