THE ORIGINS OF WINNETT FAMILIES OF THE WORLD

London families

The Winnett surname appears quite often in London registers. Descendants of many other families listed in this site later settled there. However, there are some families which arose or flourished in London. They are listed here.

Descendants of Barthelemy Vinet (born c. 1680)

This family is of Huguenot (French protestant) origin and probably came to London in the early 1700s, settling with other French families in Spitalfields just east of the City of London.  Barthelemy and Marianne Vinet (m. 1704) had two known sons, Barthelemy (b. 1712) and Isaac (b. 1714). Isaac had a son Elisha, and he in turn married Esther Dunn (1772, St. Leonards Shoreditch) which is when the Winnett spelling appeared. Elisha's son Elisha (b. c. 1773) and his wife Margaret gave rise to an extensive family. Descendants live in the UK, Australia and the USA. A very informative website is available.Turvey listed this family as "Family No. 2".

A large Winnett family appeared in the parish of St. Mary Abbot, Kensington in the 1700s. In 1735 a "Margaret Bennett" was christened, the daughter of Bartholomew and Dorothy. Then in 1737 George Winnett  was born to what is obviously the same couple. Thereafter the name is fairly consistently spelt Winnett. Known descendants of this family derive from George's son Henry Bartholomew (b. 1779) and they continued living in the Kensington area into the 20th century. Turvey lists one of these families as "Family No. 6".

It is clear now that Bartholomew Winnett was in fact the older son of Barthelemy Vinet mentioned above. He appears as a weaver (the Huguenot profession par excellence) in 1726 (Court Book of the Weaver's Company, London). Then in St. Luke Chelsea: Settlement and Bastardy Examinations 1733-1750 the following appears: "Bartholomew Vinet aged about 32 years by trade a weaver but now a seafaring man...about 9 years ago...was married...to Dorothy...by whom he has two children living:...Margaret aged about 8 years and George aged about 6 years...1743".

Descendants of Thomas Winnett of Lambeth (born c. 1776)

Thomas was born in 1776, location unknown. He married Ann and worked as a policeman in Marylebone and Lambeth before his death in 1839. They had two sons, William (b. 1827, Southwark) and John (b. 1829, Marylebone). William became a prominent glasscutter and merchant in Soho, and an alderman of the City of Westminster. He married twice and had four children. He gave his name to Winnett Street in Soho which was close to his business. Descendants of his brother John have been traced. Where Thomas came from remains a mystery.