About the Gant One-Name Study
It all began with my inability to trace my father’s family – Gant is my maiden name – any further back than his father born in 1871. I started to collect as many references as I could find to the Gant surname as logically some of them would have to be mine. I’ve so far managed to trace the family back to around 1750, and along the way I’ve found over 70,000 references to Gants worldwide.
Origin of the surname
There are many sources that name John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340 – 1399) as one of the original recorded instances of the surname, and that it is just a variation of GAUNT. My own personal theory is that it is a surname in its own right, which on many occasions has been written down as GAUNT or GRANT.
Adalbert de GAND (1004 -1032), was the son of Arnulf of GAND, Count of Holland, and ancestor of Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln (c. 1126 – 1156), and an ancient lord of Hunmanby in Yorkshire. As the surname is so prevalent in the eastern counties of England, I think it’s much more likely that it originated in the west of mainland Europe, before spreading through the eastern counties of England via Gilbert de Gant.
Historical occurrences
The most illustrious Gants I have found so far include:
- Tetley Gant CMG, who was elected President of the Legislative Council of Tasmania in 1901. He was part of the prominent Gant family from Bradford in Yorkshire, and was also connected to the Tetley family of brewers.
- Frederick James Gant, a surgeon born in Hackney, Middlesex in 1825. The Gant Prize was founded at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1907 by the Foundation of Frederick James Gant. Awarded jointly from 2004 following the merger of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine with University College London and Middlesex School of Medicine.
Frequency of the name
In 1851, approximately 0.0039% of the population of the United Kingdom used the surname. This reached a peak of 0.0045% in 1891, though the figures have been falling steadily since then.
There were approximately 1,092 instances of the surname on the 1881 census. According to the Office of National Statistics, there were 1,962 people with the surname GANT in England, Wales and the Isle of Man in 2002, and the name was ranked at number 3769.
Distribution of the name
In 1851, and before the mass migration to the bigger towns and cities, census statistics show that the vast majority of the Gant families in England and Wales were centred around the eastern English counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Essex. Even now, there are still large concentrations in these areas (Source: United Kingdom Electoral Register 2000).
Gants have been found all over the world, with a large number in Australia. The greatest concentration of the name by far is in the United States of America, where the 1880 census recorded a total of nearly 4,000 Gants. Gant immigration to the US was surprisingly low, as I have found no more than a hundred or so Gant immigrants from the United Kingdom and Europe, so I have yet to discover exactly how the name became so prevalent in the US.
Data
I hold a large and varied amount of worldwide data, which I’m happy to search on request. I’m also working to construct as many Gant family trees as I can.
Member of the
Guild of One-Name Studies
Membership Number 4577
I am able to document a John Gant family tree back six generations to his birth in 1795 in Howell, New Jersey, USA. There is no memtion of his parents. I have been unable to “jump” the Atlantic to pickup the family tree. Most of the birth/census records were lost in the 1812 War. In reading your website you reference a John Gant inwhich several of his offspring migrated to America and Australia. Do you have any information of them and the time period they migrated?
My mother talked about my father’s family history about our ancestors and it is very similar to what you have on the website. These stories were told to me in the 1950/60s so I feel they came from family history and not history books. So I’m sure we have the the right family tree to England
I live in Northern California.
There are several John Gants on the website, but I presume you’re referring to the John Gant born about 1647 who married Jane Anderson in High Toynton, Lincolnshire. This John Gant is shown on the Family Trees page at http://www.gant-name.org.uk/trees.html. If this is the John you’re asking about, the PDF chart and narrative on the same page each contain everything I know about this family so far.
My son in law is Nicholas Gant, and doing the family tree we have gone back to John Johnathan Gant born 1735
Any help we would appreciate, Nick and Karen have a son called Thomas Michael Gant hed is 6years old.
Regard ElizabethJones.
If you require access to tree on Ancresty please e mail me direct
Hi Linda, I’ve just been on a trip to Norfolk to look at Mileham churchyard, being descended from the Mileham Gants and am sad to find the one name website down. Did you realise this or do you have a plan to restore it? Its an invaluable resource so thank you for creating it!
Mark
Hi Mark
I too am descended from the Gants of Mileham who moved to King’s Lynn in Norfolk. I am descended from James Gant and have quite a bit of info and would be interested to hear from you.
Julie
Please do contact me if you have information on the Gants of Mileham. I live in ‘Gant’s Building’
Hi Patricia
I am descended from James & Jane Gant from Mileham and have a fair bit of info. Would love to hear from you.
Julie
hello im desc, of george gant born 1796 north elham norfolk son of john and elizabeth he later married catherine and came with the 63 rg to tasmania australia, he jione the army in 1810 rose to the rank of sargent retired in 1833 and had a son george and a dau elizabeth , i am trying to locate his enlistment papers in kew records , they are very hard to source from this far away any helpers please ,, peter