Pontifex (surname)
Pontifex is used in modern times as a surname. This family has been traced [1] to John Pontifex, of West Wycombe, Bucks, and his wife Alice. John left a will in 1589. Before him there were several people named Pontifex in Buckinghamshire,[2] including Richard Pontifex of Wingrave, husbandman (found in Common Pleas 1432-65); John Pontifex of East Claydon, husbandman (found 1489-1513); and John Pontifex of Hughenden, cook, and his wife Joan (found 1551-53). Hughenden is adjacent to West Wycombe, so these could be the parents of John Pontifex of West Wycombe.
Notable people with the surname include:
- Alfred Pontifex (1842–1930), English cricketer
- Charles Pontifex (1831–1912), English cricketer and lawyer who was knighted
- Dudley Pontifex (1855–1934), English cricketer, all-round sportsman and lawyer
- John Pontifex (cricketer, born 1771) (1771–1841), English cricketer
- John Pontifex (cricketer, born 1796) (1796–1875), English cricketer and father of Charles Pontifex
- Kyle Pontifex (born 1980), New Zealand field hockey player
- Max Pontifex, Australian rules footballer
- Sydney Pontifex (1803–1874), English cricketer
In literature, the fictional (but semi-autobiographical) Pontifex family are the central characters in The Way of All Flesh, the 1903 novel by Samuel Butler.
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References
- ^ Claud Pontifex. “The family of Pontifex of West Wycombe, Co. Buckingham, 1500-1977”
- ^ https://sites.google.com/site/meadfamilyhistory/home/legal-records/pontifex