About us
This Y-DNA project seeks to determine how many distinct Robertshaw lines exist - so far three have been detected - and how they migrated between towns, counties and countries, and the degree of relation within each where records are lacking.
To join, please have a Robertshaw male take a Y-DNA test with FTDNA and then join this project. When the results are in (typically after 2-3 months) you will be grouped with other tests. Please e-mail an administrator or ask on the "Activity Feed" if you are interested in doing a test but would like more information on any aspect of testing.
Other surnames like Robshaw are also welcome to join.
To view results, click "DNA Results" in the side menu. You need to be registered with FTDNA and signed in to see all results - only a subset will be visible if you are not, due to tested individual's privacy settings.
History
The surname is not found anywhere in Yorkshire in the 1379 Poll Tax returns, although surnames were not in universal use at this time ("son of", or their profession or residence, being a common substitute). In the earliest parish records from the late 16th century people with this surname are found in three locations: Heptonstall, near Halifax in West Yorkshire; Bradford, in West Yorkshire; and Burnley, in east Lancashire. By the 1660s several returns of the hearth tax give them as resident in several places in Yorkshire:
Heptonstall Ancestry
Although there is a farm called Robertshaw at Slack near Heptonstall, first mentioned in a rental list for the manor of Halifax-cum-Heptonstall in 1429, no Robertshaw is ever known to have lived in that building.
The name could be a derivative of "son of Robert of the Shaw" (a shaw, or schagh, deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word for a small wood), as there were several land-holding Shaws and Dobsons ("son of Robert") in Wadsworth township in the 14th century; indeed, a man called Robert de Schawe lived in Wadsworth in the 1340s, William de Schagh was known to reside at Heptonstall or Wadsworth in the 1370s, and a Henry Dobson de Schagh lived there in the 1390s. "Lands at Robertshaw", lying within Heptonstall manor, are mentioned in several sources, as is a "Robertshaw Nether Mill" in the late 1500s; Robertshaw could have been an early name for the general area around Slack Top and the Hebden Beck, within which the farmstead was built. However there remains a problem with linking lands at Slack, lying within Heptonstall manor (which existed since at least the 13th century), with the Shaws living at neighbouring Wadsworth.
The Robertshaws of Heptonstall first appear in the court rolls of the manor of Wakefield in 1389, where John and Richard de Robertshaghe - probably pronounced "Roberd-shar" with an initial rhotic (rolled) R - are separately fined for offences committed somewhere within Sowerbyshire (the area roughly between Heptonstall and Halifax). Another John Robertshaghe was one of the first constables of Heptonstall in the 1430s. Their descendents were minor landholders in Heptonstall, Stanfield and Wadsworth townships through the 16th and 17th centuries, where the name was then spelt Robertshay. One branch rented the estate and corn mill at Hangingroyd, now in Hebden Bridge, from the lords of Halifax-cum-Heptonstall manor, until shortly after the Civil War when their Cockcroft cousins of Mayroyd purchased it. Afterwards the familiy almost became extinct from the area: in the 1662 Hearth Tax returns only five Robertshaw families were recorded at Heptonstall and Stansfield, and by 1672 there were only three heads still alive, one of whom was exempted because they were too poor. (15 Robertshaw families were found elsewhere in Yorkshire.)
Most Robertshaw wills preceding the 19th century are by men and women from the Heptonstall area. It seems likely that many individuals migrated from Heptonstall to the rest of Halifax as the cotton trade flourished in that town. In the 1841 census, around 30 families were found around Heptonstall; this number diminished over the ensuing decades, and now there are but a handful of Robertshaws still living in the area.
Three Robertshaws with known Heptonstall ancestry have been tested so far:
The family of the historian Andy Robertshaw came from Heptonstall.
Thornton Ancestry
The earliest recorded Robertshaw at Thornton was one John Robershay, who was a solider raiding Scottish lands in the 1520s and 30s using a horse and a bill-hook. Robertshaws of the area appear to have migrated to Bingley by 1650, and Keighley and Haworth by 1700. Seven Robertshaw families were recorded at Thornton, and two at Keighley, in the 1672 Hearth Tax returns.
