18 records · from 1272 to 1833 · found 13 September 2026

Saniger is a place

This archive has spent a fortnight treating Saniger as a surname that happens to cluster near Berkeley. It is the other way round: Saniger is a hamlet in Berkeley parish, and the name comes off the land.

Every page here has said the same thing in the same order — a family called Saniger, found at Berkeley, then at Dursley and Cam. The order is wrong. The National Archives' catalogue describes men who are "of Saniger, Berkeley", and farms and lands lying "in Saniger and Hamfallow". Saniger is a place, and the surname is taken from it.

Which explains the thing this archive kept noticing and could not account for. It has repeatedly recorded that the name "concentrates in the Vale of Berkeley", that the spellings are chaotic, and that "of Berkeley" looked like a label somebody applied loosely. A toponymic surname does exactly that: it is invented once, in one parish, and everyone who carries it is from there. How surnames are coined →

The catalogue entries

Two centuries of Sanigers at Saniger

Reference	Date	Entry
D2957/41/18	2 November 1601	Release — (1) JOHN SANIGER of Berkeley, YEOMAN (2) John Smithe of Panthurste in Berkeley, yeoman
D2957/41/41	3 January 1671/2	Abstract of title to tenements and lands in SANIGER and Hamfallow, Berkeley
D2957/41/126	9 August 1692	Mortgage — (1) Richard Holliday of Berkeley, cooper (2) EDWARD SANIGER of Saniger, Berkeley, CLOTHIER
D2957/41/106	13 December 1709	Mortgage — (1) Nicholas Morse of Wicks Elme, Berkeley (2) EDWARD SANIGER of Saniger, Berkeley, GENT
D2957/41/168	13 November 1716	Exchange — (1) Edward Saniger of Saniger, Berkeley, gent (2) Isaac Smyth of Dursley, clothier
D3831/Box5/1	1716–1814	Deeds of PANTHURST FARM, SANIGER, BERKELEY
D2957/41/181	Easter term 1731	John Hardinge, quer. MAURICE SANIGER and Jane his wife, Maria Stiffe and William Perratt
D2957/41/58	28 February 1749	Lease — (1) Daniel Woodward of Bristol city, wine merchant (2) William Cowley of SANIGER, BERKELEY
PROB 11/1825/326	24 December 1833	Will of ELIZABETH SANIGER, widow, of Thornbury, Gloucestershire

Almost all of these are D2957/41 at Gloucestershire Archives — the Berkeley estate deeds. They are catalogue descriptions, not documents this archive has read. catalogued, not yet seen

Berkeley Castle Muniments

The place is two hundred years older than the name

The Berkeley family kept its own archive, and it is catalogued. Nine of its deeds name people of Saniger between about 1272 and 1473 — and not one of them is called Saniger.

Reference	Date	Who
BCM/A/1/65/24	late 13th cent	Walter son of Hervey de Hamme, and JULIANA DAUGHTER OF ROBERT GAMEL OF SANIGER
BCM/A/1/24/215	before 1291	Nigel de Staniteford and MARTIN WALEYS (Walensis) OF SANIGER
BCM/A/1/30/2	1272–1307	GEOFFREY NEL OF SANIGER IN THE PARISH OF BERKELEY, and Walter Waleys of Purton
BCM/A/1/65/25	temp. Edw. I	Juliana daughter of Robert Gamel of Saniger, widow, and Hugh de Coston
BCM/A/1/24/261	25 April 1322	Denise Bolcard, widow, and PHILIP SON OF RICHARD COUTHULF OF SANIGER
BCM/A/1/24/242–243	1370	John Aleyn of Hill, Nicholas atte More, and JOHN SMYTH OF SANIGER
BCM/A/1/24/186	3 June 1377	Elias de Swonhongre and RICHARD DE EGTON OF SANIGER
BCM/A/1/24/254–255	1443	William Doly, burgess of Berkeley, and WALTER HEVYNER OF SANIGER and Maud his wife
BCM/A/1/24/269	1473	John Doly, burgess of Berkeley, and RICHARD WEBBE OF SANIGER, Margaret his wife

Gamel, Waleys, Nel, Couthulf, Smyth, de Egton, Hevyner, Webbe. Eight surnames across two centuries, all of them living at Saniger and none of them named for it. The place is there before the family is — and BCM/A/1/30/2 puts it beyond argument: "Geoffrey Nel of Saniger in the parish of Berkeley".

