"During the years 1912 to 1916, the public and family records were searched and a mass of notes compiled for a history of the Westmorland and Cumberland family of Barwis by a descendant, John F. C. Bashforth. On his death in action in France, his notes were edited and transcribed into a MS. volume by his brother, the Rev. William H. Bashforth, who however died before he could reduce the large mass of material to publishable form. The notes of Mr. J. F. C. Bashforth were bequeathed to his sister, and those of the Rev. W. H. Bashforth to her sons."
The Bashforths were the grandsons of Rev William Cuthbert Barwis (1824-1889), who sold Langrigg Hall. The researches were collected together by Alex MacDonald, great-grandson of Benjamin Barwis of Cornwall, another branch of the family, and published in 1937 (CWAAS - Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaelogical Society).
Swift was the nephew of the Bashforths, and continued their research for over fify years. He published two major articles in CWAAS in 1951 and 1952.
Joan published a book in 1988 "The Barwis Family", with assistance from Frank Swift. Her grandmother Ellen Mary Barwis (1858-1931) was also descended from Benjamin of Cornwall.
Tabulated BMDs for as many Barwises as he could find, and transcribed many of the wills. Wrote this article on the "Barwise unification theory"... (coming soon)
Fred has been researching Barwise genealogy for over 40 years. He has been the main contact from the Barwise Rootsweb list for the last 10 years, and collected together and published the wills on this web site. "During that period I met with the Rev. Frank Swift on a number of occasions. What a wonderful, and totally charming man. He convinced me eventually that every Barwis/e & Barras/s came from one single source. We owe so much to his research."