The Origins of the Causton Name

Causton or Cawston is a location name, given to some one who came from Cawston. Early examples of the use of the name usually included de before the surname and this is consistent with it being a location name. Some early examples that I have found are:

* - Heroldus de Caustuna, who is listed in the Suffolk Doomsday book as a landowner. Note the Latin form of the name, often used in early documents for location names.

* - Peter de Causton, listed in the lay subsidy of 1327 as having taxable assets at Great and Little Leighs and Chateleigh in Essex.

* - John de Caustone, a burgess of Colchester, Essex in 1350

The 'de' is not always used in early references and its use gradually died out. By 1350 its use was not common but I have seen a late example (William de Cawston or Caston, County Norfolk 1673).

The place name Cawston may have arisen from a combination of the old Scandinavian (Norse) personal name Kalfr meaning a calf and the old English tun, meaning an enclosure or settlement (1,2). Thus Cawston was a farmstead or village belonging to Kalfr. The name could thus have arisen from about the eighth or ninth century AD, the time of the Viking invasions. Another surname dictionary (3) gives the source as C(E)awe's estate but gives no further explanation.

There are three locations in England with the name Cawston:

* A parish and village in North Norfolk. The village is four miles south west of Aylsham. This is the largest and most populous of the three Cawstons.

* A hamlet in the parish of Dunchurch. This is two miles south west of Rugby in North Warwickshire. It is listed in the Doomsday Book as Calveston.

* A township parish, part of Clunebury in South West Salop. This is six and a half miles south east of Bishops Castle.

It is therefore possible that families with the Cawston surname could have come from three quite widely separated locations in England. To check the relative importance of three centres as a source of Caustons I studied the data in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) (4) was used. Occurrences of the Cau(w)ston surname in the IGI were separated into four time bands (5). The total number of Cau(w)ston events, which are mostly pre 1850, found in the IGI listing was 1,112.

The numbers of early events were as follows:

* The counties in Scotland were not separated ** One event each in Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devon, Cheshire, Hampshire, Isle of Man, Warwickshire, Westmoreland.

There may be duplications so do not attach too much significance to the exact numbers. There are two problems with this analysis. The coverage of the IGI is patchy (probably at its worst in Essex with only about 20% coverage at present) and there are many gaps in the early parish records. In spite of these problems the data in the table shows quite clearly the concentration of the Cau(w)ston surname in the eastern counties and supports the Cawston in Norfolk as being the main source for the surname. The distribution across the eastern counties also supports the possibility of early migration of Cawstons down to London (and thence into surrounding counties) and Yorkshire.

References

(1). Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges

(2). Dictionary of English Place Names by A D Mills

(3). Surnames of the UK by Harrison.

(4). International Genealogical Index (1994 with 1995 addendum on CD ROM)

(5). Article by Geoffrey M Hodgson in Family Tree Magazine Vol. 13 No 4 page 55 (February 1997)

Variations in the spelling of the Causton Surname

Researches, especially in early English parish registers, have shown that there a wide variation in the spelling of the Causton surname. This especially true before about 1850, a date when surname spelling became relatively fixed. Strong local dialects were being interpreted by clerics who were not usually born in the same area was probably a significant element in the variety of spellings found. Surnames would be written down as they sounded.

Here is some the evidence showing connections between various spellings of Cau(w)ston:

* From Alumni Cantabrigieses part 1, volume 1 - Casson, Cason or Cawson John. Matriculated sizar from Corpus Christi, Easter 1617. Of Yorkshire. BA 1620-1, MA 1626, ordained deacon (Peterborough) Jan 8, Priest Mar 9 1622-3.

* From Alumni Cantabrigieses part 1, volume 1 - Costin, Coston or Costyn Francis. Matriculated sizar from Christs, Easter 1677. Perhaps of Ipswich. BA 1679-80, ordained deacon (Norwich) 1679-80, priest London May 1681, vicar of Haddenham, Bucks 1689, buried Nov. 2 1731 aged 77.

* Philip Causton (1615 - 1679), a chief constable of Tendring Hundred in Essex (1654 - 1667) all recorded in the Assize files as Caston.

* Philip Causton (1651 - 1715), a chief constable of Hinckford hundred in Essex (1683 - 1690), recorded as Causton until 1690 then for one year as Cason in the Assize files.

* William, baptised on at Great Clacton as Causton, sent back to Great Clacton from Tillingham with his wife and two children in 1833 (Settlement paper gives his name as Cawston, he signs Coston). After his death (recorded as Causton) his wife and children enter the Union Workhouse in Tendring where their name is recorded as Cason. The deaths of the wife and two of the children are recorded as Cason. Two surviving sons go on to marry and have children, all recorded as Causton.

* In the parish register of burials for Earls Colne in Essex - September 16 1790 Susan wife of John Casan alias Cawston buried.

* In the parish register of baptisms for Great Bentley in Essex -what appears to be one family with two children of Thomas and Louisa baptised in 1834 and 1835 as Cawston and two more children baptised in 1838 and 1840 as Cason. In the same register - what appears to be a second family, parents William and Susan, having a child baptised in 1841 as Cason and a second child in 1845 as Causton. I also have the birth certificate for the first child of William and Susan, born in 1841 and this the surname as Cawston.

* The certificate for the birth in November 1856 of my great aunt Ellen Causton gives her surname as Cason. A number of other sources and clues confirm that this is the correct certificate.

