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FAMILY  NAMES 
AND  THEIR  STORY 


BY 

S.  BARING-GOULD,   M.A. 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  C^SARS  "  "CLIFF  CASTLES  AND  CAVE 

DWELLINGS  OF  EUROPE,"  "  CURIOUS  MYTHS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES," 

Sfc. 


"  I  do  beseech  you 

(Chiefly  that  I  may  set  it  in  my  prayers) 
What  is  your  name  ?" 

Tempest,  Act  III.,  Sc. 


NEW  EDITION 


LONDON 
SEELEY,  SERVICE  &  CO.  LIMITED 

38  GREAT  RUSSELL  STREET 
1913 


PREFACE 

MR.  M.  A.  LOWER  was  the  first  in  modern  times  to  break 
ground  in  the  domain  of  family  nomenclature—in  1842,  when 
he  published  his  first  edition  of  "  English  Surnames."  There 
were  in  it  many  mistakes,  and  the  work  was  tentative.  A 
better  book  of  his  was  "  Patronymica  Britannica,"  a  dictionary 
of  family  names  that  appeared  in  1860. 

But  the  share  of  scientific  research  first  entered  the  soil 
with  Canon  Isaac  Taylor's  "  Words  and  Places,"  1864. 

Since  then  there  have  been  various  works  on  the  subject, 
some  good,  some  bad,  some  instructive,  others  misleading  ; 
there  have  been  treatises  on  Irish  and  Scottish,  and  on 
particular  county  names.  Mr.  R.  Ferguson,  in  his  "  English 
Surnames  and  their  Place  in  the  Teutonic  Family,"  1858, 
and  "Surnames  as  a  Science,"  1883,  and  "The  Teutonic 
Name-System  applied  to  Familv  Names  in  France,  England, 
and  Germany,"  1864,  went  too  far  in  deriving  most  surnames 
from  Teutonic  roots,  led  thereto  by  Forstemann's  "Alt- 
deutsches  Namenbuch  "  (Nordhausen,  1856),  a  vast  work  that 
has  been  condensed  by  Heintze  in  "  Die  Deutschen  Familien- 
namen  "  (Halle,  I882).1  Mr.  Bardsley,  in  his  "  English  Sur- 
names," dealt  almost  wholly  with  those  found  in  the 

1  There  is  also  Dr.  F.  Tetzner's  "Namenbuch"  (Leipzig,  1893).  The 
most  exhaustive  German  work  on  names  is  Pott,  "  Personennamen,', 
(Leipzig,  1859). 


vn 


PREFACE 

Hundred  Rolls,  1273,  and  other  documents  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries.  Dr.  Barber,  in  "  British  Family 
Names "  (London,  1894),  gives  perhaps  excessive  pre- 
eminence to  Scandinavian  and  Flemish  names,  to  such 
an  extent  that  he  derives  the  family  name  Bevan  from  the 
Flemish  Bevenot,  whereas  it  stands  for  Ap  Evan.  Carter, 
according  to  him,  comes  from  the  Norse  Kottr,  and  Child  from 
skjoldr,  a  shield.  Shepherd  he  cannot  deduce  from  a  sheep-herd, 
but  derives  it  from  a  place  called  Chebbard.  The  book  has, 
therefore,  to  be  used  with  caution.  "  Ludus  Patronymicus ;  or, 
The  Etymology  of  Curious  Surnames,"  by  Richard  Stephen 
Charnock,  1868,  as  the  author  is  a  scholar,  may  be  consulted 
with  advantage. 

"  Homes  of  Family  Names  in  Great  Britain,"  by  H.  Bing- 
ham  Guppy,  M.B.,  1890,  is  a  scholarly  work,  the  result  of 
much  research,  and  evincing  a  wide  knowledge  of  names,  if 
not  of  their  meanings.  Its  great  value  is  in  the  location  of 
family  names.  There  are  many  other  books  whose  titles  and 
the  names  of  their  authors  I  refrain  from  giving,  as  they  are 
often  misleading — the  blind  leading  the  blind  into  pitfalls. 

In  treading  the  mazes  of  English  nomenclature,  one  is 
surrounded  by  such  pitfalls ;  it  is  like  the  road  to  Plessis 
Castle,  according  to  Scott  in  "  Quentin  Durward  "  :  "  Every 
yard  of  this  ground  is  rendered  dangerous  by  snares  and 
traps  and  caltrops,  and  pitfalls  deep  enough  to  bury  you  in 
for  ever."  One  has  to  walk  warily.  It  is  noticeable  enough 
where  others  have  slipped  and  fallen  in  or  been  caught ;  and 
I  cannot  flatter  myself  that  I  have  myself  wholly  escaped. 
But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  some  names  may  have 
distinct  derivations,  though  identical  in  sound  and  spelling. 
For  instance,  Tozer  signifies  one  who  dresses  cloth  in  a  fulling- 
mill  with  teazles,  to  bring  up  the  nap.  But  at  the  Revocation 

viii 


PREFACE 

of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  a  family  of  Thorzeau,  Huguenots, 
settled  in  Plymouth,  let  fall  the  r  out  of  their  name,  and 
accommodated  it  to  Tozer.  The  Dacres  no  doubt  in  some 
cases  derive  from  a  crusading  ancestor  who  won  distinction  at 
Acre,  but  in  most  instances  take  their  name  from  a  village  near 
Penrith  so-called  ;  and  a  Ranulph  de  Dacre,  co.  Cumberland, 
who  figures  in  the  "  Placita  quo  Waranto,"  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.,  certainly  was  designated  after  this  village. 

What  is  the  true  origin  of  the  surname  Kaye  ?  Sir  Kay 
was  one  of  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  and  King 
Arthur's  Seneschal ;  and  the  romances  of  the  Middle  Ages 
furnished  names  adopted  by  people  in  England  and  in 
France.  But  John  del  Kai,  Sheriff  of  London  in  1207, 
obviously  took  his  name  from  the  Quay,  near  which  he  lived. 
And  Kay  is  a  common  pronunciation  of  Key,  and  a  man  who 
had  a  key  for  his  shop-sign  may  have  by  this  means  acquired 
his  name.  How  can  we  decide  whether  the  family  of  Kewe 
derives  from  the  parish  of  that  name  or  from  a  Cook  ?  The 
same  individual  is  described  in  the  Parliamentary  Writs  for 
1301  and  1302  as  William  le  Keu  and  William  Cocus. 

Some  names  are  supposed  to  be  derived  from  seasons,  as 
Noel,  Pask,  Lammas  ;  it  may  be  so  in  some  cases,  but  Noel 
may  come  from  Noailles,  or  be  a  form  of  Nigel ;  and  when 
one  finds  the  same  man  registered  in  1273  as  Richard 
Lammesse,  and  Richard  de  Lammesse,  and  when  one  knows 
that  there  is  a  parish  of  Lammas  in  Norfolk,  one  is  disposed 
to  doubt  the  temporal  derivation  of  some  of  these  names. 
But  a  good  many  such  season-names  were  given  to  found- 
lings. A  Leach  is  unquestionably  a  physician,  and  the 
horrible  creature  that  was  formerly  supplied  to  suck  one's 
blood  was  so  named  because  it  served  as  a  useful  doctor  in 
cases  of  inflammation.  But  the  surname  Blackleach  does  not 

ix 


PREFACE 

derive  from  one  of  these.  Such  an  entry  in  the  Hundred 
Rolls  for  1273  as  that  of  William  le  Leche  undoubtedly 
describes  a  physician.  But  Henry  del  Lache,  in  1397, 
indicates  that  Henry  lived  by  a  Lache,  or  lake,  or  pool ;  and 
Blackleach  means  the  man  living  at  or  by  Blackpool. 

"  What  variety  of  herbs  soever  are  shuffled  together  in  the 
dish,"  says  Montaigne,  "  yet  the  whole  mass  is  swallowed  up 
in  one  name  of  a  salad.  In  like  manner,  under  the  con- 
sideration of  names,  I  will  make  a  hodge-podge  of  differing 
articles." 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I'AGE 

I.    INTRODUCTORY  -  13 

II.    THE   TATTOO    AND   TRIBAL    NAME  -  28 

III.    SIRE-NAMES        -  -  38 

IV.    TOTEMISM    AND    NAMES  -  74 

V.    THE    CASTLE   AND    THE    MANOR  -  99 

VI.    THE   VILLAGE    -  -  114 

VII.    THE   TOWN:    TRADE-NAMES         -  -126 

VIII.    PLACE-NAMES    -  -154 

IX.    ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES  :    DOMESDAY  -  184 

X.    SCANDINAVIAN    NAMES  I    THE    ''LIBER    VIT^E  "      -  -  19! 

XI.    THE   ROLL   OF    BATTLE   ABBEY    -  -  199 

XII.    FRENCH    NAMES  :    I.    EARLY          -  -  248 

xiii.  FRENCH  NAMES:  n.  THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES  -  277 

XIV.    NICK-   AND    DESCRIPTIVE    NAMES  -  295 

XV.    PREFIXES    AND    SUFFIXES  -  318 

XVI.    NAME   STORIES-  -  328 

XVII.    THE    EVOLUTION    AND    DISINTEGRATION    OF    SURNAMES  -  345 

XVIII.    SCOTTISH    AND    IRISH    SURNAMES  -  370 

XIX.    CHANGED    NAMES  39O 

XX.    COMPOUND    NAMES  402 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  IX.  :  ANGLO-SAXON  AND  DANISH  NAMES 

IN  DOMESDAY  -  -  408 

APPENDIX    I.    TO    CHAPTER    X.  :    SCANDINAVIAN    NAMES-  -       4IO 

APPENDIX  II.  TO  CHAPTER  X.  I  SURNAMES  OF  THE  FIFTEENTH 

CENTURY  IN  THE  "LIBER  VHVE  "  -  412 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XI.  :  LIST  OF  THOSE  WHO  ATTENDED 
WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR  TO  ENGLAND,  ACCORDING  TO 

THE  "ROMAN  DE  ROU"-  -     412 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII.  :  HUGUENOT  IMMIGRANTS*  SUB- 
SCRIPTIONS TO  A  LOYAL  ADDRESS,  1744  -  -  414 


FAMILY    NAMES 

AND  THEIR  STORY 


CHAPTER   I 

INTRODUCTORY 

WE  cannot  deduce  our  English  surnames  from  the  nomen- 
clature of  any  single  people,  for  the  English  of  to-day  are  an 
amalgam  of  many  races  that  have  been  fused  into  one.  We 
have  among  us  British  names  as  Wynne  (white) ;  Hoel,  that 
has  become  Howell ;  Caradog,  now  Craddock ;  Morgan, 
Madoc,  now  Madox ;  Gruffydd,  that  has  become  Griffith ; 
and  perhaps  Coel,  that  is  now  Cole. 

There  are  Saxon  names  as  well — Algar;  Joll ;  Eadmund, 
become  Edmunds ;  Godwin,  now  Goodwin ;  Godric,  now 
Goodridge. 

Mr.  R.  Ferguson  wrote  three  books  on  the  subject  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  names,  and  their  survival  in  English  nomenclature. 
But  a  great  gap  intervenes  between  the  use  of  Anglo-Saxon 
names  before  the  Conquest  and  the  adoption  of  surnames 
by  the  conquered;  and  Anglo-Saxon  Christian  names,  as 
shall  be  shown  later  on,  died  almost  completely  out  before 
the  assumption  of  family  nomenclature  became  general ;  and 
their  existence  among  us  is  due  to  a  cause  to  be  noted  in  the 
sequel. 

Scandinavian  surnames  based  upon'  personal  designations 
are  more  numerous  in  England,  but  these  come  nearly  all,  if 
not  all,  from  ancient  Northumbria,  which  included  Yorkshire. 

