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Introduction
"Comben" is a very rare English surname originating from the Portland / Weymouth area of Dorset on the southern coast of England.

The Combens lived on the island of Portland along with a number of other families mainly in isolation from the mainland until the mid 19th Century when a bridge was built.

The name Comben may well come from the words Combe or Coombe, which are derived from the old English word Cumb meaning 'the valley'. Place names containing Combe or Coombe are very common-place in South-West England, e.g. Coombe Keynes. So the Combens could be the people of the valleys.

In the 2002 Electoral Roll, there were 316 Combens listed (less than 0.00001% of the UK adult population). The geographical spread of the Combens is in pockets of individual families and their descendants with the vast majority still residing in the Portland / Weymouth area

Detailed history
In 1334, a document prepared by the Portland Court lists 43 tenants on the Isle of Portland, but no Combens or similar spellings were listed. Over the next 200 years about ten wills were proved in various places, but Charminster and Compton Vance are the nominated residential area for 6 of the wills. A variety of other records in the 1500s show the Combens (in various spellings) to be on the island. These records were generally associated with tudor musterings of able bodied men.

The Comb(d)ens - an essay in probabilities
It is always said that the name Comben belongs to Portland, yet if the Dorset Directory is consulted you find that the families extend across a good deal of the County from Dorchester southwards. In the 16th Century, the surviving records do Indeed show the name Conben belonging to Portland, but they also show the name Conbden (or something similar) in a number of areas around Dorchester.

Over the years, the two names appear to have merged with the present spelling becoming dominant. Whether this was due to the habit of the Clerks who recorded the name becoming standardised, or whether there were variations in pronunciation as the centuries passed leading to the D in the mainland name hopping out, one can only guess.

What follows is an attempt to assess from available records: a. Variables in recording the names in the 16th and 17th centuries. b. The Derivations of the two elements in each name. c. Migrations between Portland and the mainland, and vice-versa in the families with ---al reference to

Variations
Variations of the name on the mainland are many. In the will of Robert Combden of Charminster (1562) the surname is spelt Comdin, Comdyne, Comdyne, Comdyn, Comden and Comdin. In the last four examples, the omission of the B before the D is shown by the dash above the M. This variability continues on the mainland up to 1700. Vowels remain virtually unaltered in sound, although there is a tendency to turn the 0 into a U after 1660, and just occasionally to record the local pronunciation of the last syllable Cumdean, as two sounds, de-an. In Wyke Regis the habit of recording the surname seems to change as the 17th Century progresses. The Protestation Rolls show Cumbin twice. The Registers show Combien from 1677-85, as in Portland. In 1688, 1690, and 1694 they show Comden or Comdon. A will, and an inventory for 1676 and 1688 respectively both show Comden.

In Portland, the available entries are much more consistent. Nowhere in the 16th or 17th Centuries does a D appear in the name Comben except in the Muster Roll of Henry VIII's reign. The Lay Subsidy of 1525 shows Combene. The few entries in the Burial Register and in the Court Book for the first twenty years of Elizabeth's reign hardly vary. The Manorial Rental for September 1608 shows Combien, Comben, and Combian. The Protestation Rolls show Cuabean. The change in the first syllable remains in the Hearth Tax Returns which show Cumben. There is a certain amount of evidence to suggest that the Clerk wrote down the name he was used to rather than the name he heard. So a mainland scribe would write Comden for both Portland and the raainland, as inthe busier -voll. When Jane Combden died on Portland in 1695 her Administration was made out William Corr-bden, who then proceeded to sign himself William Comben.

There is a hint that by the end of the seventeenth century the names were interchangeable depending on where you lived. You might be born Comben on Portland, and become Comden or Combden if you moved to the mainland. The Probate endorsement to the will of George Comden the Elder of Wyke Regis, 8th September 1676, shows probate given.to Mary Comben his widow. Then the clerk changed his mind and reversed the B making Mary Comden. Mainland influence was strong in Wyke Regis at the time, so the Portland spelling was lost in the Parish Records for the period.

