This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Wadsworth,' a large township in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire In the parish church of Silkstone the name is variously found as Waddysworth (1556), Wardsworth (1656), Wadsworth (1666), and Wordsworth (1668, and forward). Longfellow had for his second name Wadsworth, and was on both father and mother's side of Yorkshire lineage. Query, was the poetic fire of Wordsworth and Wadsworth Longfellow kindled on the same original hearth? The poet's family must have journeyed by degrees from the Yorkshire border, across Westmoreland, into Cumberland, where, at Cockermouth, John Wordsworth, attorney, was agent for the estates of the first Earl of Lonsdale. His son, the poet, was born there in 1770.

Peter de Waddeworth, sellariust 4 Edward II: Freemen of York.

Alicia de Waddesworth, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1592. Married — Thomas Hudde and Dorothie Wadsworth: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1791. Married — John Hockley and Ann Wordsworth: St. George, Hanover Square.

(English) belonging to Wordsworth, some small spot now obliterated or forgotten [Old English w(e)orð, wyrð, estate, farm: the first elem. is an Anglo-Saxon pers. name (in the genit.)—Wulfw(e)ard (cp. Wordsley), Wulfh(e)ard, or Wulfred (Old English rœd, counsel): a Wulfredes wyrð occurs in a 10th- cent. Hants charter ('Cart. Sax.’ no. 1077] In the 14th cent. a family of this name (Wurdesworth, Wordesworth, etc.) seems to have been settled at or near Penistone, Yorks; and this has led to confusion of the name with the Yorks Wadsworth (q.v.). A Geneal. Memoir of the Family of Wordsworth is quoted in Prof. Knight’s Life of Wm. Wordsworth.

A township in Yorkshire, where the family resided in early times.

The same as Woodsworth, the farm or place in the wood.

Or De Tilly. The family of Wordsworth has been traced to the time of Edward III., when it became seated at Peniston, York, through marriage with an heiress (Hunter, South Yorkshire, ii. 334). It is considered impossible to trace it higher (Ib.). The difficulty in the case, however, arises only from the changes of orthography. The records produced clearly show that the name was spelt Wordisworth, Wardysworth, and Wadysworth. The latter, i.e., Wadsworth, was the original form. The lordship so named was in the West Riding, and the family of De Wadworth bore the arms of De Tilly (three fleur de lys), reversing the tinctures. This latter family (see Tilly) was Norman and baronial, being from T., near Caen. Odo de Tilly, who granted lands to Troarn Abbey, Normandy, t. Henry I., appears to have obtained fiefs in York, where his family long continued. Godfrey de Wadworth, t. Stephen (Burton, Mon. Ebor. 323), was father of Eudo or Otto de Tilly, who is also called Eudo ‘de Wadeworth.’ This Eudo de Tilly in 1165 held lands from the Barony of Pontefract (Lib. Niger); and in 1180 Urban IH. confirmed the grants of Eudo de Wadworth, son of Godfrey, to Roche Abbey, York. In 1179 Hugh de Wadworth was Abbot of Roche. His brother Henry was father of Peter de Wadworth. Eudo de W. occurs about the same time. In 1245 William de W. witnessed a charter of Roche Abbey (Burton, Mon. Ebor. 320). From this family, which was very numerous, and had many branches in York and the adjoining counties, descended William Wordsworth, the Poet.

From the Flemish, Wadswerth; a personal name.

The Wadsworths, who are best represented on the Lancashire border in the vicinity of Manchester, take their name from a West Riding township, where an ancient family of the name once resided (L.). Richard Wadesworth was a Yorkshire gentleman who contributed £25 for the defence of his country at the time of the expected Spanish invasion of 1588 (Sp.).