'3 


INTRODUCTORY 

There  the  descendants  of  the  old  Danish  and  Norse  settlers 
clung  to  their  ancient  nomenclature  later  than  elsewhere — 
indeed,  till  the  fashion  of  adopting  surnames  prevailed.  We 
have  such  names.  Bard  has  become  Barth,  unless  it  be  a 
contraction,  as  is  probable,  of  Bartholomew ;  Jokull  yields 
Jekyll,  Halfdan  is  now  Haldane,  Sweyn  is  Swayne,  Olafr 
yields  Oliver — but  this  comes  to  us  through  Normandy. 
Ragnar  is  now  Rayner,  and  this,  again,  comes  in  a  roundabout 
fashion  through  the  Regnier  of  the  Conqueror.  HavarS 
is  Howard,  HjorvarS  is  Harvey,  Steinarr  we  recognize  in 
Stoner,  Ketill  is  Kettle,  Grimm  is  Grymes,  Hamund  is 
Hammond,  FrrSestan  is  Featherstone,  Thorfin  is  Turpin. 
But  it  is  in  Yorkshire,  East  Anglia,  Durham,  and  Northum- 
berland, that  these  are  mainly  found.  Elsewhere,  if  we 
trace  them,  it  will  usually  be  found  that  the  families  bearing 
these  names  have  at  some  time  come  into  other  parts  of 
England  from  the  ancient  Northumbria  or  from  Lincoln. 
We  have,  indeed,  elsewhere  names  that  came  originally  from 
Norway,  but  they  have  somewhat  altered  their  form  by 
transmission  through  Normandy.  These  latter  names  are 
numerous,  for  it  was  with  the  Conqueror  that  family  nomen- 
clature may  be  said  to  have  had  its  beginning  in  our  land. 
Of  such  I  shall  have  to  say  more  hereafter. 

Then,  again,  we  have  Flemish  names,  not  only  the  surnames 
Fleming  or  Flamank,  but  also  such  as  Catt ;  Phayre,  which 
is  still  common  in  Belgium ;  Bowdler  and  Buller,  both 
derived  from  Boulers  or  Boilers,  one  of  the  principal  fiefs  in 
Flanders.  Baldwin  de  Boilers  received  from  Henry  I.  the 
barony  of  Montgomery  and  the  hand  of  his  niece,  Sybilla  de 
Falaise.  But  most  Flemish  names  are  of  late  introduction, 
not  earlier  than  the  sixteenth  century.  In  Pembrokeshire, 
where  was  planted  a  colony  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  there 
are  none.  Flinders  is  from  Flanders,  Clutterbuck  is  Cloeter- 
boeke,  and  Cobbledick  may  be  from  Koppeldijck,  Mossop  from 
the  Dutch  Masdorp,  Vandeleur  is  undoubtedly  Van  de  Laer, 
and  Fullalove  is  from  Vollenhove.  But  the  Dutch  and 
Flemish  names  are  not  numerous. 

There  are  also  among  us  Germans  and  Jews.     In  fact,  we 


INTRODUCTORY 

have  in  our  island  a  vast  heap  of  names,  and  it  is  no  easy 
matter  to  sort  them  out  according  to  their  various  origins. 

Let  us  take  the  largest  county  in  England,  the  old  Deira, 
Yorkshire. 

The  original  population  were  Celtic,  and  even  after  the 
Angle  Conquest  the  kingdom  of  Elmet  remained  to  the 
Britons,  seated  among  the  Western  Hills,  and  stretching  as 
far  as  Leeds.  Yorkshire  and  the  whole  country  to  the  north, 
to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  the  Scottish  Lowlands,  were  sub- 
jugated by  the  Angles  from  Schleswig,  a  people  one  in  blood 
with  the  Danes  of  Zealand,  with  only  slight  dialectic  differ- 
ences in  their  speech.  Scandinavian  Saga  asserts  that  the 
Kings  of  Zealand  claimed  suzerainty  and  exacted  taxes  from 
Northumbria  from  an  early  period,  and  that  there  was  a 
constant  influx  of  Danes  into  it  during  many  generations. 
But  it  was  not  till  790  that  Yorkshire  was  invaded  in  hostile 
form  from  Denmark.  In  876  King  Halfdan  settled  the 
country,  apportioning  the  land  among  his  Danish  followers. 
The  Danes,  moreover,  spread  into  Mercia — that  is,  the  Mid- 
lands— and  numerous  place-names  there  show  that  they  not 
only  conquered  it  temporarily,  but  that  they  also  settled 
down  there  permanently.  Lincolnshire  also  was  peopled  by 
Danish  settlers,  and  they  not  only  gave  names  to  places,  but 
retained  their  Scandinavian  personal  designations,  to  transmit 
them  to  the  present  day. 

The  population  of  Yorkshire  underwent  great  changes 
during  the  twelfth  century.  "  As  the  various  industries  grew 
up,  they  invited  skilled  workmen  from  different  parts.  Not 
only  the  Normans,  but  Flemings  in  the  twelfth  century  and 
Germans  in  the  fourteenth,  came  into  the  country.  The 
mines  at  Alston  were  worked  about  1350  by  a  party  from 
Cologne,  under  Tillman,  and  the  great  German  colony  under 
Hochstetten,  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  made  a  notable 
addition  to  the  Lake  District  population.  Even  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  poll-tax  returns  of 
Yorkshire,  names  suggest  immigration  from  various  parts  of 
England,  from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  from  France."1 
1  Collingwood,  "Scandinavian  England."  S.P.C.K.,  1909. 

'5 


INTRODUCTORY 

What  was  true  of  Yorkshire  was  true  of  the  rest  of 
England. 

When  the  Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles,  invaded  and  subjugated 
the  land,  they  did  not  come  to  light  their  own  fires  and  clean 
their  own  boots,  but  to  take  their  ease  as  masters,  and  turn 
the  natives  into  hewers  of  wood,  drawers  of  water,  and  tillers  of 
the  soil,  for  their  advantage.  Nowhere,  save  at  Anderida,  can 
there  have  been  wholesale  extermination  of  the  inhabitants. 
Conquerors  would  no  more  think  of  wiping  out  the  working 
population  than  they  would  of  killing  all  the  sheep  and  oxen. 
The  fighting  man  was  not  so  eager  to  lay  aside  spear  and 
sword  for  plough  and  oxgoad,  as  to  deprive  himself  of  the 
men  who  could  drive  the  plough  and  the  oxen  for  him,  while 
he  lounged  and  caroused  at  home. 

At  the  Norman  Conquest  there  was  even  less  loss  of  life 
among  the  natives.  Only  in  Northumbria  was  there  devas- 
tation and  wholesale  slaughter,  for  there  only  was  the  rest- 
lessness deemed  to  be  otherwise  incurable.  Elsewhere  the 
old  freeholders  were  dispossessed  of  their  freeholds,  but 
suffered  in  many  cases  to  remain  on  as  tenant  farmers. 
When  a  great  Baron  had  100  or  170  manors  given  to 
him,  he  could  neither  occupy  them  himself  nor  place  his 
retainers  in  them  at  once,  for  he  needed  his  Norman  men- 
at-arms  about  him  in  his  castle  to  watch  and  keep  in 
control  the  subjugated  English.  He  could  not  afford  to 
disperse  them  over  the  country.  He  was  compelled  to 
leave  in  the  several  manors  men  who  understood  the  soil, 
the  ways  of  the  country,  and  who  would  pay  him  an  annual 
rent. 

In  time,  however,  he  would  establish  his  superannuated 
servants  in  these  manors  and  farms,  as  he  filled  their  places 
about  his  person  with  younger  men  from  abroad,  and  by 
this  manner  much  Norman  blood,  carrying  with  it  Norman 
nomenclature,  was  dispersed  over  the  land.  Where  we 
encounter  a  Peters  and  a  Pierce,  a  James  and  a  Jacques, 
we  know  that  the  first  descend  from  an  English  and  the  latter 
from  a  French  ancestor. 

Many  of  the  Norman  names  which  have  been  foisted  into 

16 


INTRODUCTORY 

the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey  are  those  of  men  that  never  fought 
at  Hastings,  but  came  over  later  to  better  their  fortunes 
under  Henry  I.,  or  still  later  under  the  Angevin  Kings. 

Indeed,  during  300  years  of  English  grip  on  Normandy, 
Maine,  Anjou,  and  Guienne,  there  was  incessant  flux  and 
reflux  between  England  and  France,  and  many  a  knight  and 
man-at-arms  of  French  blood,  who  had  served  under  the 
banners  of  English  nobles  during  the  wars  in  France,  was 
rewarded  with  a  grant  of  land  in  England,  and  a  little 
homestead  in  which  he  could  hang  up  his  battered  arms  and 
rest  his  grey  head. 

Isabella  of  France,  the  wife  of  Edward  II.,  introduced  in 
her  train  many  persons  bearing  surnames  hitherto  unknown 
in  England. 

And  they  came  to  stay. 

Even  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  there  were  Flemings  in 
England.  Later  on  an  eruption  of  the  sea  compelled  them 
to  abandon  their  dwellings,  now  covered  by  "  the  deep  and 
rolling  Zuyder  Zee,"  and  many  wanderers  sought  refuge  in 
England  and  were  allowed  to  inhabit  the  Scottish  border- 
lands. Not  long  afterwards,  about  1107-08,  Henry  I. 
removed  the  colony  to  the  Welsh  south  coast,  and  gave  up  to 
them  the  fertile  district  since  called  "  Little  England  beyond 
Wales,"  which  had  been  wrested  from  the  Cymri.  "And  so 
it  was,"  says  Florence  of  Worcester,  "  that  these  strangers 
settled  there  as  loyal  men  to  the  King ;  and  he  placed 
English  among  them  to  teach  them  the  English  language, 
and  they  are  now  English,  and  the  plague  of  Dyved  and 
South  Wales  on  account  of  their  deceit  and  lies,  in  which  they 
exceed  any  settlers  in  any  other  part  of  the  island  of  Britain." 

Two  other  settlements  of  Flemings  were  made  in  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk — one  by  Henry  I.,  the  other  under  the  direction 
of  Edward  III. — and  this  made  of  East  Anglia  for  centuries 
the  great  cloth-weaving  district  of  England.  "  Worsted  "  or 
"  Lindsey-wolsey,"  "  Kerseymere,"  and  "  Bocking,"  derive 
their  names  from  the  several  villages  that  became  flourishing 
weaving  centres  in  Eastern  England. 

Many  Hollanders  were  also  invited  over  to  assist  in  the 

17  B 


INTRODUCTORY 

dyking,  draining,  and  embanking,  of  the  low  watery  lands  in 
Cambridgeshire  and  Lincolnshire  and  in  Holderness,  and 
settled  there. 

During  the  persecution  of  Alva  a  great  flight  of  harassed 
Flemings  came  over  the  sea,  and  many  settled  in  Spitalftelds 
and  Clerkenwell,  others  in  Devon  and  Cornwall,  and  in 
Yorkshire,  near  the  wolds  and  moors  where  were  the  sheep- 
runs. 

When  Richmond  came  over  and  landed  in  Milford  Haven, 
he  was  accompanied  by  a  considerable  body  of  recruits  from 
Brittany — 

"  A  sort  of  vagabonds,  rascals  and  runaways, 
A  scum  of  Bretagnes,  and  base  lackey  peasants, 
Whom  their  o'ercloyed  country  vomits  forth, 
To  desperate  ventures." 

King  Richard  HI.,  V.  Hi. 

After  Bosworth  these  soldiers  of  fortune  had  to  be  rewarded 
for  their  services,  and  the  cheapest  way  of  so  doing  was  to 
dispossess  the  adherents  of  Richard,  and  install  in  their 
places  those  who  had  come  over  with  Henry. 