That is what settles the direction. A surname taken from a place can only be formed after the place has a name, and here the gap is documented: people are of Saniger under other names from before 1291, and the first man actually called Saniger appears in 1601.

Bigland, 1791

"Saniger, long held by an old Family of the same Name"

Ralph Bigland was Garter King of Arms and spent decades copying every monumental inscription in Gloucestershire. His account of Berkeley parish says the thing this archive worked out from deeds, in one line — and then gives the stones.

Inscription	Date	Note
Esther, wife of Edward Sanger, of Saniger, Gent.	died 13 June 1693
Esther, daughter of Edward Saniger, of Saniger, Gent.	buried 16 August 1692
Edward Saniger, of Saniger, Gent.	buried 3 December 1739	aged 48 — born about 1691
Susanna, relict of Edward Saniger, Gent.	died 14 May 1744	aged 58 — born about 1686
Jane, daughter of Edward Saniger, of Saniger, Gent.	died 15 June 1750	aged 24 — born about 1726
Edward Saniger, senior, Gent.	died July 16 — the year lost in the scan
Edward Saniger, of Pedington in this Parish, and Mary his wife	on a stone in the churchyard

This is the material Berkeley's parish transcript does not have. FreeREG's Berkeley St Mary stops in 1677. Bigland's monuments run from 1692 to 1750, with names, relationships, exact dates and ages — a hundred and twenty years of the parish, copied by an antiquary and printed, sitting in a book on archive.org the whole time. The page that has been complaining about that gap →

And they were freeholders. At the summons of freeholders, From Hinton: EDWARD SANIGER. At the Election in 1776, one hundred and eleven votes were found in this Parish and its Hamlets.

Bigland also lists their neighbours at Saniger, which tells you what kind of place it was — a hamlet of a dozen households, not an estate village:

William Hallin, of Saniger, in the Parish of Barkeley	died 18 November 1675, aged 63
Giles Hyett, of Saniger	buried 1 January 1719, aged 71
Thomas Smyth, of Saniger	buried 7 November 1720, aged 43
Daniel Pick, of Saniger	died 17 January 1771, aged 78
Paul Bishop, of Saniger, and Martha his wife	on a churchyard stone

The older name

Before it was Saniger it was Swanhanger

Saniger is a worn-down form of SWANHANGER, and the older spelling is on record for five hundred years.

One deed, catalogued twice, settles it. One deed, catalogued twice. Berkeley Castle holds it as BCM/A/1/24/185, 11 April 51 Edw. III (1377), 'Elias de Swonhongre and William Panyter'. Birmingham Archives holds a copy as MS 3549/20, same day, same parties, and calls the land 'a messuage, land and appurtenances in SWANHANGER, co. Glouc.'

Gloucestershire Archives settles it outright in D654/III/9: 'Messuage called Oldminsters in SWANHANGER ... [Saniger in Hinton]'. The archivist supplied the modern name in brackets. documented

Spelling	When	Where it is written
Swonhungre / Swonhongre	13th–14th century	Berkeley Castle Muniments — 126 catalogue entries
Swanhanger	1377, and still 1690–1741	Birmingham MS 3549/20; Gloucestershire D654/III/9
Swannanger	1385	C 131/202/27 — 'William Swannanger of Swannanger in Glos., esquire'
Saniger	1601 onward	the Berkeley estate deeds, and the surname
Sanigar	19th–20th century	Sanigar Farm, Sharpness; Sanigar Lane, Hinton

Three forenames carry the older spelling: Thomas de Swonhungre (24 entries), John (10) and William (8) — a family that had already taken its name from the place by about 1300, five centuries before anyone in this archive was born.

