Whittington Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Whittington Family History

Whittington Family History

The ancient origin of the name Whittington was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Whittington is a locality name meaning 'of Whittington', from one of many towns so called throughout England. This name is of English descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are a Johannes de Whityngton who was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1379 and an Isabella de Wityngton, who was also recorded in the same year in this ancient document. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired lands by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals.

In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. During the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland was colonized by the English Crown with this period marking the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. This period brought an influx of settlers into the country but, unlike the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century that resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.

The Whittington family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Whittington descendants.