Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
The Saddington One Name Study was registered in 2006. It is an in depth study of Saddington family history, but should be considered as a work in progress.
Saddington was my paternal grandmother's maiden name, and I was told a lot of stories about her family during my childhood. When I started researching my family history at the age of 15, I occasionally came across references to other Saddingtons, which I made a note of. These notes now form the basis of my One Name Study.
The registered surname is Saddington. Registered variants are Saddlington, Sadinton and Suddington.
These variants can also be varied by having a single or double 'd', or by adding or removing the 'g'.
Saddingtons have also been found lurking in the disguises of Laddington, Paddington and Shaddington.
The surname Saddington derives from the small village of Saddington in South Leicestershire. The village features in the Domesday Book as 'Sadintone' or 'Setintone'. In 1066, the Manor of Saddington belonged to Queen Edith, the wife of Edward the Confessor, and passed to William the Conqueror on her death in 1075.
The surname Saddington most likely originated with people who left the village and moved or travelled elsewhere, and would have become known, for example, as John de Saddington or John from Saddington, which eventually became John Saddington.
Historical or well-known Saddingtons include:
Robert de Saddington, son of John - Chancellor of England 1343 - 1345 - died circa 1361
John Saddington, born circa 1634 in Arnesby, Leicestershire - follower of Lodowick Muggleton, founder of the Muggletonians, a small English religious sect, which finally died out in 1979 - author of 'The Articles of The True Faith', first published in 1675, and 'A Prospective Glass for Saints and Sinners' - died in 1679
Wendy Saddington - Australian blues and jazz singer - any further information gratefully received
Jason Saddington, born 23 October 1979 - Australian Rules football player - played for the Sydney Swans for 8 seasons (1998 - 2005) - now playing for Carlton Football Club, Victoria
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) database, there were 1,326 Saddingtons living in England, Wales and the Isle of Man in September 2002, which made the surname the 5251st most common name in that geographical area. The ONS recommend multiplying this figure by 0.93 to obtain a figure for the current population, which gives an approximate figure of 1233 living Saddingtons today.
Data from the 1881 census shows that there were 604 persons called Saddington and 15 people called Sadington in Great Britain on the night of 3 April 1881.
In order to get an approximate figure for the number of Saddingtons who have lived since parish registers began in the 16th century, the ONS recommend multiplying their September 2002 figure by 3.5, which gives an approximate grand total of 4641 Saddingtons in the last 500 or so years.
The heartland of the Saddington surname has been South Leicestershire, Rutland and North Northamptonshire, which is only to be expected, based on the location of the village of Saddington.
However, using data from the 1881 census, it is clear that the surname Saddington has become quite widespread throughout England. Representatives of the name were found from Lancashire and the North Riding of Yorkshire down as far as Kent.
On a straightforward numerical basis, the largest populations in 1881 were to be found in Northamptonshire (131 Saddingtons), Leicestershire (93 Saddingtons) and Middlesex (81 Saddingtons).
However, if you consider the number of Saddingtons per 100,000 people per county in 1881, the surname was found most frequently in Rutland (135 Saddingtons per 100,000), Huntingdonshire (59 Saddingtons per 100,000), Northamptonshire (48 Saddingtons per 100,000) and Leicestershire (29 Saddingtons per 100,000).
Saddingtons are known to have emigrated to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
Data held includes:
GRO Indexes: Births 1837 - 1929, Marriages 1837 - 1939, Deaths 1837 - 1929
National Probate Index: 1858 - 1968
IGI: Incomplete extraction of Saddington entries
Census: Incomplete extraction of Saddington entries for all censuses currently released by The National Archives
The Saddington Family History Blog
Saddington DNA Project