It  was  principally  at  this  time  that  the  name  of  Britten  or 
Le  Breton  as  a  surname  came  among  us,  and  to  the  same 
period  we  owe  some  of  the  Morleys  (from  Morlaix),  though 
others  had  arrived  earlier  with  the  Conqueror.  The  name 
Lempole  also  came  in,  a  corruption  of  Lamballe,  Kimber  of 
Quimper,  and  Pimple  of  Paimpol.1  During  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  many  Germans  arrived  to  show  the  English 
better  methods  of  mining  and  smelting  of  ores,  and  some 
went,  as  already  intimated,  to  Yorkshire,  but  most  to  Devon 
and  Cornwall,  the  stannary  counties.  It  is  stated  that 
many,  if  not  most,  of  the  technical  terms  employed  in  tin- 
mining  in  Cornwall  are  German.  Thus  we  meet  with  Mullers, 
Wagners,  Bomgartners,  and  Aikebaums. 

After  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685,  a 
stream  of  fugitive  Huguenots  flowed  into  England.  Some- 

1  But  there  was  an  earlier  settler  from  Paimpol,  for  in  1360  Stephen  de 
Penpel,  or  Pempel,  was  Archdeacon  of  Exeter. 

18 


INTRODUCTORY 

thing  like  70,000  are  said  to  have  settled  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  The  crypt  of  Canterbury  Cathedral  was  sur- 
rendered to  them  for  their  religious  meetings.  Till  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  some  parish  churches  in  Essex, 
Divine  service  was  held  in  French  for  their  convenience. 

In  London  they  settled  about  Soho  and  St.  Giles ;  2,576 
went  over  to  Ireland.  In  Essex  at  the  present  day  remain 
many  of  their  descendants  bearing  French  names,  as  Pertwee 
for  Pertuis,  Cockrell  for  Coquerell;  Melonie,  a  coal-merchant 
at  Colchester ;  and  Deval,  a  plumber  there. 

Many  settled  in  Plymouth.  Such  names  still  found  there  as 
Gruyelien  and  Lamoureux  (a  seed-merchant)  are  easily  identi- 
fied, but  others  have  undergone  some  amount  of  anglicizing. 
Thus,  Cherri  has  become  Cherry,  Pare  is  Park,  Benoit  is 
Benoi ;  Tardieu,  Tardew ;  Viall  has  become  Vile,  Condi  is 
Cundy,  Guillard  is  Jillard;  Jourdain,  Jordan.1  I  knew  a 
schoolmistress  who  wrote  her  name  Blampy.  She  came 
from  Dittisham,  on  the  Dart,  where,  as  I  had  studied  the 
parish  registers,  I  knew  that  her  ancestor  was  a  Huguenot 
refugee  named  Blancpied.  Some  of  the  same  family  migrated 
to  America,  where  the  name  has  become  Blompay. 

In  1709  a  multitude — 8,844  poor  wretches — arrived  from 
the  Bavarian  Palatinate,  where  their  homes,  farms,  crops, 
even  churches,  had  been  wasted  and  utterly  destroyed  by 
order  of  Louis  XIV.  A  great  camp  for  them  was  established 
at  Hampstead,  and  Queen  Anne  and  the  noble  ladies  and 
gentlemen  and  the  citizens  of  London  visited  and  relieved 
the  unfortunates.  The  able-bodied  men  were  drafted  into 
the  army,  married,  and  founded  families  that  thenceforth 
bore  German  names ;  some  were  sent  to  Ireland,  others 
deported  to  Yorkshire  and  other  parts  of  England. 

The  accession  to  the  throne  of  William  of  Orange  was  an 
inducement  to  a  number  of  Netherlanders  to  come  over  and 
feather  their  nests  at  our  expense.  Much  bitter  feeling  was 
aroused  by  the  favour  that  William  accorded  to  his  country- 
men. To  him  we  owe  the  Bentincks,  Keppels,  the  Vansittarts, 
and  that  soldier  of  fortune  from  Germany,  Schomberg. 
1  But  there  were  earlier  and  English  Jordans. 

19  B  2 


INTRODUCTORY 

So  also,  with  the  promotion  to  the  English  throne  of  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty,  the  natural  result  was  a  swarming  over 
of  North  Germans. 

And  what  can  be  said  of  the  inflow  of  representatives  of  all 
nationalities  since  the  French  Revolution  ? 

We  have  Swedes  and  Poles  naturalized  among  us — so 
much  so  that  in  the  clergy  list  may  be  found  the  names 
of  Swedes  and  Poles  who  have  become  incumbents  to  English 
livings.  Swiss  have  found  homes  here  as  well,  as  clock- 
makers  and  opticians,  as  cooks  and  confectioners. 

Germans  have  arrived  in  shoals  to  escape  compulsory 
military  service.  We  have  but  to  look  at  the  names  over 
the  shops  in  Oxford  Street  to  see  how  these  foreigners 
are  elbowing  out  our  native  tradesmen.  The  Italians  have 
monopolized  the  restaurants,  and  the  old  English  chop-house 
exists  no  longer. 

In  the  mercantile  offices  the  foreigner  proves  a  useful  clerk, 
and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  remains,  and  his  family  becomes 
entirely  English :  only  the  name  proclaims  whence  he  came. 
The  English  commercial  traveller  is  also  being  displaced  by 
the  foreigner.  German  Jews  are  naturalized,  many  become 
Christians  or  drop  their  Mosaic  peculiarities,  and  they  all 
contribute  names  to  the  general  stock,  not  only  Levi,  Samuel, 
Nathan,  and  Cohen,  but  also  Goschen,  Holzapfel,  Cassel,  Wolf, 
Rothschild  y1  also  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Jews,  as  Montefiore 
and  Lopes. 

1  The  Rothschild  family  was  from  Frankfort,  where  Mayer  Anselm 
Rothschild  was  a  small  money-lender,  born  1743.  The  Landgraves  of 
Hesse-Cassel  disposed  of  their  male  subjects  to  England  as  mercenaries, 
and  Amschel  (Anselm)  acted  as  intermediary.  In  1775  as  many  as 
12,800  Hessians  were  thus  sold  to  the  British  Government  to  be  sent  to 
fight  in  America,  and  the  number  was  afterwards  swelled  to  19,400,  or 
one-twentieth  part  of  the  entire  population  of  Hesse-Cassel.  Huzars 
were  despatched  to  patrol  the  frontiers  and  drive  back  the  wretched 
peasants  who  attempted  to  escape.  The  subsidies  passed  through  the 
hands  of  Amschel,  and  a  good  deal  of  English  gold  adhered  to  his  fingers 
(Vehse,  "  Geschichte  d.  deutschen  Hofe,"  vol.  xxvii.,  pp.  174-6,  226). 
J.  Scherr,  in  "  Der  rothe  Quartal,"  says,  after  mentioning  the  fortune 
amassed:  "To  think  that  one  family  should  have  acquired  such  vast, 
almost  wicked,  wealth  out  of  blood-money,  when  those  fathers  of  their 

20 


INTRODUCTORY 

It  is  not  possible  to  fix  a  date  when  surnames  became 
hereditary.  There  are  surnames  given  that  were  personal, 
and  such  there  have  ever  been,  but  these  ceased  to  be  used 
with  the  decease  of  the  bearer.  But  when — at  what  date — a 
to-name  was  transmitted  to  a  man's  posterity  cannot  be  said 
with  any  confidence.  Hereditary  surnames  stole  into  use 
by  slow  degrees  and  imperceptibly.  They  began  with  the 
assumption  of  territorial  designation  by  the  Normans  at  the 
Conquest,  as  shall  be  shown  in  another  chapter,  but  did  not 
become  general  among  the  middle  classes  till  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Of  surnames  in  Germany  it  has  been  said  :  "  Family 
names  did  not  come  into  general  employ  until  late  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  First  of  all,  the  nobility  in  the  twelfth  century 
called  themselves  after  their  ancestral  seats,  as  Conrad  von 
Wettin,  Rudolf  von  Habsburg ;  then  among  the  citizens 
they  were  adopted  in  the  fourteenth  century,  but  did  not 
become  general  till  the  sixteenth  century." 

What  is  true  of  German  surnames  is  true  also  of  such  as 
we  find  in  England,  only  that  the  acquisition  of  family  names 
with  us  came  in  somewhat  earlier  than  in  Germany. 

Mr.  Bardsley  says  of  nicknames  and  such  other  to-names 
as  were  given  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  early  Norman  times  : 
"  They  were  but  expressions  of  popular  feeling  to  individual 
persons  by  means  of  which  that  individuality  was  increased, 
and  passed  away  with  the  lives  of  their  owners.  The  son,  in 
due  course  of  time,  got  a  sobriquet  of  his  own,  by  which  he 

people,  Charles  I.,  William  VIII.,  Frederick  II.,  and  William  IX.,  sold 
their  subjects  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  to  various  war-loving 
potentates,  and  en  gros  to  the  English  during  the  War  of  Emancipation 
in  America  !  This  family  treasure,  to  which  more  curses  clung  than  to 
the  Nibelungen-hort,  came  in  the  Napoleonic  age  to  be  further  swollen 
by  old  Amschel,  the  founder  of  the  Rothschild  dynasty  ;  and  he  knew  so 
well  how  to  turn  money  over  that  his  son  became,  so  to  speak,  the  grand- 
master of  European  jobbery."  But,  after  all,  the  real  iniquity  lay,  not 
with  the  Rothschilds,  but  with  the  Landgraves  who  trafficked  in  their 
subjects,  and  not  much  less  with  the  British  Government  which  entered 
into  and  encouraged  such  a  scandalous  negotiation. 

21 


INTRODUCTORY 

was  familiarly  known ;  but  that,  too,  was  but  personal  and 
temporary.  It  was  no  more  hereditary  than  had  been  his 
father's  before  him,  and  even,  so  far  as  himself  was  concerned, 
might  be  again  changed,  according  to  the  humour  or  caprice 
of  his  neighbours  and  acquaintances.  And  this  went  on  for 
several  more  centuries ;  only,  as  population  increased,  these 
sobriquets  became  more  and  more  common. 

"  In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  however,  a  change 
took  place.  By  a  silent  and  unpremeditated  movement  over 
the  whole  of  the  more  populated  and  civilized  European 
societies,  nomenclature  began  to  assume  a  solid,  lasting 
basis.  It  was  the  result,  in  fact,  of  an  insensibly  growing 
necessity.  Population  was  on  the  increase,  commerce  was 
spreading,  and  society  was  fast  becoming  corporate;  with 
all  this  arose  difficulties  of  individualization.  It  was  im- 
possible, without  some  further  distinction,  to  maintain  a 
current  identity.  Hence,  what  had  been  but  an  occasional 
and  irregular  custom  became  a  fixed  and  general  practice — 
the  distinguishing  sobriquet,  not,  as  I  say,  of  premeditation, 
but  by  a  silent  compact,  became  part  and  parcel  of  a  man's 
property,  and  passed  on  with  his  other  possessions  to  his 
direct  descendants."1 

There  were,  however,  instances,  few  and  far  between,  in 
which  a  nickname  extended  to  children  beyond  the  father 
to  whom  first  applied,  and  that  before  the  Conquest.  Mr. 
Lower  quotes  from  a  document  among  the  Cottonian  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum  that,  though  bearing  no  date,  is 
certainly  earlier  than  1066.  It  states  that 

"  Hwitta  Hatte  was  a  keeper  of  bees  at  Haethnfelda,  and 
Tate  Hatte,  his  daughter,  was  the  mother  of  Wulsige,  the 
shooter;  and  Lulle  Hatte,  the  sister  of  Wulsige,  Helstan 
had  for  wife  in  Wealadune.  Wifus  and  Dunne  and  Seolce 
were  born  in  Haethnfelda.  Duding  Hatte,  the  son  of  Wifus, 
is  settled  at  Wealadene ;  and  Ceolmund  Hatte,  the  son  of 
Dunne,  is  also  settled  there ;  and  Aetheleah  Hatte,  the  son 
of  Seolce,  is  also  there ;  and  Tate  Hatte,  the  sister  of  Cen- 
wald,  Moeg  hath  for  his  wife  at  Weligan ;  also  Ealdelm,  the 
1  Bardsley,  "English  Surnames."  London,  1889. 

