Robert Doudeswell

   Another name for Robert was Robert Dowdeswell.

  General Notes:

Robert Doudeswell, Sussex settler

John Dadswell, who in the early 1930's did research into the family history and genealogy, (1) states:

Robert Doudeswell came from Gloucestershire, a dealer in Welsh Runts, who drove his herds to markets and fairs before settling in Sussex. John did not cite a source for this statement. Was it family tradition? Was it presumed Robert came from Gloucestershire because the name derives from there?

Actually, we do not know exactly from where Robert and his wife Elizabeth (surname unknown) came nor their places of birth. Welsh runts is a generic term which describes small hardy cattle raised in Wales and which were driven by English cattle dealers to markets and fairs in the south of England.

One such fair was at East Grinstead, not far from Rotherfield, Sussex.

Sometime in the latter part of 1600, Robert and Elizabeth decided to settle at Rotherfield.

According to John Dadswell, Robert was apparently a wealthy man when he settled in Crowborrowe(sic), Rotherfield Parish ca. 1588.

In 1604, he bought a copyhold cottage at Palesgate. A transaction in Rotherfield Manor Court Rolls states:

Comes Robert Doudswell and Elizabeth his wife and prays out of the lord's hand a cottage with a little garden lyinge in Palesgate . . .

Note: additional information on the origins of the Dadswell surname, manor of Dowdeswell, early cattle dealers, Rotherfield, Sussex, see Balch, Barbara, A Dadswell Family History and Genealogy, self published, 1980.

(1) John Dadswell's work is lodged with the Sussex Archaeological Society, Lewes, Sussex.

Robert Doudeswell (ca1560 - 1636)

Robert Doudeswell was born about 1560, possibly in Gloucestershire, and is believed to have been a cattle dealer. He died at Rotherfield, Sussex, in 1636 and was buried there on 22 September.

He married (1) Elizabeth (maiden name unknown), born ?, who also died in Rotherfield 1610, being buried on 31 May.

Robert married (2) at Rotherfield on 20 May 1611, Margaret Crayford, who died in 1634, and was buried 12 May.

Robert and Elizabeth are known to have had eight children, all baptised at St Denys, Rotherfield.

Robert appears to have been a wealthy man when he settled at Palesgate, and he acquired further property as time went on. According to one reference, he was - in 1622, 1623 and 1624 - official ale taster, an important and coveted post.

An ale taster's duties were described as: to see that all beer brewed in their division was sound and of a required strength; that the measures were true and the prices as fixed and that the breweries in no way 'broke the assize of beer'.

Origins of the Dadswell name

Odo and Dodo were two monks who each dug a well and called the places after themselves - Odo's Well (Owdeswell) and Dodo's Well (Dowdeswell) Gloucestershire Legend

While the obscure legend quoted above may not be a reliable source for the origin of our name, the surname Dadswell derives from the manor or village of Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire, England.

It can be traced back to ca. 781 where it is found in Anglo-Saxon charters.

From the charters of Worcester Monastery we find:

Abbot Hedda conferred out of his own inheritance Dogedes Well, Tyrltun and Onnand of the Episcopal Church of Wigorn, for the good of his soul and that of his kinsman, Heathored.(1)

Also, in Cartularium Saxonicum is found: #283, Reversionary Grant by Headda, Abbot to Worcester Monastery, of land at Dowdeswell, co Glouc. etc. AD781-798 (2)

The name has undergone many changes and variant spellings throughout the years, for example: Dogedeswyllan, 781-798; Dodesuuelle, Doomsday Book 1086; Doddeswell, 1226; and many other variants down the years.

Doudeswell, the surname spelling of ancestor Robert, is as recorded in the Rotherfield, Sussex, parish registers, and the evolution of the name to Dadswell can be seen in the registers from Doudeswell to Doudswell to Dodeswell to Dodswell to Dadswell.

It is interesting that the name almost did not come into existence. Robert Doudeswell had only one surviving son, Robert Doudeswell, who only had one surviving son, Edward Dodswell. Fortunately, for the survival of the name, Edward and his wife Elizabeth (Elliott) produced eight sons, thus ensuring the continuance of the name.

It is believed Edward's grandson, Edward, was the first to sign as Dadswell in parish registers.

A variant of Dadswell, often seen in some earlier records such as census returns, is Dodswell. If this spelling is found in records with any connection to Sussex people, it usually refers to a Dadswell descendant.

Robert married Elizabeth. (Elizabeth died in 1610 and was buried on 31 May 1610 in Rotherfield, Sussex, England.)