Vice Admiral Sir Ballin Illingworth Robertshaw (1902-1971) was descended from Thornton Robertshaws.
One Robertshaw with Thornton ancestry was tested in 2016 and is a member of haplogroup R-L47, which is common throughout the British Isles.
Lancashire Ancestry
TBD. Many parish records are available from the Lancashire Online Parish Clerks but manorial/property documents have not been checked.
Thomas Robertshaw, living in Bacup in 1556, was a copyholder of land owned by the Honor of Clitheroe.
A family of Robertshaws has been resident in the Briercliffe area since at least the mid-17th century, and owned Burwains farm for a time in the 18th century.
The Rev. Benjamin Robertshaw (1657-1728) was headmaster of Burnley Grammar school. One of his sons, Benjamin Robertshaw (1679-1744), was rector of St Mary's, Amersham.
No Robertshaw with confirmed Burnley ancestry has been DNA tested yet.
"As-yet-unknown" Ancestry
Interestingly the largest block of tested Robertshaws have mixed origins - some from Manchester and one from Soothill (near Wakefield) - with most tests returned in 2017. Three distinct Robertshaw lines are known to have lived in Manchester by 1800, two of which have DNA-tested descendants proving a genetic link. (Crude SNP counting suggests a shared ancestor c.1700.)
Parish records, and a century-by-century analysis of when Robertshaws appeared, do not hint at where they originated. Discovering where this line came from is one of the biggest open questions for this project, but there are several suggestions:
To join, please have a Robertshaw male take a Y-DNA test with FTDNA and then join this project. When the results are in (typically after 2-3 months) you will be grouped with other tests. Please e-mail an administrator or ask on the "Activity Feed" if you are interested in doing a test but would like more information on any aspect of testing.
Other surnames like Robshaw are also welcome to join.
To view results, click "DNA Results" in the side menu. You need to be registered with FTDNA and signed in to see all results - only a subset will be visible if you are not, due to tested individual's privacy settings.
History
The surname is not found anywhere in Yorkshire in the 1379 Poll Tax returns, although surnames were not in universal use at this time ("son of", or their profession or residence, being a common substitute). In the earliest parish records from the late 16th century people with this surname are found in three locations: Heptonstall, near Halifax in West Yorkshire; Bradford, in West Yorkshire; and Burnley, in east Lancashire. By the 1660s several returns of the hearth tax give them as resident in several places in Yorkshire:
- Heptonstall (and neighbouring Stansfield township),
- Halifax (at Northowram and Warley)
- Thornton
- Keighley
- Soothill
- Burnley
- Colne
- Blackburn (Great Harwood and Whalley)
- Rochdale
- Rossendale (Newchurch)
Heptonstall Ancestry
Although there is a farm called Robertshaw at Slack near Heptonstall, first mentioned in a rental list for the manor of Halifax-cum-Heptonstall in 1429, no Robertshaw is ever known to have lived in that building.
The name could be a derivative of "son of Robert of the Shaw" (a shaw, or schagh, deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word for a small wood), as there were several land-holding Shaws and Dobsons ("son of Robert") in Wadsworth township in the 14th century; indeed, a man called Robert de Schawe lived in Wadsworth in the 1340s, William de Schagh was known to reside at Heptonstall or Wadsworth in the 1370s, and a Henry Dobson de Schagh lived there in the 1390s. "Lands at Robertshaw", lying within Heptonstall manor, are mentioned in several sources, as is a "Robertshaw Nether Mill" in the late 1500s; Robertshaw could have been an early name for the general area around Slack Top and the Hebden Beck, within which the farmstead was built. However there remains a problem with linking lands at Slack, lying within Heptonstall manor (which existed since at least the 13th century), with the Shaws living at neighbouring Wadsworth.
