William Henry Duignan | |
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Born |
Walsall, England | August 16, 1824
Died | March 27, 1914 Walsall | (aged 89)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Solicitor |
Known for | Antiquarian, writer, local politician |
William Henry Duignan (16 August 1824 – 27 March 1914) [1] was a solicitor who lived in and around the town of Walsall for his entire life. He was better known as an antiquarian, writer, historian and local politician and wrote a number of books and pamphlets about local history and especially on the etymology of place naming, many of which are still available today. [2]
Duignan was born of Irish descent in Walsall in 1824; his grandfather, latterly a master at Walsall Grammar School, had emigrated to England from County Longford. [3] He had three children, Florency-Mary, Ernest-Henry, and George-Stubbs, by Mary Minors, of Fisherwick, whom he married in 1850; and a further three children, Bernard, Carl, and Oscar, by Jenny Petersen, of Stockholm, whom he married in 1868. [4] An antiquarian and etymologist, [5] he wrote three histories of place names and a monograph on Rushall Hall, [6] where he had lived for 29 years. [1] He travelled widely around Britain and Ireland, [5] earning the nickname "the man on a tricycle" after his preferred mode of travel. [7] He was often accompanied in his travels by the Staffordshire businessman and writer Willam Henry Robinson. [8]
Duignan's most widely known works are his three etymologies of place names in the West Midlands, Notes on Staffordshire Place Names (1902), Worcestershire Place Names (1905), and Warwickshire Place Names (1912); all are still available in reproduction form today. [2]
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