The West Country (West England) Group is for members of the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc. who have an interest in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire and generally meets on the first Wednesday night of each month except January and December.

Visitors (non members of the Society) are welcome to attend one meeting of the Group but are required to become members of the Society if they wish to continue attending the Group's meetings.

The main feature of the monthly meetings is usually a talk or discussion on a particular topic. Time is also taken for members to report on their research findings and bring up their West Country research problems which group members endeavour to solve or make suggestions.

The background of our West Country ancestors is quite diverse - mining, agriculture, glove making.

Cornwall
Mining for tin, copper, arsenic, lead and silver has taken place in Cornwall for thousands of years and the county was the most important region for mining in England and during the 19th century Cornwall was the most important tin mining area in the world. Its importance has greatly diminished now as the mineral reserves have become exhausted or it has become uneconomic too continue and the last working tin mine in Europe (at South Crofty, Cornwall) closed down in 1998. There were thousands of mines throughout Cornwall though the major mining regions were around Penwith, Redruth and Camborne, St Agnes and the area around St Austell, Wadebridge and Callington (eastern Cornwall). The mining area extended across the River Tamar into western Devon.

Whole families were employed in various occupations in the mines. Life was tough and many people died at relatively young ages due to the conditions. During the 19th century the Cornish mines developed new methods of mine processing using the steam engine and this technology was later exported around the world to the locations where Cornish miners migrated.

The discovery of copper in South Australia, first at Kapunda in 1841 then Burra in 1845 and the Copper Triangle (Kadina, Wallaroo & Moonta) in the 1860's led to the migration of many Cornish miners to the colony. This occurred in many mining areas around the world - Australia as well as Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, Mexico and the United States, and the Cornish made a significant contribution to the development of mining in those places by copying the technologies developed back in Cornwall.

The fishing industry has been important in Cornwall too with thousands of fishermen based in the many small ports along the coastline.

Whether from a mining background or not, nearly 25% of the Cornish population left the county for overseas or elsewhere in England during the second half of the 19th century.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the Methodist church became established in England and was particularly successful in Cornwall.
The 1851 Religious Census for Cornwall indicates that nearly two thirds of those who attended a church service were Methodists.
The strong Methodist influence in South Australia is largely due to the migration from Cornwall (and Devon).

Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire
The remaining West Country counties have a predominantly agricultural background with fishing along the coastline.

The metallic minerals mining area that covered virtually all of Cornwall extended into western Devon, north of Saltash but, apart from this and an area in western Somerset, there was very little mining in any other West Country county. Coal mining took place in Gloucestershire (Bristol & Forest of Dean), Somerset (Bedminster, Nailsea, Nettlebridge, Paulton, Radstock & Twerton) and Devon (Newton Bushell).

The major industry for these counties was agriculture, often dairy farming but also sheep, apples and other crops.
In Dorset other industries have also existed for centuries, such as rope making and textiles. Bridport, in western Dorset, has been a major centre for ropemaking since the 1200's. Button making employed many in east Dorset until the mid 19th century and there were also wollen, silk spinning and glove making industries.

The other counties also had significant industries in woollen cloth and glovemaking. Some were initially cottage industries and the Industrial Revolution caused disruption as jobs moved from the home to the large factories.

Enclosure of the common lands, a trend to larger farms and the introduction of machinery made life increasingly difficult on the land and many agricultural labourers emigrated from the West Country area, particularly under schemes giving them free passage to Australia.

Place Names
Many place names in South Australia were derived from one in England (often where a colonist originated from) and the West Country is no exception in providing inspiration for the following names:

Callington, Mylor, Redruth, Truro (Cornwall)
Cheltenham, Paradise (Gloucestershire)
Montacute (Somerset)
Exeter, Plympton (Devon)
Salisbury (Wiltshire)

Some Web Sites for the West Country