The following have been found as variations of Causton in various locations and dates:-

Canston, Casan, Casen, Cassn, Cason, Casson, Casten, Castone, Caston, Castyn, Causonn, Caustern, Causten, Caustin, Causton, Caustone, Caustyn, Cawson, Cawsonne, Cawsten, Cawstine, Cawston, Cawstone, Cawsyton, Cawxston, Coiston, Corston, Cossen, Cossten, Costen, Costern, Costin, Costing, Coston, Couston, Cowstine, Coyston, Cowlston

Possible Confusion with Other Surnames

The obvious difficulty is that some possible variations of Causton are surnames in their own right - for example:

* Casson, meaning son of Cass (a pet name for Cassandra common in the 13th century). Common in the north of England, where it does not usually have any Causton connection. There is one exception of a Caston family from Norfolk ending up as Casson in Tyne and Wear. In Essex, Norkolk and Suffolk the possibility of Casson being a misspelling of Causton are high.

* Cason could be a variation of Casson in northern England but in the south is very likely to be a Causton variant especially in north Essex (e.g. Langham), North Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

* Caston, a location name - a dweller by a chestnut tree. Also Caston in Norfolk - farmstead or estate of a man called Catt or Kati. The families in Caston and Cawston in Norfolk around 1350 are probably related but in later times mostly the surnames are separate.

* Causon seems to have two sources. In Lancashire the source may be Caustons in Yorkshire. The other source is Cranham in Gloucestershire, almost certainly Caustons originally.

* Costen and Costin may be a form of Costain. The only known source via Causon and Corston is in Kent where it has even moved as far as Costing. Otherwise there is very unlikely to be a Causton / Costin link.

* Coston, a location name - Coston in Norfolk, Leicestershire and Shropshire - also possibly a farmstead of a man named Katr. Unlikely to be Causton variant outside Kent, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

* Corson may be a form of Curzon (common in Norfolk) and is not usually a Causton variant

* Corston, a location name - Corston in Sa, So and W, farmstead or village on the river Corse. It is also a known variant of Causton in south Norfolk, some of which stayed Causton others mutated permanently to Corston. There are more Corstons in northern Scotland - connection, if any, to Causton unknown.

* Coyston arose as a variant of Coston in north west Essex around 1700 and no other sources are known. Coston in turn may be a variant of Causton.

* Caxton in medieval times could be pronounced Causston. This is due to the a being pronounced long such as 'au' and the x being very soft like an s. There is some evidence of an early link with Causton.

Mutation to a new Surname

In some cases the new variation of the spelling became the accepted version and was then passed on by generation after generation. This was especially likely when the family was illiterate. Quite soon all memory of the Causton origin of the surname was lost. In other cases misspelling of the Causton name in records has not resulted in any long term change in the Surname. This may be because an official or the family knew how their name was spelt and carried that information forward to the next generation.

Causton and Cawston

The Causton name is thought to derive from people who came from or lived in Cawston, probably the Cawston in Norfolk. Although the Norfolk village name is now spelt with a 'w', the earliest documents (1, 2) show the village as Causton. The majority of documents before 1550 show the Causton spelling. In the late sixteenth century this gradually changed until after 1600 most documents used the Cawston spelling. In one seventeenth century document about an unseemly disagreement when beating the bounds of Cawston parish it is spelt both ways. Both spellings exist today and although some Caustons do change to Cawstons over time and vice versa there is a surprising consistency of spelling over many generations.

References

(1). e.g. Visitation of St Agnes Church in 1368 - Queens Remembrancer, Misc. books Vol. 30

(2). Hist. MSS. Com 6th Rep. p283

Cawston Place Names

There are three Cawston references in Canada. Cawston is in British Columbia, Similkameen district (reference for Cawston post office - 49^oN 119^oW). It is located on Highway 3 a few miles east of Keremeos and approximately 370 kilometers east of Vancouver. Nearby is a Cawston Creek (same map reference) flowing north west to the Similkameen River. Cawston Point appears from the map reference (50^oN 126^oW) to be on the coast in the Straight of Georgia between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada.

In Australia there is a Cawston shoal or banc (reference 15^o S 114^oE) 400 miles off the north western coast, the same latitude as Wyndham and the same longitude as Exmouth. Cawston Bay (reference 15^oS 128^oE) is in Western Australia off Joseph Bonaparte Gulf on the Durack River estuary. Cawston Hill (reference 15^oS 128^oE) is nearby. I have not yet located any Cawston references in USA.

The Cawston place names in Canada and Australia could have come from towns and geographical features being named after families with the Cawston surname living in the area or from families with different surnames emigrating from Cawston in Norfolk. There does seem to have been a Cawston family living in Cawston, Canada as evidenced by the death of a George Beauchamp Cawston, a private in the eighth battalion of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, who was killed in the first word war.

Distribution of the Causton Surname

Today, an estimate taken from data bases world wide such as telephone directories ten years ago gives the number of Caustons as 1146 and the number of Cawstons as 970. The total is 2116 - an estimated 850 households. Allowing for families whose Cau(w)ston surname has been changed by the vagaries of record keeping over time to Caston, Caustin, Causten, Coston etc. the total number of present day descendants of Cawstons in the world is not likely to exceed 5,000. It is therefore a relatively uncommon name. The distribution of the surname in countries around the world is as follows:

John Causton, March 2007

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