22 


INTRODUCTORY 

son  of  Herethrythe,  married  the  daughter  of  Tate.  Werlaff 
Hatte,  the  father  of  Werstan,  was  the  rightful  owner  of 
Haethnfelda." 

Here  we  have  four  generations  of  Hattes,  and  the  females 
keep  their  names  of  Hatte ;  but  apparently  these  all  derive 
it  from  Heathfield,  which  is  Hattes-field,  being  owned  by 
Werlaff  Hatte.  It  is  quite  possible  that  those  who  drifted 
away  from  Haethnfield  ceased  to  bear  the  to-name.  The 
document  is  curious,  as  it  shows  that  before  the  Conquest 
the  tendency  to  assume  surnames  had  already  spasmodically 
manifested  itself;  but  we  have  no  authority  to  say  that  it 
had  done  more  than  manifest  itself. 

In  the  great  confusion  of  names,  the  alteration,  the  modi- 
fication, the  corruption,  they  have  undergone,  it  is  not  easy 
for  every  man  to  discover  whence  he  came,  how  he  got 
his  name,  to  what  race  he  pertains.  Yet  every  man 
must  desire  to  "  look  to  the  rock  whence  he  is  hewn,  and 
to  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  he  is  digged."  It  is  hoped 
that  this  book  may  serve  him  in  some  fashion  to  discover 
his  origin. 

But  continually  we  hear  men  make  the  most  incredible 
assertions  relative  to  their  families  and  the  family  name, 
unconscious  that  documentary  evidence  could  demolish 
what  was  assuredly  put  forward.  I  can  find  space  for  two 
instances  only. 

Some  fifty  years  ago  there  lived  an  old  gentleman  of 
the  name  of  Gill  in  a  country  town.  He  was  a  pompous 
man  who  wore  two  waistcoats,  a  high  cravat,  and  a  beaver 
curled  up  at  the  sides,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Count 
d'Orsay.  What  filled  him  with  pride  was  the  conviction — 
the  absolute  conviction — that  the  blood  of  Kings  circulated 
in  his  veins.  The  sole  foundation  for  this  belief  was  that  his 
surname  was  Gill,  and  that  once  upon  a  time  there  had  been 
a  Norwegian  King  of  the  name  of  Harald  Gill. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  Harald  Gill  reigned  from  1130  to 
1136,  and  at  that  time  hereditary  surnames  were  unknown  in 
Scandinavia.  In  the  next  place,  we  know  what  became  of 
all  the  race  of  this  King — that  it  was  blotted  out  in  blood, 

23 


INTRODUCTORY 

In  the  third  place,  he  was  hardly  one  to  be  looked  back  upon 
as  a  glory  to  the  family. 

Now  hear  his  story:  In  the  year  1129  there  arrived  in 
Norway  an  Irishman  named  Gillchrist,  who  presented  him- 
self before  King  Sigurd  the  Crusader,  and  declared  that  he 
was  his  half-brother,  the  son  of  Magnus  Barefeet,  who  had 
been  killed  in  battle  in  Ireland  in  1103.  He  was  a  tall,  lanky 
fellow,  with  a  long  face  and  neck,  and,  unlike  a  Scandinavian, 
had  black  eyes  and  hair.  He  spoke  Norwegian  but  brokenly. 
He  pretended  that  King  Magnus  had  had  an  intrigue  with 
an  Irish  girl,  and  it  was  said  that  in  the  battle  in  which  he 
fell  the  King  had  sung  this  stave : 

"  In  Dublin  town  my  hopes  reside, 

No  more  are  Norway's  maids  my  cheer. 
Them  I'll  not  see  till  autumn-tide, 
I  love  my  Irish  wench  so  dear." 

Gillchrist  brought  his  mother  with  him,  but  no  other 
evidence  to  establish  his  assertion.  King  Sigurd  was  subject 
to  fits  of  insanity,  and,  against  the  advice  of  his  Council, 
accepted  the  claim,  and  made  Gillchrist,  or  Harald,  as  he 
now  called  himself,  swear  that  he  would  not  contest  the 
kingdom,  after  his  death,  with  Magnus,  his  son  and  sole 
male  issue.  Harald  took  the  required  oath,  and  broke  it  so 
soon  as  the  King  was  dead. 

Norway  at  the  time  was  not  a  compact  nationality,  and  a 
strong  hostility  existed  between  the  men  of  the  North  and 
those  of  the  South.  The  Northerners,  or  Drontheimers,  at 
once  accepted  Harald  as  their  King,  whilst  those  of  the 
South  proclaimed  Magnus  so  soon  as  Sigurd  was  no  more. 
Harald  succeeded  in  getting  Magnus  into  his  hands,  where- 
upon he  blinded  him,  cut  off  one  of  his  feet,  and  otherwise 
mutilated  him. 

Harald  Gill,  or  Gillchrist,  "  was  one  of  the  most  unworthy 
Kings  that  ever  disgraced  the  throne  of  Norway,"  says  the 
historian  Boyesen.  He  left  behind  him  but  one  legitimate 
son,  Ingi,  who  was  deformed,  hunchbacked,  and  with  a 
withered  leg.  He  died  without  issue.  But  Harald  left  three 
bastard  sons  and  as  many  baseborn  daughters.  Not  one 


INTRODUCTORY 

of  the  brood  inherited  the  name  of  Gill.  One  of  them  was 
called  Sigurd  Mund,  from  his  ugly  mouth,  and  he  left  issue 
by  his  mistresses.  His  eldest  son  was  born  of  a  slave-girl 
when  he  himself  was  aged  but  fifteen.  A  more  disreputable 
set  than  the  spawn  of  Harald  Gill  can  hardly  be  conceived. 
They  fought  and  killed  each  other,  and  of  those  that  re- 
mained, King  Magnus  Erlingsson,  or,  rather,  his  father 
Erling,  set  to  work  to  exterminate  them  root  and  branch. 
But  when  he  supposed  that  not  one  of  Gill's  race  remained, 
there  suddenly  started  up  a  new  claimant,  Swerrir,  from  the 
Faroe  Isles,  who  pretended  that  he  was  the  bastard  of 
Sigurd  Mund  by  his  cook,  who  was  the  wife  of  a  comb- 
maker  named  Uni,  though  Swerrir  had  been  born  after  Uni 
had  married  her.  The  faction  of  the  Drontheimers  was 
quite  ready  to  admit  his  claim,  though  totally  unsubstan- 
tiated by  any  evidence,  and  in  a  battle  fought  in  1184 
Magnus  Erlingsson  was  killed.  Now,  Swerrir  did  have  sons 
by  the  daughter  of  Roe,  the  Bishop  of  the  Faroe  Isles,  but 
it  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  were  married  to  her,  and  we 
know  what  became  of  his  sons  and  grandsons.  But  Swerrir 
himself,  by  his  own  showing,  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  a 
bastard  of  Harald  Gill,  who  was  himself,  as  he  pretended, 
an  illegitimate  son  of  King  Magnus  Barefeet.1  But  that  was 
not  the  end  of  the  farcical  tragedy.  A  man  turned  up — a 
little  fellow  with  an  ugly  face,  named  Eric — who  also  pre- 
tended to  be  the  son  of  Sigurd  Mouth,  on  no  other  grounds 
than  that  when  in  Palestine  he  had  prayed  that,  should  he 
be  a  King's  son,  he  might  be  able  to  wade  or  swim  across 
Jordan  with  a  lighted  candle  in  his  hand.  He  does  not  seem 
to  have  known  who  was  his  mother.  But  his  son  died  with- 
out issue.  All  the  sons,  or  pretended  sons,  and  grandsons 
of  Harald  Gill  bore  nicknames,  but  not  one  called  himself 
Gill. 

Harald's  original  name  was  Gillchrist — that  is  to  say,  the 
servant  of  Christ.  It  was  customary  among  the  Irish  and 
Scots  to  call  themselves  servants  of  Christ  or  of  some  saint, 

1  The  male  line,  but  only  through  another  bastard,  came  totally  to  an 
end  with  Hakon  Longlegs  in  1319. 

25 


INTRODUCTORY 

and  some  of  the  noblest  in  the  land  were  Gillmichael,  Gill- 
patrick  Gillbridget,  etc.  But  the  name  was  unknown  in 
Norway  before  the  arrival  of  Harald,  and  it  perished  there 
with  him.  So  much  for  this  claim  put  forward  to  give  a 
false  gloss  to  a  name  in  itself  ancient. 

Now,  Gill  was  a  highly  honourable  name,  taken  by  some 
of  the  men  of  highest  rank  in  Scotland,  Cornwall,  and 
Ireland,  coupling  with  it  the  name  of  Saint ;  but  it  was  not 
Norwegian. 

Now  for  another  instance.  In  the  Western  Morning  News 
for  June  10,  1909,  is  an  account  of  the  millenary  service  of 
the  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the  See  of  Crediton,  and 
also  in  memory  of  the  martyrdom  of  Wynfrith  (St.  Boniface), 
who  was  born  in  Crediton  in  680.  The  newspaper  says  : 
"  At  yesterday's  service  conspicuous  places  were  occupied  by 
the  Rev.  A.  Winnifrith  (Rector  of  Mariansleigh)  and  Rev. 
D.  P.  Winnifrith  (Rector  of  Igham),  father  and  son,  who 
claim  to  be  descendants  of  the  great  St.  Boniface." 

Now,  neither  the  father  nor  any  brothers  of  St.  Boniface 
bore  the  name  of  Wynfrith  ;  nor,  of  course,  being  a  monk 
and  an  Archbishop,  did  he  himself  leave  issue.  Moreover, 
hereditary  family  names  did  not  come  into  existence  in 
England — at  all  events,  among  the  English  people — till  some 
500  years  after  the  death  of  Wynfrith  of  Crediton. 

I  give  these  two  instances  of  the  mistakes  into  which  people 
may  fall  by  making  claims  as  to  the  antiquity  and  origin 
of  their  names,  without  having  investigated  whether  any 
basis  exists  on  which  they  could  be  established. 

From  the  moment  we  come  into  the  world  we  have,  as  our 
very  own,  our  names  and  our  shadows.  The  latter  attend  us 
only  when  the  sun  shines,  but  the  former  cling  to  us  night 
and  day.  We  are  sensitive  about  our  names  :  we  resent  their 
being  misspelt  or  mispronounced;  we  fire  up  at  any  dis- 
paraging remark  passed  upon  them.  But  otherwise  we  do 
not  concern  ourselves  about  them.  We  do  not  ask  when 
these  names  came  into  existence,  what  their  signification  is, 
and  what  is  their  history.  And  yet  they  deserve  more  con- 
sideration than  has  been  accorded  to  them ;  they  are  heirlooms 

26 


INTRODUCTORY 

of  the  past — heirlooms  to  be  kept  unblemished,  to  be  passed 
on  without  a  stain  to  our  children.  And  they  are  historical 
records  when  rightly  read.  They  inform  us  to  what  nation 
our  ancestor  belonged,  or  what  was  his  occupation,  what  his 
principal  physical  or  moral  characteristics.  That  man  who 
first  had  a  surname  which  he  transmitted  to  his  children  was 
the  Adam  of  the  family.  Of  all  who  went  before  we  know 
nothing ;  of  those  who  followed  we  may,  perhaps,  know 
nothing  till  the  time  of  our  grandfather;  but  he,  the  Name- 
Father,  stands  out  as  the  family  progenitor,  and  if  we  desire 
to  know  something  about  him  we  must  question  our  surname. 
Our  surnames  are  at  the  least  300  years  old,  many  from  500 
to  600  years  old.  Language  changes — it  is  in  constant  flux  ; 
but  the  name,  after  it  has  been  adopted  as  a  hereditary  sur- 
name and  fixed  in  registers,  is  petrified.  Spelling  was  tentative 
and  capricious,  and  Smith,  for  instance,  was,  when  enregis- 
tered,  rung  through  all  changes  of  Smeeth,  Smythe,  Smeyt, 
Smyth,  etc. ;  and  Faber,  the  blacksmith,  became  Fever, 
Feures,  Ferron,  Fieron,  etc.  Because  of  the  arbitrary  manner 
in  which  names  were  enrolled,  so  many  are  to  us  unintelligible 
at  the  present  day. 