The Robertshaws of Heptonstall first appear in the court rolls of the manor of Wakefield in 1389, where John and Richard de Robertshaghe - probably pronounced "Roberd-shar" with an initial rhotic (rolled) R - are separately fined for offences committed somewhere within Sowerbyshire (the area roughly between Heptonstall and Halifax). Another John Robertshaghe was one of the first constables of Heptonstall in the 1430s. Their descendents were minor landholders in Heptonstall, Stanfield and Wadsworth townships through the 16th and 17th centuries, where the name was then spelt Robertshay. One branch rented the estate and corn mill at Hangingroyd, now in Hebden Bridge, from the lords of Halifax-cum-Heptonstall manor, until shortly after the Civil War when their Cockcroft cousins of Mayroyd purchased it. Afterwards the familiy almost became extinct from the area: in the 1662 Hearth Tax returns only five Robertshaw families were recorded at Heptonstall and Stansfield, and by 1672 there were only three heads still alive, one of whom was exempted because they were too poor. (15 Robertshaw families were found elsewhere in Yorkshire.)
Most Robertshaw wills preceding the 19th century are by men and women from the Heptonstall area. It seems likely that many individuals migrated from Heptonstall to the rest of Halifax as the cotton trade flourished in that town. In the 1841 census, around 30 families were found around Heptonstall; this number diminished over the ensuing decades, and now there are but a handful of Robertshaws still living in the area.
Three Robertshaws with known Heptonstall ancestry have been tested so far:
- Two are a member of haplogroup R-FGC11414 (Rox2 cluster) which has been linked with Scots-Irish ancestry, and possibly the dark-age kingdoms of Dál Riata and/or Elmet. An ancestor may have moved to West Yorkshire c.1000 CE, where there are two matches with families from Leeds. A shared Robertshaw ancestor is suspected in William Robertshaw (1756-1837) who lived at Slack and was a member of the baptist church there.
- A third test, descended from an illegitimate birth to a man (who was not recorded on the birth certificate) in mid-19th century Dewsbury, matches this line. A shared ancestor most likely lived in the late 16th-century.
- The other is a member of haplogroup I-M253, indicating Scandinavian (i.e. Anglo-Saxon or Viking) ancestry, and closely matches another Robertshaw line - see "as-yet-unknown ancestry" below. However his line has uncertain ancestry prior to the mid-18th century, and may not originally have come from the area.
The family of the historian Andy Robertshaw came from Heptonstall.
Thornton Ancestry
The earliest recorded Robertshaw at Thornton was one John Robershay, who was a solider raiding Scottish lands in the 1520s and 30s using a horse and a bill-hook. Robertshaws of the area appear to have migrated to Bingley by 1650, and Keighley and Haworth by 1700. Seven Robertshaw families were recorded at Thornton, and two at Keighley, in the 1672 Hearth Tax returns.
Vice Admiral Sir Ballin Illingworth Robertshaw (1902-1971) was descended from Thornton Robertshaws.
One Robertshaw with Thornton ancestry was tested in 2016 and is a member of haplogroup R-L47, which is common throughout the British Isles.
Lancashire Ancestry
TBD. Many parish records are available from the Lancashire Online Parish Clerks but manorial/property documents have not been checked.
Thomas Robertshaw, living in Bacup in 1556, was a copyholder of land owned by the Honor of Clitheroe.
A family of Robertshaws has been resident in the Briercliffe area since at least the mid-17th century, and owned Burwains farm for a time in the 18th century.
The Rev. Benjamin Robertshaw (1657-1728) was headmaster of Burnley Grammar school. One of his sons, Benjamin Robertshaw (1679-1744), was rector of St Mary's, Amersham.
No Robertshaw with confirmed Burnley ancestry has been DNA tested yet.
"As-yet-unknown" Ancestry
Interestingly the largest block of tested Robertshaws have mixed origins - some from Manchester and one from Soothill (near Wakefield) - with most tests returned in 2017. Three distinct Robertshaw lines are known to have lived in Manchester by 1800, two of which have DNA-tested descendants proving a genetic link. (Crude SNP counting suggests a shared ancestor c.1700.)
Parish records, and a century-by-century analysis of when Robertshaws appeared, do not hint at where they originated. Discovering where this line came from is one of the biggest open questions for this project, but there are several suggestions:
- Lancashire, probably Burnley or Briercliffe,
- A second Heptonstall branch,
- Huddersfield/Holme (Robertshaws were recorded here briefly in the early 15th century).