Use of Alefounder as a Forename

Three individuals or families are known to have made use of Alefounder as a forename:

• Alefounder Bugg, 1817-1887

• The Barker—Goldsmith—Langley family

• William Alefounder L. Riches, b. 1880

Alefounder Bugg, 1817-1887

Family tree

The story that has been passed down the family is that Alefounder Bugg's mother Elizabeth (née Arnold) did not like her married surname and sought to counter any deleterious effect it might have on her sons by giving four of them "distinguished" first names: Alefounder, Archer, Enoch, and Golding (also known as Golden). Alefounder Bugg was born at Brantham, Suffolk; perhaps his mother had seen the brass at nearby East Bergholt, although that could not have been her sole source of information, as the name is there spelt "Alfounder".

Alefounder Bugg became a mariner, gaining his initial qualification (no. 35925) in 1829 and his master's certificate by service (no. 73079) in 1850. Lloyd's Captains' Register, 1869, lists the ships he served in as Master or Mate:

In 1865, the Ipswich Seamen's Shipwreck Society awarded him £10 for loss of clothing, he having been "recently run down off Whitby" [Ipswich Journal, 11 March 1865]. He was elected to the Committee of that Society in 1868, and was serving as a Steward in 1874. He was living as 16 Fore Hamlet at that time, Fore Hamlet also being his place of residence at the time of the 1851 census. He appears to have retired from his position as a mariner and was a grocer in 1871, pork butcher and shopkeeper in 1874 (White's Directory) and, later, a ship's chandler. Ipswich Journal, 23 January 1886, reprinted 30th January:

No. 11 and 13, Duke-street
Facing Coprolite-street, a direct throughfare to the Quays, A FREEHOLD PROPERTY, having Two Front Shops, sitting-room, Warehouses, landing, two chambers and attic, and backyard, with boarded building therein, formerly occupied by Mr Alefounder Bugg, the proprietor, who has relinquished the business of a ship chandler in consequence of ill-health.

Messrs. BIRKETT and RIDLEY,
Solicitors.

He married Jane Proom in 1848. Their son, Arthur Alefounder Bugg (b. 1854), is listed in White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk, 1891-2 as a photographer in Stowmarket. An example of his work can be seen on the Stowmarket History web site.

I am indebted to Grant F. Edwards for much of the above information on Alefounder Bugg, particularly that passed down through the family.

Barker—Goldsmith—Langley family

Family tree

William Alefounder of Norwich died in 1823 and and in his will set up a trust to benefit, first, his own wife Hannah plus his son John and his wife Leah, and for want of any children of John, then his daughter Mary, wife of Charles Barker, and ultimately Mary's children. One of those children was Harriet who married Charles Goldsmith; another, Rachel Rebecca, married John Langley. Alefounder can be found as a first name among the Barker, Goldsmith and Langley families.

John and Leah Alefounder lived in Alefounder's Yard, Norwich.

William Alefounder Langley Riches (b. 1880) of Pulham, Norfolk

Family tree

The ancestors of William Alefounder Langley Riches have been traced back to his grandparents on all lines and back to 2 x great-grandparents on some maternal lines. No connection to any Alefounder family has yet been found. However, a certain William Alefounder Langley was a member of the Barker–Goldsmith–Langley family mentioned above. The idea that there was some connection appears inescapable, but what that was is as yet unknown.

Last updated 22nd March 2011 by Peter Alefounder