Origins
Distinctions were much more clear at the time the Lay Subsidy Roll for Dorset was written in 1525. Thomas Combene was on Portland: Robert and Richard Combedene were in Charminster; Thomas Combedene was nearby in Frampton. If these renderings are taken at face value, the first element in the name is Combe. This word is sometimes spelt Coomb and derives from the Old English Cumb and Welsh Cwm, an intonation which comes to the surface in local records for the 17th Century. The word means a valley on the flank of a ill, or a short valley running in from the coast. There are such valleys both north-west of Dorchester and on Portland. Walcem, for example, is recorded as Wacombe in the Survey for 1608. There were people who were 'of the Combe' in the 14th Century Dorset Subsidy Rolls, and the thought must be that the Combens on Portland, and the Combdens on the mainland were valley dwellers. The second element in these surnames must have been "Ben" on Portland and "Dene" on the mainland. A Ben in English usage is a grassy valley. A Dene or Dean is a heavily wooded valley. The Combedenes therefore, must have been somewhat similar to the Woodlanders described by Thomas Hardy, and possibly, quite unrelated to the Combens at any stage of their history.

Migration
Was there any migration of the two groups to and from Portland? Almost certainly so, since people in the 16th Century were much more mobile than we normally assume. The Statute of Labourers of 1565 was designed to minimise movement among the labouring classes to a yearly affair. Isolating and identifying such movements in Dorset is made hazardous due to the variable habits of spelling the two names. One clue may be the occasional entry which has a D in the surname. George Comden the Elder seems likely to have moved into Wyke Regis from the Dorchester area, since the name also occurs in Frampton in 1674 and Compton Valence in 1681. It is likely that George had a brother/father/uncle called John Combden since the name seems important in the family baptismal entries. The name of John Combden appears in the Charminster Will of 1562 and in the Register for Stratton in 1598. It is ertainly true that John Comben appears in the Portland Court Book for 1577/8 but,with John being a common Christian name;, this could easily be a different family. Another likely migrant onto the Isle was William Combian. He was the ancestor of Giles, William, Richard and Jonathan Comben who appear in later documents The names on all papers show the Portland spelling of the name, but there is a hint in the Administration of 1695 that their name may once have been Combden. This is a reasonable possibility since the only other traces of the names Richard and William, both uncommon names in these families, are in Charminster(l525), Compton Valence(1542), West Stafford (1620-59), and Compton Valence( 1678-81). It is by no means an uncommon happening for a man to move into a parish to marry and stay on to work. How it was that William had such a large holding from the Manor? Pounds rather than the more usual shillings in value, remains a mystery. It is also quite possible that Andrew Cumbean Senior and Andrew Cumbean Junior migrated onto the Isle before the time of the Protestation Rolls. Andrew Combdin first appears in the Charminster Will of 1562 along with John, and 'Cosyn' Agnes. This Andrew had a family in Stratton in the 1560s, and died in the parish in 1585. Apparently, the family moved out, possibly to Portland. If you admit the idea of a variable surname according to where you live, this is not unreasonable. The Portland families are more difficult. The early entries show Thomas Combene(l525) with Nicholas Comdene at the Muster. Burials occur for Nicholas, Agnes, and two infants Agnes and Ann in the 1560s. Two Jurors, Nicholas and John Comben appear in the Court Book, and then Bartholomew,William, Elizabeth, and Thomas in in the early years of the 17th century. Nicholas Comben then disappears from Portland, but there is the family of a Nicholas Combden in West Stafford from 1612 to 1665. Again here is a possibly link between families with unusual Christian names. In the normal course of things these arguments are valid enough in assessing genealogical probabilities, but it has to be allowed that Christian names do die out and new ones are brought into families from times to tine. There seems to be a tendency in these families to like apostolic names like John, Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew. One family in Compton has a passion for even more unusual names such as Shem, Eunice, Hannaniah, Zacharias, Samuel, Rachel, Damaris and Lot. In such cases most of the normal criteria for researching a family across a number of parishes become invalid.