This  year  (1909)  I  have  had  difficulties  relative  to  applicants 
for  old-age  pensions,  because  the  same  person  had  his  sur- 
name spelled  in  one  way  when  baptized,  in  another  way  when 
married,  and  in  a  third  when  he  made  application.  The 
arbitrary  way  in  which  the  owners  of  some  of  the  best  of  our 
family  names  treat  them  as  to  pronunciation  shows  what 
confusion  and  mistakes  must  have  been  made  in  registration. 
Mainwaring  is  pronounced  Mannering,  Leveson-Gower  becomes 
Lewson-Gore,  Marjoribanks  is  Marchbanks,  Cholmondeley  is 
Chumley.  It  was  largely  due  to  such  mispronunciation,  or 
to  caprice,  that  so  many  apparently  vulgar  and  opprobrious 
nicknames  are  to  be  found  among  us.  Originally  they  were 
not  nicknames  at  all,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 


27 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   TATTOO   AND  TRIBAL   NAME 

THE  flight  of  the  hermit  from  the  society  of  his  fellow-men  to 
bury  himself  in  the  desert,  the  bitterness  expressed  by  Timon 
when  he  said : 

"  Be  abhorred 

All  feasts,  societies  and  throngs  of  men  ! 

His  semblable,  yea,  himself,  Timon  disdains  " 

— these  are  products  of  an  exhausted,  dying  civilization.  The 
primitive  man  finds  his  pleasure,  his  ratio  vivendi,  in  associa- 
tion. He  cannot  think  outside  his  community.  He  cannot 
understand  the  possibility  of  man  living  as  a  unit,  not  as  a 
digit  in  a  sum.  The  most  extreme  condemnation  that  could 
be  passed  on  a  Norseman  was  to  proclaim  him  an  outcast, 
a  "  wolf"1  who  might  not  lie  under  the  same  roof  with,  nor 
speak  with,  a  fellow-man.  As  one  outside  the  commonwealth, 
every  man's  hand  was  against  him.  He  might  be  killed 
with  impunity.  And  the  horror  with  which  excommunication 
was  regarded  by  a  man  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  due,  not  to 
dread  of  deprivation  of  the  Sacraments,  so  much  as  to  dis- 
sociation from  fellow-men  who  might  not  house  and  converse 
with  him.  When  the  Popes  excommunicated  whole  peoples 
it  lost  its  force,  and  sectaries  were  willing  cheerily  to  excom- 
municate themselves,  for  they  went  forth  from  the  Church 
in  bodies.  When  Innocent  III.  excommunicated  King  Sverrir 
of  Norway,  and  laid  the  land  under  an  interdict,  it  was 

1  So  also  to  be  proclaimed  a  "  wolf's-head  "  in  England.     Cant.  Pil- 
grims :  "The  Coke's  Tale." 

28 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

generally  disregarded,  and  no  one  was  a  penny  the  worse, 
though  the  ban  lasted  from  1194  to  I2O2.1  Everywhere  and 
at  all  times  do  we  come  upon  men  living  in  community, 
meshes  in  one  net,  their  habitations  clustered  together  as 
cells  in  a  honeycomb,  living  in  communal  houses,  as  the 
Bornean  Dyaks,  where  each  house  constitutes  a  village,  or 
as  the  North  American  cliff-dwellers.  The  family  was  un- 
questionably the  egg  out  of  which  the  tribe  was  hatched, 
and  out  of  the  tribe,  but  long  after,  grew  the  nation.  But 
the  tribe  itself  in  time  ramified  into  subdivisions  or  septs. 

The  original  idea  certainly  was  that  all  members  of  a 
tribe  were  of  one  blood,  and  it  was  on  this  account  that 
such  strict  rules  existed  against  intermarriage  between  the 
members.  But  in  process  of  time  this  ceased  to  be  strictly 
true,  as  by  adoption  individuals  pertaining  to  one  tribe 
might  be  taken  into  another,  and  a  clan  which  was  reduced 
in  numbers  through  war  or  plague  was  glad  to  recuperate  by 
this  means. 

So  homogeneous  was  a  tribe,  that  a  crime  committed  by 
one  member  of  it  was  resented  against  the  whole ;  and  when 
a  murder  had  been  committed  outside  it,  retaliation  was 
made,  not  necessarily  on  the  murderer,  but  on  any  innocent 
and  innocuous  member  of  the  murderer's  tribe.  We  have 
excellent  opportunity  for  seeing  this  in  operation  in  the  early 
history  of  Iceland,  where  families  were  established  in  their 
several  homesteads,  but  had  not  as  yet  multiplied  sufficiently 
to  constitute  clans ;  or  in  Borneo,  where  this  system  of 
vendetta  prevails  to  the  present  day. 

From  a  very  early  period — indeed,  from  the  very  time 
when  a  tribe  was  formed — it  became  essential  to  place  some 
mark  upon  each  member,  so  that  he  might  be  recognized  by 
friend  and  foe  as  belonging  to  it.  This  is  the  signification 
of  all  the  mutilations  and  disfigurements  that  are  found 
among  men  in  a  primitive  state  of  civilization.  It  continued 
even  under  later  conditions.  Circumcision  among  the  Jews 

1  Remarkably  enough,  from  the  moment  that  the  ban  was  fulminated 
Providence  blessed  Sverrir,  and  his  fortunes  assumed  a  favourable  turn. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  Kings  Norway  ever  had. 

29 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

was  the  placing  a  mark  upon  the  Beni  Israel,  whereby  they 
might  be  distinguished  from  the  Gentile  nations  around. 
And  circumcision  has  the  same  significance  among  the 
Mohammedans — only  that  with  them  it  is  the  badge,  not 
of  uniqueness  in  blood,  but  of  oneness  in  faith. 

Among  the  ancient  Irish,  the  Druids  wore  a  particular 
tonsure,  indicative  of  their  pertaining  to  the  sacred,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  secular  tribe.  The  Christian  mis- 
sionaries adopted  another  kind  of  tonsure.  They  shaved 
the  head  from  ear  to  ear  in  front,  and  the  native  Irish  called 
them  "  adze-heads  "  because  this  gave  to  their  faces  the  shape 
of  the  weapon  we  commonly  call  a  "  celt." 

The  Normans  who  followed  William  the  Bastard  to 
England,  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
shaved  the  backs  of  their  heads  from  ear  to  ear,  as  we  may 
see  them  depicted  in  the  Bayeux  Tapestry. 

The  Romanist  tonsure  of  the  priest  and  the  monk  has  the 
same  significance — the  indication  by  an  outward  mark  that 
those  so  disfigured  belong  to  a  sacred  caste. 

Many  savage  races  flatten  the  head,  pierce  the  cartilage  of 
the  nose  and  insert  rings,  knock  out  one  or  more  of  the 
teeth  or  file  them  to  sharp  points,  draw  forth  the  nether 
lip,  pierce  it,  and  insert  a  stick;  or  else  tattoo  the  face, 
or  face  and  body  together.  All  these  disfigurements  had 
originally,  and  have  still,  the  object  of  marking  a  man  or 
woman  as  a  member  of  a  particular  tribe. 

When  a  female  marries  out  of  her  tribe,  then  she  is  re- 
quired to  have  additional  flourishes  tattooed  upon  her  ; 
and  anyone  acquainted  with  native  ways  can  read  upon  her 
body  the  history  of  her  life — that  she  was  born  into  one  tribe, 
but  was  taken  by  marriage  into  another. 

On  the  Congo,  says  Frobenius,  every  group,  even  every 
village,  bears,  so  to  say,  visibly  on  its  head  its  own  coat  of 
arms.  Nor  is  this  custom  confined  to  the  region  of  the 
Congo,  but  prevails  beyond  Africa  over  a  great  part  of  the 
world,  especially  in  the  region  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  the 
lands  bordering  on  it. 

When  Julius  Caesar  first  landed  in  Britain,  he  noted  that 

30 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

the  natives  were  dyed  with  woad.  What  he  saw  was  the 
painting  or  tattooing  that  indicated  the  distinctions  of  tribes 
ranged  against  him. 

Long  after  tattooing  had  ceased  to  prevail  in  Europe, 
down  to  our  own  times,  every  village  distinguished  itself,  in 
France,  Germany,  and  elsewhere,  from  every  other  by  some 
peculiarity  of  costume.  Costume  is  now  rapidly  disappear- 
ing, but  fifty  years  ago  it  prevailed.  In  1847,  when  my 
father  drove  through  France  from  St.  Malo  to  Pau,  I 
sketched  the  head-dresses  of  the  women.  Not  only  was 
there  a  difference  between  those  of  the  different  provinces, 
but  there  was  distinction  between  those  in  the  several 
villages.  In  the  National  Museum  at  Munich  is  a  hall  given 
up  to  the  costumes  worn  by  men  and  women  alike  in  the 
kingdom.  There  is,  or  were,  precisely  the  same  differences 
there.  At  the  present  day,  in  the  market  at  Quimper  in 
Brittany,  one  may  distinguish  at  a  glance  a  Bigauden  from 
any  other  peasantess  by  the  hair  tightly  drawn  back  from 
the  face,  and  collected  in  a  black  box-cap  at  the  back  of  the 
head.  The  Bigauden  is  believed  to  be  of  a  different  race  from 
the  Breton,  and  to  have  Mongolian  characteristics.  She 
proclaims  the  difference  by  her  coiffure. 

The  author  already  quoted  tells  the  story  of  a  young 
French  trader  who  in  1895  started  for  the  Congo,  and 
reached  Lake  Leopold,  where  he  did  so  good  a  business 
that  he  resolved  on  establishing  a  permanent  station  there. 
"  But  scarcely  was  the  axe  applied  to  the  first  tree,  when 
one  hand  of  the  village  chief's  was  laid  on  the  woodman's 
shoulder,  while  the  other  indicated  with  unmistakable 
emphasis  that  the  business  must  proceed  no  further.  So  a 
palaver  was  held,  and  the  gentle  Mongols  insisted  that  the 
trader  must  become  a  member  of  the  tribe,  without  which 
he  might  not  settle.  He  was  rejoiced.  He  nodded  his 
assent,  and  through  his  interpreter  asked  how  this  was  to 
be  done.  *  You  must  receive  the  tribal  scars,'  was  the  reply. 
He  pulled  a  long  face,  but  there  was  no  help  for  it.  On  all 
sides,  right  and  left,  ivory  and  rubber  were  to  be  had  in 
abundance,  and  all  at  the  cost  of  a  few  gashes. 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

"  Next  morning  the  ganga — that  is,  the  priest  of  the  tribe 
— introduced  himself.  On  a  leather  cloth  he  spread  out  all 
sorts  of  little  objects — a  couple  of  horns,  black  ashes,  red 
dyes,  a  few  small  iron  implements,  and  four  little  wooden 
figures  tied  up  in  a  bundle. 

"  The  white  brother  of  the  tribe  was  first  manipulated  on 
the  temples,  a  black  mixture  was  rubbed  in,  and  his  head 
scarred  with  various  red  lines.  Even  that  did  not  suffice. 
Inflammation  set  in  with  the  wounds,  which  festered.  .  .  . 
After  four  weeks  the  ganga  presented  himself  again.  The 
scorings  were  repeated.  Again  he  fell  ill,  lost  all  patience, 
and  in  a  few  days  returned  to  Europe.  The  affair  had  a 
sad  ending.  The  poor  fellow  never  recovered,  and  died  in 
the  hands  of  a  surgeon,  trying  to  get  the  hateful  disfigure- 
ments removed  from  his  temples."1 

That  in  time  men  should  revolt  against  the  tortures  and 
mutilations  to  which  they  were  subjected,  in  order  to  ear- 
mark them  as  members  of  their  tribe,  may  well  be  supposed. 
The  tartan,  the  costume,  the  various  modifications  of 
the  plaiting  of  the  hair,  are  substitutes,  in  the  interests  of 
humanity,  for  the  bodily  disfigurements.  But  another  sub- 
stitute was  found  in  the  registration  of  the  tribesmen. 

