a trio of Garibaldi

[chris_49]

It was in the now closed thread about unusual names that I mentioned Garibaldi Beetlestone, librarian of Smethwick and father of the bride of a relative. Then I found another, father of a bridegroom Garibaldi Osborne, so a double biscuit reference!

The new GRO records led me to a third one, his grandson born 1916 with Garibaldi as a middle name. I'm quite pleased about this. I doubt I'd be so pleased if my parents had saddled me with the name.....

[youngtug]

Hopefully they were named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, not the biscuit, which is named after him. Still, no accounting for taste.

[Maiden Stone]

Garibaldi Beetlestone. Wonderful name. Was the surname Anglicised from Italian?

[chris_49]

Garibaldi Beetlestone. Wonderful name. Was the surname Anglicised from Italian?

 Not as far as I can see. Garibaldi was a hero to a lot of people, and playing with FreeBMD finds quite a number with that first name, especially in the 1860s. I've found Lloyd George, Baden Powell, Willliam Webb, William Gladstone as partial names and doubtless there are others. Generations of women were named Florence after just one person, initially!
 

[Geoff-E]

Garibaldi had a sidekick called Mazzini.

Sometime in the mid 1800s, so the story goes, they came over to Birmingham possibly with a view to buying some guns. Perhaps, they stayed with BENNETTs in that city.

I'm not quite sure how it arose but since then, certain members of the BENNETT clan have carried the middle name Mazzini.  The most recent was born just 2-3 years ago.

[Andrew Tarr]

Garibaldi was a hero to a lot of people, and playing with FreeBMD finds quite a number with that first name, especially in the 1860s.

Victorians were prone to naming children after heroes, once they had done the duty of commemorating important members of the immediate family.  There was a noticeable outbreak of Horatio Nelsons for some years after 1805, not just in families called Nelson.

[BumbleB]

Just enter the forename of Mafeking into FreeBMD births in 1900 - males and females come up - with some poor child labelled as Mafeking Baden P H (wonder what P and H stand for?).  As a child I did meet a lady whose forename was Mafeking.

Added:

Search for National Probate Calendar records in - over 100 people with Mafeking as part of their name.

[Geoff-E]

I once knew someone with the middle name Verdun.  He was born just after the start of that battle (it went on for almost 10 months).

[Andrew Tarr]

Just enter the forename of Mafeking into FreeBMD births in 1900 - males and females come up - with some poor child labelled as Mafeking Baden P H (wonder what P and H stand for?).  As a child I did meet a lady whose forename was Mafeking.

As it immediately follows Baden, I should lay even money that the P stood for Powell ?