Bartholomew Comben
He appears first in the Manorial Survey of 1608 with a house and Barton, and arable and pasture land totalling a little over four and a half acres. If it is assumed that he is a young man at this time, that his family was born up to 1651 or thereabouts when his son Thomas was baptised, that he is an old man paying for two hearths in the Hearth Tax Returns - this puts his birthday somewhere about 1580. It seems likely that he was native to Portland since his surname is always Comben, although it would be tempting to argue a connection with the other Biblical Christian names used on the mainland. It is worth remembering also, that the Massacre of St Bartholomew in France was only a very recent event at the time of his birth. The Portlanders with their connections with the sea and with smuggling could well have come across French Huguenots fleeing from their own country, and so come to notice the name of St Bartholomew. It is noticeable too that in his later family, the names of Thomas and Robert are important, as they are in George Combien's (Comden's) family at Wyke Regis, suggesting a link back with earlier generations of the mainland family, but these are two very common surnames which could easily have occurred in both families. On balance, if the evidence of the surname is to be stressed, it has to be said that Bartholemew is most likely to be a son of Nicholas Conben of the Court Book and a great-grandson of the original Thomas Conbene.

The Generations
Circa 1525: The four men who appear as heads of households in the Lay Subsidy Roll provide material for speculation. Thomas at Frampton does not appear in the later Muster Rolls, so does he I die in the meanwhile, as he is the older man, the father of in the clan? How fixed were surnames at this period? Not totally, so it is possible that Thomas on Portland could have migrated there and changed his name to Thomas of the grassy valley, to distinguish him from his father at Frampton, Thus he may have had two brothers at Charminster.The Muster: Entries on this Roll make some responsible for "bringing arms and leave some without uties to fulfil. The numbers are listed of those able, and those unable to bear arms. Of the three on the Lay Subsidy Roll, Thomas at Portland, and Richard, now of Compton Valence do not bear arms, while Robert still at Charminster brings a bow, a sheaf of arrows and almain rivets. Thomas and Richard might therefore be the older men, and Robert the youngest of the three. Other names listed include Nicholas at Portland and Richard, Thomas and Walter at Compton Valence. These were presumably, the children of the two families.

c.1565-78: The Burial Register and the Court Book show the deaths on Portland of Nicholas and Agnes(his wife?), & John and Nicholas, the Jurors of the Court Book. These last may well have been sons of Nicholas and Agnes. The infant burials will most likely be children of Nicholas or John. At Charminster Robert and Elizabeth Combden die, it seems, without children. He does have a cousin Agnes, and makes mention of John and Andrew, two generations who were in Stratton. It is possible too that the William Combian of the 1608 belongs to this generation also.

d. 1600-1615: The Survey and the Register entries give the picture of a wealthy (and possibly elderly) William Combian, a younger man, William, who marries: Bartholomew and Elizabeth of Easton and Wacorabe respectively, both smallholders: and a younger woman Thomasin, who marries. There seem to be two families here, at least - the migrant William and his son - and the native three, children of Nicholas, or John, or both.

Protestation Rolls: Here, Nicholas' family has apparently moved away. Bartholomew, and the younger William and his son (~ remain. Coupled with them are two Andrews who may have moved into the island, and a John Comben, who may well have a connection with George of Wyke Regis. From this time on, the families can be rather more readily identified. It seems unlikely that the outstanding questions about the earlier families can ever be resolved with any cast iron certainty.

No formal genealogy is possible for these early families, therefore a summary of generations is given, with an approximation for the latest birth date.
 * Thomas of Frampton. His birth date is unlikely to be later than 1480 if he is the father of the clan.
 * Thomas of Portland: Robert and, Richard of Charminster. Since they were old enough to pay subsidy in 1525, their birth date is unlikely to be later than 1507.
 * Nicholas and Agnes of Richard, Thomas and Walter of Portland. Compton Valence. The men of this generation bore arms at the Muster in Dorset and can not have been born later than 1518-21.

PORTLAND
 * Nicholas and John of Portland. These were Jurors in 1578, and can not have been born later than 1556.
 * Bartholomew, Elizabeth, and Thomasin of Portland. These three were at least 21 years of age in 1607-8, thus their latest birth date is 1586-7.
 * Andrew Senior, and William Senior of Portland, on the Protestation Rolls, have a latest birth date of 1606. It is possible that the John referred to is of this generation.
 * Andrew Junior, and William Junior of the same Rolls, have a latest birth date of 1624

DORSET Registers, with birth dates about 1560-80.
 * John, Andrew, and Agnes, presumably of Stratton, are adult in 1562 at the time of Robert's Will, therefore their latest birth date is 1541.
 * Mary, John, and Mary (again) appear in the Stratton
 * Nicholas has a family in West Stafford.
 * William has a family in West Stafford.