History of the
Gammell Family Name
Anglo Saxon - Gamel/Gamol
Danish - Gammel
Norse - Gamal
Old Gaelic - Gamall
The name or likenesses of it is unusual, but widespread, across north and western Europe. There were certainly Gammell (or similar names) families in the British Isles, more than one thousand years ago and we can surmise well before that. It was probable that they were of ancient Briton stock, moving into southern Scotland, in response to invasions of Southern Britain. Some may however have have been more recent arrivals, since there are certainly Gammells (or similar names) in Germany and the Scandanavian countries. Indeed, there are also Gamell families from Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is thus difficult to be sure from whence our family originated, but it seems most likely, since we know our earlient ancestors were resident in Glasgow, that they came from the south of Scotland. "In Scotland it was a not uncommon name in the southern counties, especially in Ayrshire" (The surnames of Scotland).
Two sources are quoted for the origin of the name
The Surnames of Scotland (the following is a quote):
"Gamel "the old one", a common personal name, Latinised Gamellus. In Scotland it was a not uncommon name in the southern counties, especially in Ayrshire. Gamel or Gamellus, hostiarius, witnessed charters by Richard, bishop of St Andrews, a. 1173 (RPSA p. 134-139, Scon p.27 etc) and c1189-1196 he witnessed a charter by Roger, bishop elect of St Andrews relating to the church of Haddington (RPSA, p. 153). Gammellus, clericus, witnessed Lady Eschina de Lundon's gift of Molle to Kelso c. 1190 (Kelso 147) and a toft and croft formerly held by Gamellus was granted to the hospital of Soltre between 1201-33 (Soltre p.14). Warin and Gamel, 'norensi servientibus nostris' were witnesses to a charter by Brice, bishop of Moray of the church of Deveth (Daviot) to Spyny c. 1202-22 (REM p.53). Walter, son of Gamel was one of an assize of marches in Fife in 1230 (RD 196). William, son of Gamell de Tuinham, gifted the church of Tuenham to the monks of Holyrood about the same time (LSC 72), and about 1250 there is mention of a croft in Maxtun which belonged to Gamel, son of Walleve (Melros 302-306). Hugh Gamyl held lands near Langneuton in Roxburgshire c 1377 (RHM , II, 5), John Gamill was a witness in 1444 (Cambus 214), Gabriel Gymmill was a cordiner in Edinburgh in 1599 (Edinburgh Marr.), William Gemmill was retourned heir of John Gemmill, his brother, in Carrik in the same year (Retours, Ayr 24), Andrew Gemmello was burgess of Dundee in 1612 (Brechin), John Gemill took the Test in Paisley in 1688 (RPC 3 ser XI p.496).
'Notes on the probable origin of the name of Gemmill or Gemmell' by J. Leiper Gemmill, writer of Glasgow, and printed in 1909 for private circulation by N. Adshead and Son, printers, Glasgow (the following is a summary):
Florence of Worcester (Vol. i. p.223) mentions Gamel, who was an officer in King Harold's army, and son of Orm, being slain on December 28th 1065 by Tostig. John Charles Brooke read before the Archaeological Society on January 16th 1770 a paper (Archasologia or Miscellaneous Tracts published London 1779), of which a copy is in the British Museum, giving among other information of the family of Gamel, detail of a Saxon inscription on a large stone slab on the doorway behind the porch of the church of Kirkdale in Rydale (N. Riding of Yorkshire) which reads 'Orm Gamals son bought St. Gregory's Minster when it was all broken down and fallen and he renewed it from the ground to Christ and St. Gregory in the days of Edward the King and Tostig the Earl'. This makes the date between 1056 and 1065, and the inscription was still visible in 1909.
The history of Northumberland by Bates (p.102) mentions two vicars of Hexham of the name Gamel about 1031, and Doomsday Book (Additamenta p.576) mentions Gamel de Rogansepp and Gamell son of Godric. Radolphus Gamell is mentioned in Archaeologia (London) Vo. XLVII p. 105 and 106, in connection with ground at Barnsley, Yorkshire about 1231, and there was a vicar of Elsted, Sussex named Gamel in 1355/6 (Elsted Parish Records).
The earliest traced reference to the name in Scotland appears in the National MSS of Scotland (Vol. 1. No.38), which mentions in a Charter by King William the Lion in 1165 a gift by Gamel. It may well be that many of the Gamels retreated to Scotland after the Conquest. The estates belonging to Orm were given to a Norman noble. Various other references appear in early Scottish documents, for example:
Liber de Melros (Vol. i. pp.212 and 214) Gamelinus Magister, Lord Chanceller of Scotland 1250 and Archbishop of St. Andrews 1255.
Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland December 13th 1382. Protection for John Gamel going abroad on the King's Service, and again (p. 298 sect. 1485) Thomas Gamylle naturalised in London.
Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. (Vol. i. under date 1474) for Dyk Gamyll 'for Satyne to lyne the cuffs of a jacket for the ,, King' (James III) and again (p. 73) for Dyk Gamell for a gowne for my lady. He seems to have been a court draper.
Registrum Magni Sigilli 1424-1513. (p. 490) Nigello Gammyll appears as a witness to a charter dated August 7th 1495 of the lands of Prestwyk Schawes in the county of Ayr, and again Johannis Gammyl mentioned as having assigned lands in Ayrshire (November 3rd 1532).
