This is an account of the descendants of a family of shipwrights called Jarman (sometimes Jerman or German) working at Chatham Royal Dockyard in Kent (England) in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Having worked at Chatham since at least the 1630s, and after a brief period in nearby Gravesend, the Jarman family moved to London in the 1780s.  From there, in the 19th and 20th centuries, they spread to other parts of the UK and also emigrated - mainly to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

This account covers not only people named Jarman but any descendants, of whatever family name, of Gregory Jarman or Jerman, a Chatham shipwright (born about 1719 and died in 1763) and his wife, Mary Harsnett.

Below is a Table of Contents which has links to a number of pages on this website. These include a narrative of the family history, see History Main Page, and a Jarman family tree diagram, see Family Tree 1 - Main Chart. (10 branches of the Jarman Family Tree Main Chart have, for convenience, been hived off into separate charts, see Family Trees 2-11.) There is also a brief outline history.

At the top of this page is a link to an Index of all people named on this website. Each Index entry (other than for the living) contains basic biographical details and a note, at the bottom of each entry, of the relevant History Page and Family Tree for that person. (If there is no note, it will be in their spouse's entry, or, if they are living, check their nearest deceased ancestor.)

This is a work in progress. The website was last updated: 3 October 2010.