Place:Whitgift, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Whitgift is a small linear hamlet, since 1996 in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Goole. It is located alongside the River Ouse and north of the A161 road between Goole and Scunthorpe. Ousefleet and Reedness are to the east and west respectively. It forms part of the recently formed civil parish of Twin Rivers. Prior to 1974 Whitgift was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The place-name 'Whitgift' is first attested in a Yorkshire charter of circa 1080, where it appears as "Witegift", and in a charter of 1232 where it appears as "Whitegift". The name is thought to mean 'Hviti's or Hwita's gift'.

Whitgift was previously an ancient parish in the Osgoldcross Wapentake, a civil parish that was part of the Goole Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974, then located in Boothferry District of Humberside until 1996.

Humberside 1974-1996

In 1974 most of what had been the East Riding of Yorkshire was joined with the northern part of Lincolnshire to became a new English county named Humberside. The urban and rural districts of the former counties were abolished and Humberside was divided into non-metropolitan districts. The new organization did not meet with the pleasure of the local citizenry and Humberside was wound up in 1996. The area north of the River Humber was separated into two "unitary authorities"—Kingston upon Hull covering the former City of Hull and its closest environs, and the less urban section to the west and to the north which, once again, named itself the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The phrase "Yorkshire and the Humber" serves no purpose in WeRelate. It refers to one of a series of basically economic regions established in 1994 and abolished for most purposes in 2011. See the Wikipedia article entited "Regions of England").

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Whitgift. It gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Whitgift provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Whitgift.

• A Vision of Britain through Time also provides links to three maps for the Goole Rural District, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey. These maps expand to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.

• Ordnance Survey West Riding 1888. The "Sanitary Districts (which preceded the rural districts) for the whole of the West Riding.
• Ordnance Survey West Riding South 1900. This map is not equivalent to maps for other parts of the country at this time period and does not show parish boundaries. However, Goole Rural District is clearly shown. It is at the extreme right of the map and much wider than it is long.
• Ordnance Survey West Riding 1944. The urban and rural districts of the whole of the West Riding after the revisions of 1935. This map does show the civil parish boundaries.

Remember that the entire rural district became part of Humberside 1974-1996, but on the abolition of Humberside, some parishes joined Lincolnshire while others joined the East Riding of Yorkshire. This fact is covered on a parish by parish basis.