Introduction

As far back as we have gone so far - to the birth of Richard Head  in 1663 - we find the Head family originated in Norfolk, England, and then settled in Essex, England. All of the sixth generation children were born in Lexden, Essex, and most of the seventh and eighth generations were born in Shoeburyness, Essex. Until we can go back further, we have begun with Richard Head  as "Generation 1".  In navigating this page, click the thumbnails to view larger versions of the photographs and use your browser's "Back" button to return.

Wymondham is an historic market town which can be reached by road or by train via Norwich. The existing train station was built as early as 1845 and so is itself of historic interest. There is a Hornby 'O' gauge tin plate train museum there and a restaurant based on the theme taken from the David Lean and Noel Coward film "Brief Encounter", which starred Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson. The town itself is charming, with a large market square, at the centre of which is the "Market Cross", an octagonal building from the 16th or 17th century made of large wooden beams and plaster. This is mounted on other large wooden beams, which act as stilts. The building currently serves as the Tourist Information Office. The picturesque town has many narrow streets with old world pubs in them. The names of people the Head s married are very much in evidence. The Reeves run the printers, the Warners the Estate Agents and the Standleys the News Agents. The parish church of St. Mary's and St. Thomas is an extraordinary building, with massive bell towers at either end, being more like a small cathedral. It is built on the remains of a once large abbey, which was destroyed on the orders of Henry the Eighth during the Reformation. The graveyard of the church dates up to about 1860 but after this date burials took place in a cemetery outside the town.

Shoeburyness is five miles east of Southend and occupies the promontory that is formed by the North bank of the River Thames as it meets the North Sea. Various finds of great antiquity have established beyond doubt the existence of a settlement in the district during the Neolithic and Paleolithic ages and later the Romans and Danes were quartered there. About 530 A.D. the Saxons founded a city in the vicinity, which they named "Scoebyrig", however this town was afterwards destroyed by a "great inundation of the sea". The clay soil in the area lends itself to the making of bricks and the town of Shoeburyness grew up around the brick industry. Several generations of Head s were employed as brick layers. In 1849 an artillery school was established in Shoeburyness as one of the greatest advantages of the location was the length of range obtainable over the flats. Today in Shoeburyness there is no artillery range and there are no brick fields.

Michael Head of Shoeburyness has carried out the majority of the research done so far on the twelve generations of the Head Family. Bernice and Wayne Hughes of Toronto provided information on the Canadian branch of the family.  Irene Hunt and Trevor Crafter of Australia have also contributed generous amounts of information on their branches of the family. We would be delighted to hear from anyone out there who can add to the record.

Contact David Head :Head.Cornell@rogers.com