And they are all standing in the same field. Thomas de Swonhungre granted land in WESTFELD in the early 14th century (BCM/A/1/65/18). John Saniger released three acres in WESTFIELD, Saniger, in 1601. Edward Saniger exchanged three-quarters of an acre in WESTFIELD in 1716. One field, four hundred years, three spellings of one name.

Swan-hanger is ordinary Old English: hangra, a wooded slope. The place is a wooded slope above the Severn where swans were. Everything else — the hamlet, the surname, the woman who carried it to Queensland — comes off that.

Gloucestershire Archives, D2957/41

A clothier in 1692, a gentleman in 1709

The Berkeley estate deeds, D2957/41 at Gloucestershire Archives, follow one household up the social scale in twenty-four years.

Reference	Date	Named	What it is
D2957/41/18	2 Nov 1601	JOHN SANIGER of Berkeley, YEOMAN	Release of 3 acres of arable in Westfield, Saniger, to John Smithe of Panthurst
D2957/41/126	9 Aug 1692	EDWARD SANIGER of Saniger, CLOTHIER	Takes a £100 mortgage from Richard Holliday of Berkeley, cooper, on Windows Feathers, Upper Feathers and 2 acres in Hamstall
D2957/41/106	13 Dec 1709	EDWARD SANIGER of Saniger, GENT.	Takes a £60 mortgage from Nicholas Morse of Wicks Elme on the Further Croft, 10 acres in Hamfallow
D2957/41/168	13 Nov 1716	EDWARD SANIGER of Saniger, GENT.	Exchanges ¾ acre in Oakhunger field with Isaac Smyth of DURSLEY, clothier — the first thing here that ties Saniger to Dursley
D2957/41/181	Easter 1731	MAURICE SANIGER and JANE his wife	Fine with John Hardinge: two messuages, a loft, 2 gardens, 2 orchards and 3 acres of pasture in Berkeley AND DURSLEY
D2957/41/58	28 Feb 1749	EDWARD SANIGER, witness	Lease of Panthurst farm, with the Rock or Stage in the Severn, from Daniel Woodward of Bristol, wine merchant, to William Cowley of Saniger, yeoman
D3831/Box5/1	1716–1814	Panthurst Farm, Saniger	A century of deeds for the farm John Saniger sold into in 1601

In 1692 Edward Saniger is a CLOTHIER. In 1709 the same man at the same address is a GENT. Bigland, writing later, calls him 'Edward Saniger of Saniger, Gent.' and records his wife Esther's death in June 1693. The deeds show the promotion; the gravestone shows the household it happened to. documented

Bigland's Berkeley, hamlet four

Who else was "of Saniger"

Bigland describes the tithing in 1791: “4. Hinton, wherein are Wanswell, a reputed Manor … SANIGER, long held by an old Family of the same Name, in which also is another Estate belonging to WOODWARD: Hinton, Halmore; and Breadstone.” The Woodward estate is not a guess — Daniel Woodward of Bristol, wine merchant, leased Panthurst in Saniger in 1749, and the deed is D2957/41/58.

Bigland's Berkeley monuments name six more households as 'of Saniger'. None of them is called Saniger. A hamlet, not a family seat.

William Hallix of Saniger, in the Parish of Barkeley	d. 18 Nov 1675, aged 63
Thomas Smyth of Saniger	bur. 7 Nov 1720, aged 43 · Sarah his wife d. 10 Dec 1757, aged 76
Giles Hyett of Saniger	bur. 1 Jan 1719, aged 71 · Ann, wife of Giles Hyett of Saniger junior, bur. 15 Jan 1719, aged 71
Daniel Pick of Saniger, in this Parish	d. 17 Jan 1771, aged 78 · Sarah his second wife d. 1 July 1709, aged 60
Paul Bishop of Saniger, and Martha his wife	in the churchyard list
William Saniger of FROGPITT, Yeoman	d. 17 Jan 1704 — a Saniger who lived somewhere else
Edward Saniger of PEDINGTON in this Parish, and Mary his wife	in the churchyard list; Pedington is a Ham hamlet, not Saniger

