The GURNETT Family of Swanbourne (Updated to include the story of Edward Gurnett, December 2023) by Neil Rees The Gurnett Surname Gurnett is an uncommon surname whose origin is not known.  There is also a fish called the gurnet, and there is a place called Gurnet Point near Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In England there is a place […]

Copies of PowerPoints used at Swanbourne History Evening Events   Author:- Clive Rodgers 1.  PDF copy of:- From Swanbourne’s Pre-History to AD 1600 evening lecture summary from 8th November, 2013.   2.  PDF copy of Geology & Archaeology of Swanbourne & North Bucks from October, 2012:-  The Earth History of Swanbourne & Aylesbury Vale   3.  […]

Charles W. Tonyn and his family links to Africa and Florida (revised February 2022) By Clive Rodgers Charles William Tonyn (1732-1805) Reverend Charles William Tonyn, Vicar of St. Swithun’s Church, Swanbourne,  seems to have been unusual in the Tonyn family in that he went into the church rather than following his father into a military career. […]

Soldiers from Swanbourne   Revised by Linda Rodgers  1. Servicemen with Swanbourne connections who are omitted from Swanbourne War Memorial:- The Swanbourne connected servicemen who are omitted from Swanbourne War Memorial 2. War Memorial – Concise summary of names as a PDF      War Memorial brief summary of names 2020.docx   Author: Linda Rodgers 3. The 56 Servicemen […]

Campbell Family History The Campbell tree researched by Linda Rodgers The Campbell Family are usually quite long lived as individuals, and they have been in Swanbourne for a very long time. Jack Campbell’s interview with his son Paul, recorded early in 2013 just before Jack died at the age of 96.  To see the interview, CLICK […]

Details of all WW1 Servicemen connected to Swanbourne By Linda Rodgers More details are also on the previous page:- War Memorial brief summary of names 2020.docx Return to WW1 Centenary Category

The Myres Family    By Clive Rodgers An interesting and distinguished family originating from Swanbourne. Rev. William Miles Myres (1838 – 1901) originated from Preston, and in 1867 he married Jane Linton (1842 – 1871) in Headington. She was the daughter of a vicar from Oxford.  Unfortunately, his wife died in 1871 immediately after the birth of their […]

Archaeological Artefacts By Clive Rodgers The identification of worked Stone Age flints involves recognition of percussion marks around the edge of the tool. Generally, these are not found in flints in Swanbourne soils which hold flints that were dropped by the passage of ice along with boulder clay from melting glaciers during the Ice Age. Very few prehistoric and Roman […]

The marriage of Anthony Bartley to Deborah Kerr. By Clive Rodgers When Swanbourne RAF fighter ace Anthony Bartley (1919 — 2001) was working in America, lecturing in fighter pilot tactics, he also made the acquaintance of several film personalities (e.g. Elizabeth Taylor).  Subsequently, when then stationed in Brussels it was through an introduction by Stewart Granger in 1945 […]

Betsey Wynne 1778 – 1857 By Ken Harris Betsey Wynne was the second of five sisters, born 19th April 1778 to Richard Wynne and his French wife Camille de Royer. Richard Wynne, who was born in Venice, and lived much of his early life on the continent,  had inherited a large estate at Falkingham (now […]