Michael Debenham
Society of Genealogists
Suffolk Family History Society
Guild of One-Name Studies
Genealogical Enthusiasms
My interest in family history began at an early age when I began to wonder where the name Debenham came from. My father told me it originated with the village of that name in Suffolk, but beyond that he knew little and neither, it seemed, did any other of my relatives have much enthusiasm for the subject. There it rested until one day some 35 years ago, when I wandered by chance into St Catherine's House in the Aldwych, London, and discovered shelves and yet more shelves filled with indexes to births, marriages and deaths, together with instructions on obtaining certificates. Since then I've never looked back.
My interest in the surname has found expression in membership of the Guild of One-Name Studies, and the conduct of a study of the name worldwide. This entails collecting all available references to the name with the object of reconstructing the Debenham genealogies so far as can be done, determining such things as geographical distribution and migration patterns of the name, and from a personal point of view, establishing my own ancestry and the related lines of descent. A summary of my study can be found on the Guild's website, and further information is available on my Family History website.
In the course of this research an important link was found with the Southwell family, particularly including the Southwell Brothers, Photographers Royal of Baker Street in Victorian times. This led to a large body of further research into that fascinating family which is separately reported on in our companion website, Southwell Brothers History.
Page last updated 28 February 2011.
