HISTORY OF THE HAWKES NAME :

The history of the Hawkes name begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is derived from the Old English personal name Hafoc, which means hawk. The name may also be an occupational surname given to a "hawker" or someone who held land in exchange for providing hawks to a lord. As well, the surname Hawkes may be a local surname given to someone who lived in a nook or corner, and in this case, the surname is derived from the Old English word halke, which means nook or corner.

There are many variations of spelling of the name including Hauk, Hauke, Hawk, Hawkey and Hawks.

The earliest mention of the name Hawkes was found in the county of Oxfordshire, where Osbertus Hauoc was recorded as a resident about 1115. A branch of the Hawkes family was established in Dorset by the latter half of that century, and Roger Hauech was registered as a resident there in 1776. Members of the Hawkes family migrated to Suffolk, where William del Halk resided in 1188, and to Cambridge, where Adam de Halk lived in 1260. Other branches of the family were found in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Cornwall.

The records of early American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Hawkes or a variant. These include Mathew and Margaret Hawkes who landed in Boston in 1630, and Richard and William Hawke who landed in New England in 1774.

Our Hawkes family

including Thomas Robert McLARNON





GENERATION ONE :

1.~ ~ ~ BENJAMIN HAWKES was born around 1815 and married ELIZA RAY on 12 October 1835 at Datchet, Buckingham, England. Eliza was the daughter of HENRY and SARAH RAY and was. Born in Hampshire, England. Benjamin and Eliza left England for New Zealand with their six children on the “Louisa Campbell” in 1842 and Benjamin obtained employment with Mr Mason, a farmer who lived in Auckland's first “milk walk” in Mt Eden.

Children of WILLIAM HAWKES and ELIZA RAY were :

There was much tragedy in the life of this pioneer family. Henry suffered greatly on the long sea voyage to New Zealand and died a day or two after landing in June 1842 aged 2 years. On 3 July 1842 Eliza died after being fatally scalded while doing the family wash in one of the old-fashioned three-legged iron pots. A few weeks later the remaining baby girl also died.

About 1847 Benjamin took over Major Bunberry's farm at Tamaki, near old St Thomas' Church. Around 1860 he settled in Papatoetoe. He died after being thrown from his horse in July 1866 and was buried at Papatoetoe Cemetery, Papatoetoe, Auckland.



GENERATION TWO :

2.~ ~ ~ LYDIA HAWKES (HENRY) was born in Maidenhead, London, England in 1836. She arrived in New Zealand in 1842 with her family on the “Louisa Campbell”. Within weeks her mother and three younger siblings had died and Lydia was sent to boarding school in Victoria Street, Auckland and remained there until she was 11 years old. She then went to keep house for her father and two older brothers at Tamaki.

Lydia married THOMAS ROBERT McLARNON on 14 February 1861 at the residence of Rev J Macky, Salem, Otahuhu. Thomas was born on 29 July 1829 in Moulmein, Burma and had come to New Zealand with his mother MARGARET (nee BROWN) step-father ANDREW SCALLON and two brothers on the Fencible ship “Ann” in 1948. Lydia and Thomas settled in Papatoetoe and raised a family of 14 children. Lydia died in Ponsonby, Auckland aged 89 years and was buried at Holy Trinity Cemetery in Otahuhu, Auckland.





Please note that in keeping to genealogy publishing protocol I have not included information about later generations including living persons. If you have a family connection please contact me for further information.

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