When I first began to study my Whitworth family history I assumed, as do so many fellow Whitworth researchers, that I must be related to Joseph Whitworth, the great nineteenth century engineer. That didn't prove to be the case but it hasn't detracted from the enjoyment I have found in researching my own immediate family. The extent of research of the Whitworth name and the migration of Whitworth families throughout the UK and the rest of the world has become a major project for me. I have managed to trace my own family to 1638 with John Whitworth, a blacksmith, who lived in the parish of Heath in Derbyshire, England. I hope one day to extend the knowledge of my own immediate family back to earlier times but if I don't succeed it will not concern me, as I feel I now know more about the development of my personal characteristics and have a knowledge of how those characteristics have been held and nurtured by my ancestors. I do regret not having started the research of my family history much earlier but cherish the knowledge that my grandparents passed on to me, when as a child I listened intently to their stories which as they unfolded revealed an Aladdin's cave of delights long since past. I have so many questions that I would ask them if they were here today. I wonder how many other family history researchers have thought precisely the same thing.

Some years ago I became the coordinator of the Whitworth One-Name Study Group, which is affiliated to the Guild of One-Name-Studies. I have become an avid collector of all records and things Whitworth and regularly answer research queries throughout the world about the family name, Whitworth. I greatly appreciate the support and help given by other researchers and hope that the many communications I have will result in a greater appreciation and development of the Whitworth name. I am always happy to receive any Whitworth information no matter how small. Out of small acorns great oaks may grow.