The Origins of the Tovey Name:

The origins of the name Tovey, (in our family pronounced Tuvey but in many others Toevy) go back to the Viking times.

The following was copied from a book called "Greater London" 1886, Chapter 43 on Waltham Abbey.

“Tovi or Tovious was the Standard Bearer to King Canute.

Waltham it appears to be a place of note long before the Norman Conquest. It is first mentioned in a document dated as far back as the time of Canute the Great, at which time its then owner, Tovi or Tovious, Standard Bearer to the great monarch, founded on the outskirts of the forest here a church and village. After his death Athelstan, his son and heir, a progidal young man, squandered his inheritance, and Waltham appears by some means to have reverted to the Crown. The religious establishment of Tovi however continued and probably with some augmentation till the reign of Edward the Confessor.”

Part of a translation of the legend of Waltham Abbey.  (probably written at the end of the 12th century.)

“Some excavation work had been done in the course of which many things were found. "Not knowing what to do, a tent was placed over the excavation until the Lord of the place could be sent for. The Lord, was 'Tovi le Prude' a very great man indeed, being described as "totius Angliae post regnem primus" of all the English, after the King first. (prude = prudent, wise, sagacious).”

The legend goes on to tell of the founding of the abbey by Tovi.

“Glitha the wife of Tovi, presented a splendid golden and jewelled crown, beside the circlet, which she wore in common with all the noblemen women, which was fixed round the thigh of the image. While her bracelets and other jewels were fashioned into a subpedanaeum, into which was inserted a wondrous stone, whose property was to emit rays during the night, and thus afford light to travellers.... After the erection of the new church the crucifix still continued its miracles, the most famous of which took place when Harold was on his way to fight the Normans.... He prayed for victory.... the image which before had looked upwards, now bowed down its head, 'a bad sign and significant of the future.'

In 1192 the cross was covered anew in silver probably in consequence of what happened years before, when a goldsmith took off the circlet round the thigh (probably that given by the wife of Tovi) all those present were struck blind for a considerable time.”

PS Also of significance is that our Colonel Hamilton Tovey R.E. worked for a number of years at the ordnance factory at Waltham Abbey in the 1880’s and a number of his children were born at Waltham Abbey while they were living there.

Thus we can see that the origins of Tovey are very ancient indeed.  

Tovi “the Proud” - Standard Bearer  to King Hardicanute 

We know very little detail about Tovi the Standard Bearer except that he founded Waltham Abbey (c.1040) and that he was a man of high standing in the 'housecarl' or houseguards. The background is roughly as follows: 

The Vikings were the most magnificent of all the warlike peoples of their time, yet there was something tender and sincere, something strong and valiant in the hearts of the Norsemen.

It is a mistake to think of those valiant men only as savage fighters. They had a noble idea of manhood, they were fast friends, they were conscious of the deep mystery of the universe, and they did not belittle human existence. All their gods were giants, and all the forces of nature were giantic gods to them. They were open-minded and adaptable, and bought to Brittain their boundless energy and enthusiasm for adapting circumstances to their own needs.

In 1010 Thorkill, the Dane and his army virtually conquered England. In 1010 they burnt Oxford, and then moved to East Anglia from which they raided into Kent the following year. The campaign ended unexpectedly in 1012 when Thorkill changed sides as he was disgusted by his own army’s brutal murder of Archbishop Aelfheah. England was very weak at the time and when King Swein returned in 1013 he was intent on conquest. However many were disillusioned with King Aethelred and welcomed the Danish King. By the end of 1013 he had taken Oxford Winchester and London. Aethelred had fled to exile in Normandy. In 1014 Swein died and his son Harold took over his Scandinavian empire while Cnut (or Canute) the younger brother took over England. His army accepted him as King of England. However Aethelred fielded an expedition agianst the Danes and being unprepared Cnut withdrew to Denmark.

In 1015 he returned with a bigger force and during the next few months recovered Northumbria and then moved on London. However before the Danish forces arrived Aethelred was dead, and Edmund had taken over as King . Cnut was widely accepted as King in many areas but Edmund rallied his forces, but in a decisive battle at Ashingdon in Essex in 1016,  Cnut won and a treaty was signed leaving Edmund only Wessex. On Edmund’s death shortly afterwards, Cnut became King of England.

Cnut set out to rule not as a conqueror but as a rightful English King. He married Aethelred’s widow and acted ruthlessly to secure the throne in the process many leading English including Aethelred’s eldest son were killed. Once secure Cnut adopted the traditional attributes of a civilised King. He issued laws and founded monastries and in the words of a historian of the next century, he changed himself “from a wild man into a most Christian King”. Yet he was still a Dane and in the 1020’s he became more and more involved with Danish affairs.

He consolidated his power and with peace established he built churches, founded monastries and went on a pilgrimage to Rome. While he was in Rome he wrote a letter to his English people, whom he deeply loved, “I notify to you that I have lately taken a journey to Rome to pray for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the welfare of my dominions and the people under my rule.” After telling them of the great people he had met in Rome, he went on to state the demands he had put forward on their behalf. He is of course famous for letting his courtiers see that he was not “all powerful” by sitting in a chair on the Southampton coast and commanded that the rising tide stop. It did not and when his feet were covered by water they hastily removed his chair. Their stupidity needed no further proof.

In England he had many followers and a great many Danes joined the aristocracy. Cnut kept a regiment of household troops or ‘housecarls’ who were a considerable burden on the country.

We can but summise that Tovi the Standard Bearer (b 1018 signed himself Pruda in 1033) was a high ranking soldier probably in this army and that he like Cnut became a Christian and founded the Abbey’s.  He was described as a great Danish Thegn. Thegns were “men of war” who were bound to the King’s service in a special way, though many thegns were not actually members of the King’s household bodyguard. Every freeman was bound to join the fyrd or army if summoned, but the thegns were the most important fighting men for they had to be equipped with a horse, armour and a good weapon. They were also responsible for building earth and timber fortifications and repairing bridges (today called engineers).

You might wonder why I have taken the time to mention all this. A study of the 100 or so Tovey’s in my database has determined that 23 were military men, including Admiral John Cronyn Tovey,  several were priests or high ranking men in the Church and several were engineers. There must be some truth in the belief that saying “like father, like son” but to apply that principle over about 34 generations is more than just co-incidence.

The Name Tovey

The name Tovey appears in various forms for example Tovee, Tovey, Toovey, Tuvey, Tovis, Tovi and the best definition I can find is “Tovi, a diminutive of Pioovaldr, Nation Ruler a name brought to England by Tovi the Proud the follower of Canute (short for Hardicanute)”. Canute, unlike his father he was a Christian, and he rebuilt the cathredrals and monastries, and founded many churches. He also made a new set of laws, and saw to it that they were kept.