Lady Astor, born Nancy Langhorne in the USA was the first British woman MP. Her first marriage at 18 was to a domestically violent alcoholic called Shaw whom she divorced. Subsequently she married Lord Astor founder of the Waldorf and Astoria hotels. He was British but brought up in America.
She became the first female MP and gave her maiden speech in support of the Temperance Movement. One of her remarks was ‘One reason I don’t drink is that I wish to know when I am having a good time.’ Her most famous remarks are related to Sir Winston Churchill the war time Prime Minister who was an alcoholic. On one occasion Churchill asked her about what disguise he should use going to a masquerade ball. She suggested, ‘Why don’t you come sober Prime Minister?’
On another occasion she told him, ‘If you were my husband I’d put poison in your tea.’ He replied, ‘If you were my wife I’d drink it.’
Langhorne is not a name from the south of England. It also occurs as Langhorn, Longthorn, Longthorne, Longhorn and Langthorne in the north of England. The rare Yorkshire names Longbone and Longbones may be derived from it. (Please see my earlier article about these names). Langhorne itself seems to be derived from Langton which in the east of England was sometimes spelt and probably pronounced Langthon.
One example of this is Chancellor of Cambridge University John Langthon whose name is also spelt Langton. The possibility of Langthorne being a drift from Langton is supported by the fact that the various forms of the name have a late origin. For example original names Langdon and Langton can be dated to 1221 and 1196 and the derived name Langston to 1435 but the Langthorne group are later still the earliest occurrences being Langhorne in Cumberland 1582 and Langthorne in Norfolk 1567.
Although a northern name generally occurring in areas where there were already Langtons the most famous Langhornes were from the Bedfordshire / Northamptonshire border. A coat of arms was granted to Langhorn or Langhorne in 1610 showing a cross and three bugle horns. They held estates in Bedford and Newton Bromswold Northamptonshire. Their baronetcy became extinct in 1714 with their fortune going to the Conyers family.
It is difficult to trace the Langthorn(e)s back earlier than this, but we do find the Langt(h)ons present in the area at an earlier date and even an estate called Langtons. We would be interested in seeing the dna from any of these current surnames, so come on and join the fun with the dna, who knows who you might match up with. If you are a Langthorne or Langthorn from Bedfordshire, West or North London or Northamptonshire we would be especially interested in your DNA results. You may turn out to be descended from someone famous.
In the USA the –thorn(e) ending has pretty much disappeared and –horn(e) has completed its final triumph. There are about 1,500 Langhornes and Langhorns in USA today with almost identical distribution patterns. The combined total is Virginia 497 New York 229 California 75 Florida 59 Maryland 59 North Carolina 47 New Jersey 16 DC 13 Arkansas 9. The question is does this represent direct Langhorne immigration from England originally to Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina or is this further name drift from Langton once in the USA. I suspect the answer lies somewhere between the two. In passing it is worth noting that the name hardly occurs in New England or the south. In those areas it was probably absorbed into other forms such as Langston.
Further west the name Longhorn seems to have triumphed. This is not the case of people with the name longhorn skipping the east coast and going west. This is almost certainly the same population group as the east coast Langhornes and Langhorns but further west the version of the name that triumphed was Longhorn perhaps because this is more cattle country. Oklahoma 38 Oregon 27 Iowa 18 Texas 15 Washington 10 wisconsin 10. So all you American Langhornes, Langhorns and Longhorns you descend from men with real get up and go. So get up and go and get your cheeks swabbed for a DNA test and send us the results.
Copyright David Langton 2020