In  all  probability,  among  the  Celts  generally,  and  among 
the  Irish  and  Welsh  certainly,  the  bard  was  instituted  as 
the  genealogist  of  the  tribe.  It  was  his  obligation,  for  which 
he  was  liberally  paid,  to  know  and  recite  the  pedigree  and 
position  and  achievements  of  every  individual  of  the  tribe. 

The  man  who  founded  a  family  had  a  personal  name,  and 
imposed  that  name  on  his  descendants.  The  sons  of  Adam 
were  Adamim.  But  as  families  multiplied,  and  became 
detached  more  or  less  from  the  parent  stock,  the  head  of 
each  branch  became  in  turn  an  ancestor,  giving  his  name 
to  the  sept.  Yet,  as  in  the  subclans  of  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  the  original  filiation  was  never  wholly  forgotten. 

In  Genesis  we  read  :  "  Now  these  are  the  generations  of 

the  sons  of  Noah  :  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth  ;  and  unto  them 

were   sons   born   after   the  flood.     The   sons   of  Japheth : 

1  Frobenius,  "The  Childhood  of  Man."     London,  1908. 

32 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

Gomer  and  Magog,  and  Madai  and  Javan,  and  Tubal  and 
Meshech  and  Tiras.  And  the  sons  of  Javan  :  Elishah  and 
Tarshish,  Kittim  and  Dodanim.  By  these  were  the  isles  of 
the  Gentiles  divided  in  their  lands  :  every  one  after  his  tongue, 
after  their  families,  in  their  nations." 

The  sacred  writer  goes  on  in  like  manner  to  give  the  sons 
and  grandsons  of  Ham  and  of  Shem.  He  clearly  notes  that 
the  tribes  and  races  of  whom  he  had  knowledge  claimed  or 
were  accorded  descent  from  certain  named  ancestors,  but 
they  did  not  all  take  the  name  of  the  remotest  forefather, 
but  of  that  one  which  formed  the  radiating  sept. 

This  fissiparous  formation  of  tribes  may  go  on  for  a  long 
time,  but  it  must  come  to  an  end  eventually,  so  far  as  reten- 
tion of  relation  with  the  parent  stock  and  with  the  collateral 
branches  goes  ;  and  then  in  the  general  welter  and  confusion 
of  relations  the  idea  of  the  nation  rises  to  the  surface. 

Among  the  Norsemen,  the  Royal  Family  was  that  of  the 
Ynglings,  deriving  from  a  mythical  ancestor,  Ingvi.  The 
Saxon  and  Angle  Kings  all  traced  back  to  heroic  ancestors, 
and  the  Saxon  Chronicle  is  careful  to  record  the  pedigrees. 
The  Danish  Royal  Family  was  that  of  the  Skjoldungs, 
descended  from  an  ancestor  Skjold,  of  whom  this  story  is 
told  :  One  day  a  skiff  arrived  on  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  with 
a  little  boy  asleep  within  it  on  a  shield.  He  was  reared 
among  the  people,  and  became  their  King.  Because  he 
slept  on  a  shield  he  was  called  Skjold,  and  because  he  was 
found  in  a  boat  he  was  fabled  to  be  the  son  of  Skiff.  Simeon 
of  Durham,  in  his  history  of  St.  Cuthbert,  calls  Halfdan  and 
his  brother,  the  two  Danish  Kings  of  Northumbria,  Scaldingi 
— i.e.,  Skjoldungs. 

But  the  royal  Danish  race  of  this  stock  expired  in  the 
male  line  with  the  extinction  of  the  family  of  Canute  the 
Great,  and  the  crown  passed  to  the  son  of  an  Earl  Ulf 
whom  Canute  had  murdered,  and  who  had  married  his 
sister.  Thenceforth  the  Danish  royal  race  was  entitled  the 
Ulfungs.  But  among  the  Northmen  there  were  as  well  the 
Bjornings,  sons  of  the  Bear ;  Hundings,  sons  of  a  dog ; 
Arnungs,  issue  of  an  eagle  ;  Nifflungs,  children  of  the  mist, 

33  C 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

But  no  member  bore  the  name  Bjorning,  Skjoldung,  Hunding, 
Arnung,  etc.,  as  a  surname ;  only  the  family  generally  was  so 
designated.  It  was  a  tribal  name,  but  it  did  not  adhere  as 
yet  to  the  personal  name. 

In  the  Scandinavian  stock,  the  tribal  formation  had  broken 
down  or  been  dissolved,  and  descent  from  the  heroic  ancestor 
was  attributed  to  the  Royal  Family  alone.  The  dissolution 
of  the  tribe  was  largely  due  to  the  conformation  of  the  land, 
which  threw  people  together  about  the  fjords,  and  forced 
them  to  adopt  a  territorial  rather  than  a  tribal  organization. 

The  ancient  social  organization  of  the  Romans  was  tribal. 
The  tribe,  or  rather  house,  was  called  a  gens,  and  the  idea 
was  that  all  members  of  a  gens  were  of  one  blood.  The 
most  ancient  gentes  were  all  patrician — the  Ramni,  Titii, 
and  Luceri.  But  as  they  died  out  other  gentes  were  formed. 
After  the  reign  of  Servius  Tullius  arose  plebeian  gentes.  In 
some  cases  in  the  same  gens  existed  at  the  same  time  patrician 
and  plebeian  families.  Such  was  the  case  with  the  gentes 
Claudia,  Cornelia,  and  Junia.  This  arose  through  a  plebeian 
family  being  elevated  into  being  patrician,  whilst  the  others 
remained  in  their  former  position.  Or  else  a  patrician  by  a 
marriage  out  of  his  order  might  found  a  family  that  became 
plebeian.  Each  gens  had  particular  rights.  There  existed 
mutual  protection ;  property  could  not  be  passed  by  bequest 
or  sale  out  of  the  tribe  ;  and  each  gens  had  its  own  sanctuary 
and  a  common  burial-place.  Every  Roman  had  three  names 
— one  personal,  one  designating  the  family  to  which  he 
belonged,  and  one  indicated  his  gens. 

The  title  of  "  gentleman  "  originally  signified  one  belonging 
to  a  gens,  or  tribe,  in  contradistinction  to  the  rabble  without, 
who  pertained  to  none. 

Among  the  Celts  it  was  much  the  same  as  among  the 
Romans.  In  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  theoretically  all 
Campbells,  Ogilvies,  Camerons,  Farquhars,  were  regarded  as 
of  one  blood,  when  they  bore  the  same  clan  name.  But,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  sequel,  this  was  theoretical  only.  The  Irish 
had  the  Fine,  consisting  in  the  first  place  of  the  children, 
brethren,  and  other  relatives,  of  the  Flath,  or  chieftain  ;  but 

34 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

it  actually  comprised  as  well  all  who  were  under  his  pro- 
tection and  paid  him  rents.  Each  of  the  smaller  clans 
comprised  in  a  great  clan  gradually  assumed  a  distinctive 
surname,  though  they  often  continued  to  be  regarded,  and  to 
regard  themselves  as  included,  under  the  great  clan  name. 
The  clan  names  of  O'Brian,  O'Neill,  O'Donovan,  O'Sullivan, 
O'Donnell,  like  the  Greek  Homerids  in  Chaios,  the  Codrids, 
the  Butids,  the  Roman  ^Emilii,  Julii,  or  Fabii,  were  originally 
family  organizations,  swelled  later  on  by  adoption  from  with- 
out into  the  clan. 

Like  the  Roman  gentes,  the  Irish  tribes  had  their  tribal 
cemeteries.  Indeed,  those  mysterious  people,  who  strewed 
so  many  lands  with  their  megalithic  monuments,  had 
unquestionably  a  tribal  organization  —  also  as  certainly 
tribal  names,  for  their  great  dolmens  and  sepulchral 
chambers  were  clan  mausoleums,  and  it  was  only  on  the 
dissolution  of  the  tribal  formation  that  the  small  kistvaen, 
containing  but  a  single  interment,  came  into  use.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  old  clan  feeling  survives 
among  us  relative  to  our  dead.  Families  like  to  have  their 
mausoleums  and  vaults,  in  which  may  be  gathered  together 
all  of  the  same  blood  and  name. 

Sir  Henry  Maine  says :  "  It  would  be  a  very  simple 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  society  if  we  could  base  a 
general  conclusion  on  the  hint  furnished  us  by  Scripture, 
that  communities  began  to  exist  wherever  a  family  held 
together  instead  of  separating  at  the  death  of  its  patriarchal 
chieftain.  In  most  of  the  Greek  States  and  in  Rome  there 
long  remained  the  vestiges  of  an  ascending  series  of  groups  out 
of  which  the  State  was  first  constituted.  The  family,  house, 
and  tribe,  of  the  Romans  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  them, 
and  they  are  so  described  to  us  that  we  can  scarcely  help 
conceiving  them  as  a  system  of  concentric  circles  which  have 
gradually  expanded  from  the  same  point.  The  elementary 
group  is  the  family,  connected  by  common  subjection  to 
the  highest  male  ascendant.  The  aggregation  of  families 
forms  the  gens  or  house.  The  aggregation  of  tribes  consti- 
tutes the  commonwealth."1 

1  Maine,  "Ancient  Law,"  p.  128.     London,  1885. 

35  C2 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

All  in  the  tribe  had  one  name ;  but  with  the  division  of  the 
tribe  into  the  gens,  house,  or  clan,  a  new  name  was  taken 
from  the  new  founder.  The  original  idea  was  that  first  the 
tribe,  then  the  clan  or  gens,  constituted  men  of  one  blood. 
But  this  ceased  to  be  true  when  adoption  took  place,  and 
this  took  place  on  a  large  scale  ;  nevertheless,  those  adopted 
assumed  the  tribal  or  clan  name.  Not  all  the  Fabii  were  of 
Fabian  blood,  nor  all  the  O'Brians  descendants  of  Brian, 
nor  all  the  Camerons  of  the  original  crooked-nosed  ancestor 
(Cam-rhon).  "The  family,"  says  Maine,  "is  the  type  of  an 
archaic  society  in  all  its  modifications  which  it  was  capable 
of  meaning  ;  but  the  family  here  spoken  of  is  not  exactly  the 
family  as  understood  by  a  modern.  In  order  to  reach  the 
ancient  conception,  we  must  give  to  our  modern  ideas  an 
important  extension  and  an  important  limitation.  We 
must  look  on  the  family  as  constantly  enlarged  by  the 
absorption  of  strangers  within  its  circle,  and  we  must  try  to 
regard  the  fiction  of  adoption  as  so  closely  simulating  the 
reality  of  kinship  that  neither  law  nor  opinion  makes  the 
slightest  difference  between  a  real  and  an  adoptive  con- 
nection."1 

We  shall  see,  in  the  chapter  on  Scottish  and  Irish  Names, 
that  the  adoption  of  a  clan  name  in  a  vast  number  of  cases 
implies  no  blood  relationship  whatever. 

Tribal  organization  was  a  stage  in  the  development  of 
mankind,  useful  and  beneficial  for  a  time,  but  for  a  time 
only,  after  which  it  became  obstructive  to  the  formation  of 
the  greater  and  nobler  conception  of  nationality. 