Bigland found a second family under the -gear spelling twenty miles away, at Minchinhampton: Mary, daughter of William Sanigear, d. 24 Feb 1759; William their son, d. 14 July 1760; and Sarah, wife of [William] Sanigear and daughter of Thomas and Ann Lawton, d. 14 June 1770, aged 34.

Probate, and one inquest

Four records that name Sanigers outside a parish register

Probate is the record type that names children. This archive had never searched it for this surname. Four things came back, and one of them is not a will at all.

Reference	Date	What it is	Why it matters
PROB 11/1825/326	24 Dec 1833	Will of ELIZABETH SANIGER, Widow, of Thornbury, Gloucestershire	Thornbury holds 8 Saniger register entries and lies between Berkeley and Bristol
PROB 11/1808/232	6 Nov 1832	Will of SAMUEL SANIGEAR, Gentleman, of Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire	the -gear spelling, thirteen miles from Thornbury, thirteen months earlier
GDR/B4/1/387	1768	CHRISTIAN SANIGER v. MARY MILLARD: defamation	a consistory court suit at Gloucester — the only Saniger in this archive who went to law over her name
CO1/I/2/B/6	2 April 1856	ELIZABETH SANIGER, aged 3, of Cam	a coroner's inquest. “Casual death. Epileptic, suffocated. Lodgings paid for by Berkeley parish.”

Elizabeth Saniger of Thornbury is the one to open. She died a widow in December 1833, in a parish that sits between Berkeley and Bristol and holds eight Saniger register entries. Hannah Saniger was married with children in Bristol by then. A widow's will names her children, and that is precisely the document this archive has never had. On the queue → worth opening; not yet opened

What it does to the oldest claim

A yeoman in 1601, and a gentleman clothier in 1692

The archive's deepest published person is a William Sanigar said to be born in 1654. These entries reach fifty years behind him and describe a family already established: John Saniger of Berkeley, yeoman, in a release of 2 November 1601.

And they name a man the registers have already produced. The Berkeley page found three William Saingers baptised in ten years, every one the son of an Edward — and noted that one entry styled the father "Mr Edward", which in 1665 marks a gentleman rather than a labourer. The catalogue has him:

Edward Saniger of Saniger, Berkeley — a clothier in 1692, a gent in 1709 and again in 1716, mortgaging and exchanging land with coopers of Berkeley and clothiers of Dursley.

That is not proof that he is the Edward of the 1655 baptism; the dates would make them father and son at best. It is something better than this archive had yesterday: a documented family of the right name, in the right parish, at the right social level, in the trade the reconstitution found them in — cloth. the same family, almost certainly; the same man, not shown

What this changes, and what it does not

"Of Berkeley" was never a loose label. It is where the name comes from. This archive should stop apologising for it and start saying it properly.
The cloth trade runs through the whole thing. A clothier at Saniger in 1692; weavers, tuckers and curriers at Cam and Dursley through the eighteenth century; and a family that leaves for Bristol when that industry collapses. The reconstitution →
There is a documentary spine at Gloucestershire Archives — D2957/41 — that nobody has opened, covering exactly the years Berkeley's parish transcript does not. Now on the queue →
The name has a meaning, and it is a landscape. Swanhanger — the wooded slope where the swans were, above the Severn. Every Saniger in this archive is named after a hillside. documented from 1377
There is a will to open. Elizabeth Saniger, widow of Thornbury, proved 24 December 1833. It is digitised at Kew.
And it still does not reach Hannah. Nothing here connects the Saniger landholders of Berkeley to the woman who married James Wakefield and went to Queensland. That join remains where it was: in a Bristol chapel register, or in Berkeley's own book after 1677.