Redgrave Surname Meaning, History & Origin

The village population numbered about forty in
the early Middle Ages. Because
this number is not very large, there
is some reason to believe that all Redgraves might have come from a
single
ancestor.

Select
Redgrave Resources on
The
Internet

• The Redgrave Project
  Redgrave genealogy.

Select
Redgrave Ancestry

England.
The
surname Redgrave would designate that you came from Redgrave in
Suffolk, not
that you were living there. Thus an
early Redgrave might well be living somewhere else.
Early examples of the name were in fact in
Norfolk – Robert de Redgrave of Norwich in 1344 and Adam de Redgrave in
Norfolk
in 1477.

The name was mainly to be found
in London and in East Anglia. Of the 750
Redgraves recorded in the 1891 census:

• 36%
  lived in London
  
• 15% in Norfolk
• 14%
  in Suffolk
  
• and
  5% in Essex.

Samuel
Redgrave and his wife Elizabeth, who were living at Seething in Norfolk
in the 1750’s, are believed to have been the forebears of the Olympic
rower Steve Redgrave. From
William Redgrave, a wire worker and fence manufacturer
of limited means in Pimlico, came two cultured brothers of early
Victorian London
– Samuel, a civil servant and writer on art, and Richard, an
artist and
teacher of art.

Some Redgraves came from outside of this area of eastern England.
One family of Redgraves was to be found at Earls Barton in
Northamptonshire in the late 16th century. Later Redgraves
included the famous acting family of Redgrave:

• George Redgrave (1851-1881), the inventor of the board game
  Bagatelle
• Roy Redgrave (1873-1922), the stage and silent film actor (who
  left his family for Australia)
• Sir Michael Redgrave (1908-1985), the well-known stage and film
  actor
• and his daughters Vanessa and Corin and grand-daughters Natasha
  and Joely, who all made their marks as actresses.

Tim Adler’s 2011 book The House of Redgrave: The Lives of a
Theatrical Dynasty described this family.

A Redgrave family in Warwickshire traces itself back to John Redgrave
who was born around 1733 in the village of Bishops Itchington.

Select
Redgrave Names

• Sir Michael Redgrave was
  a well-known stage and film actor and the sire of famous Redgrave actresses.
• Sir Steve Redgrave was the
  Olympic rower who won five consecutive gold medals, from 1984 to 2000.

Select Redgrave Numbers Today

• 1,200 in the UK (most numerous
  in London)
• 200 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)