Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Bostock
Variants: Bostick
Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.
Guild hosted website: bostock.one-name.net
Contact: Mr Roland Bostock
I started out researching the Bostock surname way back in 1968, when it was all done on 5"x3" record cards. I created the 'Bostock' website in 2000, and have gradually added many separate Bostock family trees up to the present day. As of June 2023 the site contains 29,500 names from 74 separate Bostock (and Bostwick) family trees.
The main variant to Bostock is Bostick, but the Bostock name did spawn many Bostwicks as well when a few Bostocks emigrated to the USA in 1640. Bastocks and Basticks likely started out as Bostocks as well.
The origin of the name can be traced back to Domesday, which includes reference to Osmer, Lord of the manor of Botestock in Cheshire. Over time Botestock reduced to Bostock, and Bostock Green remains a small village right at the centre of Cheshire to this day. A few living Bostocks belong to a line I call Bostocks of Bostock, and can actually trace their ancestry all the way back to Osmer, Lord of Botestock.
The line of Bostocks tracing back to Osmer de Bostock, mentioned in the Domesday Book, and well referenced in the Harleyan Manuscripts and the Visitations of Cheshire is rich in knights battling for various monarchs. In fact there are 11 generations in this tree forming a continuous line of knights, the last of which left no male heir, with the female heiress passing on the family estates to the Savage family.
The 11 generations of knights are as follows: Sir Warren de Bostock (1185); Sir Henry de Bostock (1205); Sir William de Bostock (1225) said to be present at the Battle of Evesham 1265; Sir Edward de Bostock (1245); Sir Adam de Bostock (1270) who was knighted at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298; Sir William de Bostock (1310) knighted at the Conquest of France by King Edward III; Sir Adam de Bostock (1340) who was knighted at the Battle of Nazaret in Spain by the Black Prince in 1367; Sir Adam de Bostock (1363) who was knighted by Richard II in 1386; Sir Ralph de Bostock (1391) who was knighted in France at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415; Sir Adam de Bostock (1412) who fought at Blore Heath in 1459; Sir Ralph de Bostock (1434) who was knighted at the Battle of Barnet by King Edward IV, who left no male heir!
Today there are roughly 7000 Bostocks living in the UK, 1000 in the USA, and 1000 in Australia and New Zealand.
With the origins of the name being in central Cheshire, the family name is still most frequently found in the midland counties of England, particularly Cheshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
The live Bostock website where then 74 family trees are given, with two indexes to names, one for Bostock, and one for Bostwick, is freely available at http://www.bostock.net/tree/bostgen/index.html
I also use the GOONS Members' website option to store the same website, as an archive. The archive site is freely available at http://bostock.one-name.net/tree/Bostgen/index.html