5 Willingales @ Willingale Village
Most of the family names I’m interested in come from Essex, making it very easy to research them as I live in Essex (although I must admit my Mother has done most of the research 🙂 ). The main exception to this is Stein, which is of course German. My Stein ancestors seem to have originated in Koblenz, which is roughly midway between Cologne & Frankfurt. By the 1880’s they had moved up to Yorkshire & Lancashire in the UK.
Willingale is very Essex, their being a small village midway between Chelmsford & Ongar of that name, which is unique in having two Churches in the same churchyard. Our research has proved that ALL Willingales are related.
There are a few famous Willingales: Thomas Willingale (1799-1870) was one of the key figures that saved Epping Forest from enclosure, a school in Loughton is named after him.
Betty Willingale was a noted script editor who worked on key BBC drama series and serials in the 1960s and 1970s, including North & South and I, Claudius. She went on to form a strong working partnership with producer Jonathan Powell, script editing many of Powell’s most successful drama serials including the hit adaptations of A Christmas Carol, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Barchester Chronicles and The Old Men at the Zoo. Willingale produced the BBC adaptation of Mansfield Park in 1983, later going on to produce the critically acclaimed adaptations Testament of Youth, Tender Is the Night as well as Bleak House and Fortunes of War, both of which earned her BAFTA nominations. Subsequently she worked on Fry & Laurie’s version of Jeeves and Wooster. But perhaps she is best known for Midsomer Murders as a script editor, producer & consultant.
Australians may remember Bernie Willingale, who was the leader of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, during a period of industrial unrest in the 1980’s.
This website contains 4 family trees in two separate databases:
Wright & Savill – My maternal ancestry plus my direct Willingale ancestors & steins
Pattinson – My Step Fathers family tree
The Blue database : Willingale Genealogy
Willingale One Name Study – All Willingales linked to a common ancestor in the 1570’s
Unconnected Willingales – Willingales which we cant place in the above tree
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