Migration
In 1585 a group of what we would call well-to-do men from Somersetshire
Co.,England were granted acreage on condition that they bring over settlers
to work the land. This is recorded in a book "History of Bandon" by G. E. Bennett 1862. One of the settlers was a Clampett.
The drift away from Devon and Somerset was well under way by the 17th century, with records of Clampitt's at St. Dunstans, Stepney (East London now, but a village at that time) from 1653 onwards, It seems that the major immigration to London took place in the 19th century, probably with the building of the railways, many of the people I have contacted had grandparents or great grandparents born in Devon who worked for the railways at the time of the move to London .
James Clampett born about 1700 had two sons born in Ireland and a daughter, Margaret, born in America (1731) so it appears the family emigrated between 1727 and 1731).
The Liverpool branch appears to be a relatively recent happening, as
no records have been found of Clampitt's in Lancashire prior to 1792.
(In fact of the 32 records found up to 1873, only 6 predate 1800. This
branch of the family is a bit of a mystery as I can find no link between
Liverpool names and persons born in Devon, (there is a small pocket of
Clampitt's to the North in Cumbria
(Cumberland), but these appear to be a mining family which moved directly
from Devon to Cumbria when some mines opened up in Cumbria)
There are three possible explanations for this lack of linkage :-
- Clampitt's may have been among the early settlers to sail from ports in Devon (mainly Plymouth) to America, years later, when Liverpool became the major port for the Americas, some of the descendants of those original Clampitt's may have returned and settled in Liverpool.
- London Clampitt's may have gone to Liverpool with the intention of emigrating (London records are incomplete) and settled in Liverpool rather than go on to the new world.
- The Liverpool Clampett's may be from Ireland, There was a concentration of Clampett's in and around Askeaton in Co. Limerick which appears to have occurred in the early 1700s, any information on the move from Devon to Ireland would be appreciated, I suspect it may be something to do with the "Settlement" of Ireland, this was an attempt to make Ireland easier to govern by diluting the Irish population with English immigrants.
The family started to move away from Ireland with the following currently on record: America - Jonathan (born about 1770) emigrated about 1800, George Augustus (born after 1829) apparently moved to Canada where his death is recorded.
Joseph Henry (born about 1829) moved to Australia about 1848, with his son Albert Wyndham following in 1889. James (born about 1870) also moved to New South Wales in Australia, although his emigration date is not known.
There are several interesting facts about the migration to Ireland - see here
Many thanks to Helen Pampling in Australia who has produced this report into the Irish Roots of the Australian Clampett Family.
Wyndham James (born 1888) moved to South Africa about 1910.
Frank (born after 1888) moved to Yorkshire in the UK - date not known.
The current known locations of the
's around the world are in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and South Africa. There are still families of Clampett's in Ireland.
In Australia there are 49 households ( 3 itt, 38 ett, 8 it), which is a much higher occurrence per million of population than the UK. In fact one of the Mayors of Adelaide was a Clampett.
The highest concentration of Clampett's is in the Sydney area.
There are apparently Clampitt's in Canada and New Zealand and even some in India, but no further details at present.