In the records of the Burgh of Irvine in Ayrshire Stephani Gammyll is mentioned as the owner of a tenement in 1542, and again in 1572, but this time spelt Stevin Gemmill.
From about 1550 onwards, what parish registers exist, become somewhat less uncertain, although still far from complete or accurate, and from that date on there can be found fairly frequent references to Gemmills/Gammyls/Gemmells etc. around Fenwick and Dunlop near Kilmarnock, and at Cumnock and Irvine also in Ayrshire, but somewhat nearer the coast.
Turning to more recent times, a study of registrations of births, marriages and deaths in Somerset House in London, and Register House in Edinburgh since these became statutory (1837 in England and 1855 in Scotland) show that in Scotland while the name Gemmell/Gemmill remains common particularly in the South-west, the name Gammell no longer occurs in Scotland except for our own family. Edinburgh records include only 17 'Gammell' births between 1855 and 1888 and NONE thereafter, excluding in both cases of course those of our family.
In England on the other hand, apart from our family, there were two families of Gammells established before 1840, one around Manchester and the other in North London. The Manchester family, which was a large one appears to be now nearly extinguished, but the London family still exists.
The first of these new families of Gammells to appear in England was one from Cork in Southern Ireland, whose ancestor John Gammell made a considerable fortune in Horse Dealing at the time of the Crimean War. Other Gammells unrelated to our family, but living in England, appear to be decendants of Gammells originating from Ireland, where the name Gammell, although uncommon, has long been established.
The name Gemmell/Gemmill appears infrequently but widely dispersed throughout England, probably representing immigration from Southwest Scotland.
The name Gammell is also found in the New World. There are several families of Gammells in the United States, including one, with whom I have been in touch, who trace descent from two young Gammell brothers, John and William, who went to America from Glasgow in 1740; but I can trace no relationship. There are also Gammells (and no doubt Gemmills/Gemmells as well) in Canada, Australia and in Singapore.
Against the above background, we can now examine the origins of our particular family. The earliest factual record I have been able to trace is an entry in the Parish records of Greenock West, held in Register House in Edinburgh, which reads as follows:
'August 19th 1727. William Gemmil, shipmaster, and Margaret Scott, both of this parish booked to proclamation of banns, and were married 31st August 1727.'
This man we know to have been our ancestor, but the important point in this entry is in the spelling of the surname. It is clear that in those days spelling of surnames in Parish Registers depended on the clerk or minister, who entered names as they heard them, and thus spelling varied widely. This is borne out by the fact that the children of William and Margaret appear in the same Parish Register under the names of Gemmel, Gemmil, Gamel and Gammel.
The Parish Registers of Greenock West from 1698 to the end of the 1700s, and those of the new parish of Greenock Central contain no record of any other families of Gammel/Gamel or Gemmel or anything like, and thus it seems not unreasonable to assume that William Gammell (born about 1695) migrated to Greenock when of age to take up a maritime career.
The question then arises from where did he stem. An early family genealogical paper (undated but probably compiled around 1820) gives the following information:
The records of West Kilbridge parish, which date from 1691 are sketchy, but there is an entry, under date of October 18th 1693, reading as follows:
'Agnes Gemble, daughter of John Gemble and Agnes Weir in Hunterston, was baptised.'
This could be the Agnes Gammell mentioned above as the wife of William Thomson, and thus indicating that the parents of our William Gammell, the shipmaster, were John Gemble or Gammell and his wife Agnes Weir. There is no entry in the West Kilbride Register recording William's birth, but we know he was born in or about 1695, and it is very tempting to suggest that he was the next child, after Agnes, of John Gemble and his wife Agnes Weir, being born just eighteen months or two years after his sister.
There is a tombstone in West Kilbride churchyard with the inscription still legible (most are of sandstone and badly flaked) which reads:
'Here lyes the corps of Robert Gemmil. carpenter in Hunterston, who departed this life April 12th 1735 aged 60 years. Also the corps of Mary Thomson his spouse who departed this life 20th March (year illegible) aged 76.
There is a record of children born to this Robert Gemmil and Mary Thomson dating from 1705 onwards, so it seems unlikely that they were the parents of William and Agnes, but this tombstone does prove there were Gemmils in West Kilbride parish at that time, and that the spelling of the name as Gemble in some instances is of little significance.
Further research seems unlikely to be profitable, as is indicated by the following extract from 'Sources of Scottish Genealogical Research' by D.J. Steel:
'After the restoration in 1661, renunciation of the Covenant was made a condition of Office, and ministers were ejected. Many Presbyterians began worshipping in secret. From 1662 to 1689 the parish churches were Episcopalian, and even if parish Registers exist for the period, many baptisms, marriages and burials took place in secret and were not recorded - thus to trace ancestors from parish records prior to about 1690 is almost impossible.'
It thus seems reasonable to let the matter rest and assume that our earliest established ancestor, namely William Gammell, the shipmaster, sprang from yeoman stock, based on the parish of West Kilbride, on the north part of the coast of Ayrshire, and that there is a strong possibility that he was the son of John Gemble and his wife Agnes Weir, of Hunterston in that parish.