Tribal  organization  must  inevitably  come  to  an  end  in 
time,  with  the  multiplication  of  families,  and  instead  of  asking 
how  it  came  to  an  end,  the  question  to  be  asked  is :  How  did  it 
manage  to  continue  so  long  as  it  did  in  Wales  and  Scotland  ? 
And  the  answer  in  both  cases  is  : — Constant  wars  with  the 
English,  with  each  other,  and  with  the  Lowlanders,  kept  the 
tribal  organization  from  falling  to  pieces. 

With  the  extinction  of  tribal  differentiation  through  the 
melting  of  all  the  members  of  the  several  septs  into  one 
1  Maine,  "Ancient  Law,"  p.  133. 
36 


THE  TATTOO  AND  TRIBAL  NAME 

race,  the  tribal  name  falls  away  or  adheres  to  the  King 
alone,  and  each  member  of  the  race  is  left  with  his  personal 
name  only ;  and  this  is  how  we  find  our  forefathers  in 
England — Celtic,  Anglo-Saxon  or  Danish — with  singular 
names,  or  personal  names,  to  which  were  attached  descriptive 
appellations  that  perished  with  the  bearer,  because  such  de- 
signations were  not  applicable  to  his  sons. 

The  sequence  in  the  formation  of  hereditary  nomenclature 
was  this : 

1.  The  tribe  was  at  first  distinguished  by  bodily  mutila- 
tions. 

2.  Mutilations  were  abandoned  for  costume,  differentiating 
tribes. 

3.  The  tribal   name   fell  away,  and  the    personal    name 
alone  was  left. 

4.  Personal  names  were  found  to  be  insufficient  for  differ- 
entiating man  from  man. 

5.  Consequent   introduction   of  descriptive    appellations. 
These  were  personal,  and  expired  with  the  bearer. 

6.  Finally  surnames  become  hereditary. 


37 


CHAPTER  III 

SIRE-NAMES 

A  TIME  was  when,  by  a  sudden  cataclysm,  the  climate  of 
Northern  Asia  was  changed.  One  day  it  was  temperate  if 
not  tropical ;  then  came  a  wave  of  glacial  cold,  and  the 
temperature  of  Siberia  was  altered  for  ever.  At  once,  in  one 
day,  all  the  mammoths  that  had  browsed  on  the  luxuriant 
vegetation  fell,  and  were  congealed  and  embedded  in  ice, 
that  preserved  them — flesh,  skin,  and  hair,  even  the  un- 
digested food  in  their  paunches — revealing  what  was  the 
vegetation  once  found  on  what  are  now  the  frozen  tundras 
that  grow  nothing  but  grey  moss. 

We  do  not  know  when  this  event  took  place  ;  we  know 
only  that  it  did  take  place,  because  these  frozen  monsters 
strew  the  lands  that  fringe  the  Polar  Circle. 

In  like  fashion,  at  some  time,  we  know  not  precisely  when, 
but  certainly  not  simultaneously,  all  the  Toms,  Jacks,  Wills, 
Peters,  and  Harrys,  in  England,  went  down  and  were  frozen 
so  far  as  their  names  were  concerned.  If  the  original  Tom 
could  be  exhumed  from  a  block  of  frozen  rubble,  what  a  rush 
would  be  made  from  all  quarters  of  the  English-speaking 
globe — of  the  Tomsons,  Thompsons,  Thomassons,  Thorns, 
and  Tomkins — to  have  a  look  at  the  ancestor  from  whom 
they  derive !  He  would  be  an  object  of  greater  interest  than 
the  red-haired,  mummified,  primeval  Egyptian  in  the  glass 
case  in  the  British  Museum.  But  actually  all  the  Tomsons, 
Thompsons,  Thomassons,  Thorns,  and  Tomkins,  do  not 
descend  from  an  unique  Tom.  There  was  no  sole  Tom 

38 


SIRE-NAMES 

among  men,  the  Adam  from  whose  loins  issued  all  these 
families  that  bear  his  name,  as  the  rivers  that  watered  the 
Garden  of  Eden  issued  from  a  single  fount.  There  were  Toms 
many  dotted  over  the  counties  of  England,  who  spawned  in 
all  directions  about  the  same  period,  when  the  blast  of 
fashion  swept  over  the  country  and  fixed  them  for  all  time  as 
ancestors,  bequeathing  their  name  to  generations  yet  unborn. 

There  was  an  ancestral  Tom,  of  course,  to  every  family  of 
Tomson,  Thompson,  Thomasson,  Thorns,  and  Tomkins,  but 
not  the  same  Tom  to  all.  It  would  be  highly  instructive  to 
be  able  to  dig  each  out  and  study  him  scientifically.  One 
may  conjecture  that  he  was  a  Tom  of  Titanic  stature,  of 
superhuman  beauty,  or  of  prodigious  intellect,  so  that  all  his 
issue  were  eager  to  arrogate  to  themselves  his  name,  and  to 
insure  that  it  should  be  known  to  all  the  world  that  they 
had  sprung  from  him.  Some,  overcome  with  modesty,  feel- 
ing their  unworthiness  to  be  ranked  even  as  his  sons,  measur- 
ing their  littleness  against  his  greatness,  were  content  to  call 
themselves,  and  to  be  called,  Tomkins  or  Tomlins,  with  a 
diminutive  ending. 

But  in  all  probability  the  ancestral  Tom  was  not  more 
than  a  shrewd,  worthy  man,  perhaps  broader  in  beam, 
stronger  in  grip,  louder  in  voice,  more  potent  in  swallowing 
tankards  of  ale,  or  could  draw  a  straighter  furrow,  than  any 
other  ploughman  in  the  hamlet ;  and  his  sons  desired  that 
his  mantle  might  rest  on  them  all,  just  as,  in  Memling's 
painting,  that  of  St.  Ursula  envelops  the  11,000  virgins  that 
bear  her  company.  The  fashion  or  the  need  of  having  a 
to-name  determined  the  adoption. 

Among  the  Hebrews  there  were  no  family  names.  Joshua 
was  the  son  of  Nun,  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh,  David  the 
son  of  Jesse,  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amos.  Not  till  the  reign  of 
Joseph  II.,  Emperor,  were  the  Jews  in  Germany  constrained 
to  adopt  surnames. 

In  the  twelfth  century  was  drawn  up  the  Domesday  Book 
of  Iceland,  recording  the  land-taking  of  all  the  early  settlers, 
with  their  pedigrees.  Not  a  single  family  name  occurs,  and 
to  this  day  there  does  not  exist  a  family  name  in  the  island 

39 


SIRE-NAMES 

pertaining  to  a  native.  Every  man  is  known  by  his  personal 
designation,  and  as  the  son  of  his  father. 

When  I  returned  from  Iceland  in  1861,  on  the  boat  with 
me  was  Eric  Magnusson.  He  became  a  teacher  of  the 
Scandinavian  languages  and  literature  in  Oxford,  and  there 
he  was  known  as  Mr.  Magnusson.  But  his  son,  in  Iceland, 
would  not  be  Magnusson,  but  Eric's  son  ;  only  if  he  remained 
in  England  would  he  be  called  Magnusson. 

Among  the  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Norsemen,  the  system  of 
nomenclature  was  the  same,  and  among  ourselves  the  sur- 
names Johnson,  Thomson,  Dickson,  Wilson,  and  the  like, 
are  mainly  Northumbrian  in  origin — that  is  to  say,  proceed 
from  families  in  the  land  north  of  the  Humber  up  to  the 
Tweed;  for  this  was  largely  colonized  from  Denmark,  and 
patronymics  clung  to  usage  among  them  more  than  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons.  "  A  Cumberland  deed  of  1397  mentions 
Richard  Thomson,  showing  the  true  patronymic  as  still  used 
in  Iceland.  .  .  .  Many  more  examples  might  be  given  from 
Yorkshire  and  Cumberland.  It  has  been  thought  that  the 
termination  son  is  a  mark  of  Scandinavian  origin,  and, 
without  pressing  this  too  far,  it  may  be  said  that  such 
surnames  are  more  common  in  the  old  Danelaw  than 
elsewhere."1 

Among  the  Picts  the  descent  was  through  the  mother. 
Almost  certainly  the  matriarchate  indicates  a  low  moral 
condition,  such  as  did  not  exist  among  the  Germanic  and 
Scandinavian  peoples. 

The  Welsh  were  very  late  in  adopting  patronymics  as 
hereditary  surnames.  Some  of  the  principal  landowners  did 
so  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  by  the  King's  desire,  but  tbp 
commonalty  did  not  follow  their  example  till  much  later. 
Every  man  among  them  was  known  by  his  Christian  name, 
followed  by  ap  and  that  of  his  father. 

Cheese  has  thus  been  described  as 

"  Adam's  own  cousin  by  its  birth, 
Ap  Curd,  ap  Milk,  ap  Cow,  ap  Grass,  ap  Earth." 

1  Collingwood,  "  Scandinavian  Britain,"  1909. 

40 


SIRE-NAMES 

M.  A.  Lower  tells  the  following  story:  "An  Englishman, 
riding  one  dark  night  among  the  mountains,  heard  a  cry  of 
distress  proceeding  from  a  man  who  had  fallen  into  a  ravine 
near  the  highway,  and,  on  listening  more  attentively,  he  heard 
the  words,  '  Help,  master,  help  !'  in  a  voice  truly  Cambrian. 
'  Help  !  What  are  you  ?'  inquired  the  traveller.  '  Jenkin- 
ap-Griffith-ap-Robin-ap-William-ap-Rees-ap-Evan,'  was  the 
response.  *  Lazy  fellows  that  ye  be,'  replied  the  Englishman, 
setting  spurs  to  his  horse,  *  to  lie  rolling  in  that  hole,  half  a 
dozen  of  ye  !  Why,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  don't  ye 
help  one  another  out  ?'  " 

In  1387  Ladislas  Jagellon,  King  of  Poland  and  Duke  of 
Lithuania,  required  all  his  subjects  to  be  baptized.  The  men 
were  divided  for  the  purpose  into  two  companies ;  those  in 
the  first  were  named  Peter,  those  in  the  second  Paul.  In 
like  manner  the  women  were  ranged  in  two  batches ;  all  in 
the  first  were  christened  under  the  name  of  Catherine,  all 
in  the  second  under  that  of  Margaret.  Conceive  the  bewilder- 
ment in  a  village  when  there  were,  let  us  say,  a  hundred 
Peters  and  as  many  Pauls  !  How  difficult — nay,  how  impos- 
sible— it  would  have  been  in  it  to  establish  a  case  of  breach  of 
promise  of  marriage,  when  the  gay  defaulter  could  dive  in 
and  out  among  the  Catherines  and  Margarets,  and  perplex  a 
Judge's  mind  past  drawing  a  conclusion  of  guilt !  It  would 
be  absolutely,  imperiously  necessary  for  all  the  Peters  and 
Pauls  to  assume  each  a  surname  for  the  purpose  of  identifi- 
cation. Indeed,  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  Prince  to  insist 
upon  it,  otherwise  what  evasion  and  subterfuge  would  be 
resorted  to  in  order  to  escape  taxation  or  shirk  military 
duty! 

To  the  present  day,  in  the  western  hills  of  Yorkshire,  the 
people  know  themselves,  and  are  known  among  their  com- 
rades, by  their  descent.  A  man  is  John  a'  Jake's  a'  Hal's, 
and  a  woman  is  Mary  a'  Tom's  a'  Bill's.  Should  there  have 
been  a  moral  slip,  it  is  not  forgotten ;  it  is  duly  represented 
as  Joe  a'  Tom's  a'  Katie's.  The  people  employ  their  surnames 
for  registration  alone,  and,  were  it  not  for  being  enrolled  at 
school,  most  children  would  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they 

41 


SIRE-NAMES 

possessed  a  surname.  Indeed,  it  would  seem  that  the  people 
themselves  a  few  generations  ago  had  none,  and  arbitrarily 
assumed  any  that  entered  their  heads  when  it  came  to  the 
matter  of  a  marriage  or  a  christening.  At  Hebden  Bridge 
nearly  everyone  called  himself  Greenwood. 

