Gawain Gamp (1 June, 1461 - 28 December, 1510) was a 15th Century wizard and an early member of the House of Gamp. He was granted land in King's Lynn, then known as Bishop's Lynn, in 1495, where he built the family manor which still stands today. It was completed in 1507.
A portrait of Gamp sits in one of the halls of the estate, along with many other early members of the Gamp family.
Biography
Early life
Gawain Gamp was born into the pure-blood Gamp family in the year 1461. Not much is known of his childhood. He was baptized in Bishop's Lynn (what is now known as modern-day King's Lynn) in October 1461.
He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1472 to 1479. Again, not much is known of his time there, but he was a member of Slytherin House. At the age of twenty, he married Mary Rabnott, a member of the prominent Rabnott family. Over the course of their marriage they would have eight children.
Later life
He was granted land in King's Lynn, then known as Bishop's Lynn, in 1495, where he built the family manor which still stands today. It was completed in 1507. He then died in 1510, at the age of 49.
Legacy
A portrait of Gawain Gamp sits in one of the halls of the estate, along with many other early members of the Gamp family. His descendant, Ulrick Gamp, became the very first Minister for Magic in 1707.
The Gamp family, while arguably an Ancient House, later fell out of favour as its members began a gradual retreat from society in the 19th century. Hector Gamp I, for example, squandered the family gold on lavish jewels for his wife, who later became suspected of poisoning him. Hector II, his son, found himself unable to care for his eleven children, and the Gamps fell into poverty. The line officially died out in 1981 with the passing of Araminta Lestrange (née Gamp), though many descendants of Gamp still live today.
Etymology
The name Gawain is a boy's name of Welsh origin meaning "May hawk". This name of the courteous Knight of the Round Table, the nephew of King Arthur, has long been superseded by its Scottish form, Gavin.
Gamp is a colloquial, primarily British, term for an umbrella, believed to be derived from a character in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit, nursemaid Sarah Gamp.