Does anyone have an interest in the MAYALL name? I checked out the Parishmouse website, following an update just reported by Sally Lloyd, and found that at Hanley Castle grave 5 recorded Richard MAYALL and his wife Hannah who died in 1872 and 1878 respectively. My family information shows that Richard MAYALL's two sisters Mary and Maria married (at St Mary's, Hanley Castle), respectively, William SAICE or SAITH, 23 Dec 1833, and John SAICE or SAITH, 23 Oct 1825. William and John were brothers, quite possibly twins, and were baptised at Thruxton, Herefordshire, on 24 Aug 1800 (their surname recorded then as SAYSE). Richard MAYALL and Hannah were also married on 23 Dec 1833 - as was William SAICE and Mary MAYALL above - and each was a witness for the other. Previously in 1825 Mary was a witness at Maria's marriage. William SAICE / SAITH and Mary MAYALL are my g-g-grandparents. Why William and John, and their families, used both the SAICE (more usually SAYCE) and SAITH names is a mystery; my only suggestion is that SAICE was equated with the verb "says" and then with its biblical equivalent "saith". Of course back in the Welsh Marches, where the SAYCE name comes from, it denotes "English" - Sais, just as Sassenach does in Scotland. John SAICE/SAITH was recorded on the 1861 Census as a "navigator" - a 'navvy', perhaps, labouring on the construction of the railways. Probably likewise his brother William, who died of jaundice in 1839; Williams two sons were both railway platers. Back to MAYALL - John, Maria, Richard and Mary (in that order) were the children of John MAYOL of Hanley Castle and Hannah, his wife. A map of the distribution of the MAYALL name (in all the spellings I can think of) from the English 1881 Census (a total of 1197 people; men, women and children) shows a large group in the north of England - 529 in Lancashire and 111 in Yorkshire. Then separately 110 in Gloucestershire with to the north 64 in Worcestershire and 47 in Staffordshire, and to the south 80 in Wiltshire. Rik Mayall, the comedian, also hails from Worcestershire. I'm still searching for any connection with someone who is a celebrity or famous. He'd do! Bob New coordinator of the Surname NEW Y-DNA Testing Project.