Masses  of  rock,  angular  and  rugged,  that  have  fallen  into 
a  torrent,  by  the  time  that  they  have  reached  the  plain  have 
lost  their  asperities,  and  have  been  converted  into  smooth 
and  rounded  pebbles. 

Names  also,  since  their  first  adoption,  have  been  abraded 
almost  past  recognition  in  rolling  down  the  stream  of 
time,  before  they  became  fixed  in  registers  and  legal  docu- 
ments. 

1.  A  sire-name  is  simple  enough  when  it  is  plain  Thom- 
son, Tompson,  Johnson,  Jackson,  Wilson,  and  the  like.    But 
even  here  there  has  been  some  loss,  for  the  original  form  was 
Thomas-his-son,  John-his-son,  William-his-son.     The  pro- 
noun has  been  elided,  and  even  the  's  of  the  genitive  case 
in  some  cases,  as  Williamson. 

2.  A   further  abbreviation  took   place  when   the  son  fell 
away,  and  the  name  remained  as  Thorns,  Johns,  Jacks,  or 
Wills.     Here  the  mark  of  the  genitive  case  remained.     But 
where   the  employment   of  the  final  s  was   uneuphonious, 
because  the  paternal  name  ended  in  that  letter,  and  a  dupli- 
cation of  it  would  be  intolerable  to  the  ear,  it  was  dropped. 
Thus  we  have  Francis,  Denys,  James,  Charles,  Nicholas,  in 
place  of  Franciss,  Deniss,  Jamess,  Charless,  Nicholass. 

3.  A  termination  expressive  of  sonship  or  descent,  in  use 
among  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  Scandinavians,  was  ing.     In 
the  pedigree  of  the  West  Saxon  Kings  it  is  used  system- 
atically.     Edgar   is    Edmunding,    Edmund   is    Edwarding, 
Edward  is  Alfreding,  Alfred  is  Alfwolding,  and  so  on.     But 
ing  was  also  broadly  applied,  much  as  O'  in  Irish  and  "  the 
son  of"  in  Scripture,  to  signify  descent  from  an  ancestor 
more   remote  than   an   immediate   parent.      Moreover,  we 
cannot  assure  ourselves  that  all  names  that  end  in  ing  are 
patronymics,  for  the   same   termination  is  employed  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  as  shall  be  shown  in  another  chapter. 

42 


SIRE-NAMES 

4.  Ap,  as  already  stated,  signifies  "  the  son  of"  in  Welsh. 
It  is  a  contraction  of  Mob.     This  has  gone  through  corrup- 
tion, in  being  anglicized,  as  Prodger  for  Ap  Roger,  Bowen 
for  Ap  Owen,  Beaven  for  Ap  Ewan. 

5.  Mac  or  Me  in  Scotland  stands  for  "the  son  of,"  and 
is  the  Gaelic  form  of  the  Brythonic  Map.     It  is  applied  to 
clansmen,  although  not  necessarily  blood  relations  of  the 
chief.      Me  A  lister  is   the   son   of  Alexander,   MacCheyne  or 
MacShane  is  the  son  of  John,  Macgraih  or  Macreath  is  the 
Weaver's  son,  Macdermot  is  the  son  of  Diarmidh,  MacPherson 
is  the  Parson's  son. 

6.  0'  has  much  the  same  significance  among  the  Irish 
as  has  Mac.     But  it  is  employed  as  grandfather,  or  some 
remoter  progenitor.     It  was  said  : 

"  Per  Mac  atque  O,  tu  veros  cognoscis  Hibernos. 
His  duobus  demptis,  nullus  Hibernus  adest." 

That  may  be  rendered  : 

"  By  Mac  and  O  you  the  Irishman  may  always  know. 
Take  both  away  and  no  Irishman  remains." 

7.  Another  word  for  "  son  "  is  the  Norman- French  Fitz, 
for  fits.   When  Henry  I.  desired  to  marry  the  wealthy  heiress 
of  the  Baron  FitzHamon  to  his  illegitimate  son,  Robert  of 
Gloucester,  she  scornfully  replied  : 

"  It  were  to  me  a  mighty  shame 
To  have  a  lord  withouten  his  two  name." 

Thereupon  Henry  gave  him  the  sur  or  sire  name  of  Fitzroy. 

The  Duke  of  Berwick  was  named  Fitzjames  as  being 
the  illegitimate  son  of  James  II.  The  Duke  of  Grafton 
is  Fitzroy,  as  descended  from  a  bastard  of  Charles  II.  by 
Nell  Gwynn. 

But  Fitz  by  no  means  originally  indicated  bastardy.  We 
find  in  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey  and  in  Domesday  a  con- 
siderable number  of  Normans  who  were  known  only  as  Fitz 
this  or  that,  and  these  did  not  acquire  an  hereditary  surname 
till  a  long  time  after.  Godric  de  Clairfait,  supposed  to  have 
been  the  son  of  Ketilbern  or  Chatelber,  named  in  Domesday, 
lived  in  Yorkshire  during  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  His  son 

43 


SIRE-NAMES 

called  himself  William  FitzGodric,  and  William's  son  desig- 
nated himself  William  Fitz William.  Next  came  a  Thomas 
FitzWilliam,  and  then  a  William  FitzThomas,  and  so  on 
till  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  a  Sir  John 
called  himself  FitzWilliam,  and  settled  that  this  name 
should  be  hereditary. 

Some — I  may  say  almost  all — personal  names  have  gone 
through  sad  corruption.  I  need  here  only  instance  Batt 
for  Bartholomew,  Taffy  for  David,  Kitt  for  Christopher,  Bill 
for  William. 

These  corrupted  personal  names  have  been  taken  up  into 
the  composition  of  family  names. 

Herodotus  informs  us  that  in  Scythia  existed  a  people 
addicted  to  eating  their  parents.  When  a  father  became 
venerable  he  was  set  to  climb  a  tree,  and  made  to  hang  on 
to  a  branch.  The  children  then  shook  the  trunk,  and  if  the 
parent  clung  successfully  he  was  pronounced  to  be  not  fully 
ripe.  If,  however,  he  dropped,  his  offspring  considered  him 
to  be  in  prime  condition,  and  devoured  him  with  avidity. 
It  was  regarded  as  the  highest  compliment  that  could  be 
paid  to  him,  to  be  devoured,  for  it  showed  an  appreciation 
of  his  qualities,  mental,  moral,  and  physical,  in  which  his 
children  desired  to  participate,  and  that  could  only  be 
acquired  in  the  manner  described.  This  is  no  fable  of  the 
Father  of  History. 

On  the  same  principle  all  cannibal  races  devour  their 
enemies.  The  most  heroic  and  able-bodied  foe  is  esteemed 
the  choicest  morsel.  Lunholtz  says  of  the  Queenslanders 
of  Australia  that  they  are  cannibals.  "  The  most  delicate 
portion  is  the  fat  about  the  kidneys.  By  eating  this  they 
believe  that  they  acquire  a  portion  of  the  strength  of  the 
person  slain,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  understand,  this  was 
even  more  true  of  the  kidneys  themselves;  for,  according 
to  a  widespread  Australian  belief,  the  kidneys  are  the 
centre  of  life." 

In  South  Guinea  the  natives  devour  by  preference  the 
brain  of  some  highly  respected  member  of  their  own  tribe, 
in  order  to  acquire  his  admirable  qualities.  Indeed,  the 

44 


SIRE-NAMES 

more  gifted  in  every  way  a  man  is,  the  more  eagerly  are 
eyes  fixed  on  him,  and  mouths  water  to  enjoy  him  as  a  meal. 
The  custom  assumes  an  even  more  repulsive  form  when  the 
deceased  man's  relatives  consume  the  maggots  bred  out  of 
his  decaying  body.  To  them  these  maggots  appear  to  be 
the  life  of  the  dead  man  escaping  from  his  carcass  in  another 
form,  and  by  this  means  they  are  able  to  possess  themselves 
of  his  estimable  qualities  in  a  concentrated  extract. 

With  this  practice  is  closely  associated  the  horrible  custom 
of  pressing  out  and  swallowing  the  moisture  of  the  moulder- 
ing corpse.  This  custom  is  by  no  means  rare  among  the 
natives  of  the  East  Indian  Archipelago,  of  Western  Africa, 
and  of  North-Eastern  Brazil.  Among  the  Indians  of  North- 
West  America  exists  a  class  of  hametses,  or  medicine-men, 
held  in  high  esteem.  To  become  one  of  the  number  requires 
long  preparation — as  long  as  four  years.  Part  of  the  ceremony 
of  investiture  consists  in  biting  pieces  of  flesh  out  of  living 
members  of  the  tribe.  Jacobson  says :  "  The  hamets's 
highest  privilege  consists  in  his  right  to  feed  on  the  corpses 
of  his  dead  associates,  since  his  mere  partaking  of  these 
meals  raises  him  in  the  opinion  of  his  fellow-tribesmen  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  worth  and  holiness.  In  the  deep  recesses 
of  the  forest  the  hametses  gather  together  for  their  cannibal 
banquet,  which  no  outsider  may  approach,  and  at  which 
they  produce  a  body  from  either  one  of  the  wooden  boxes 
suspended  to  the  trees,  or  from  one  of  the  raised  wooden 
platforms  where  it  has  been  dried  by  the  action  of  the  wind 
Then  they  soften  this  mummified  corpse  in  water,  after  which 
they  bite  off  and  swallow  large  pieces  of  this  loathsome  fare. 
When  the  bodies  are  old  enough — that  is,  belong  to  persons 
who  have  been  dead  at  least  one  or  two  years — such  food 
appears  to  be  not  unwholesome.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
has  repeatedly  happened  that  hametses  have  died  of  blood- 
poisoning." 

A  less  revolting  method  of  acquiring  the  virtues  and 
abilities  of  the  deceased  is  practised  in  one  part  of  New 
Guinea.  A  redoubted  chief  who  has  fallen  is  placed  in  a 
bed  of  chalk  and  left  to  decay  therein,  and  the  chalk  imbibes 

45 


SIRE-NAMES 

the  moisture  that  distils  from  the  body.  When  thoroughly 
saturated,  the  chalk  is  used  by  the  natives  to  rub  into  their 
foreheads,  under  the  impression  that  in  this  way  the  soul  of 
the  departed  warrior  will  pass  into  their  own  brain-pans. 

An  Icelandic  saga  relates  a  story  of  one  Bodvar  at  the 
Court  of  Rolf  Krake.  He  there  saw  a  poor  timid  boy  who 
was  brutally  ill-treated  by  the  King's  bodyguard.  He  took 
compassion  on  him,  and  gave  him  to  drink  of  the  blood  of  a 
redoubted  enemy.  Thereby  the  frightened  lad  was  trans- 
formed into  a  daring  warrior. 

Gilbert's  ballad,  "  The  Yarn  of  the  Nancy  Bell,"  may  be 
recalled.  I  give  some  verses  to  relieve  a  subject  that  is 
gruesome  and  unsavoury : 

"  'Twas  on  the  shores  that  round  our  coast 

From  Deal  to  Ramsgate  span, 
That  I  found  alone  on  a  piece  of  stone 
An  elderly  naval  man." 

And  this  man  ever  murmured : 

"  *  Oh,  I  am  a  cook  and  a  captain  bold, 

And  the  mate  of  the  Nancy  brig, 
And  a  bo'sun  tight,  and  a  midshipmite, 
And  the  crew  of  the  captain's  gig.' 

" '  Oh,  elderly  man,  it's  little  I  know 
Of  the  duties  of  men  of  the  sea ; 
But  I'll  eat  my  head  if  I  understand 
However  you  can  be 

"  *  At  once  a  cook  and  a  captain  bold, 
And  the  mate  of  the  Nancy  brig, 
And  a  bo'sun  tight,  and  a  midshipmite, 
And  the  crew  of  the  captain's  gig.' " 

The  elderly  man  explains  that  the  good  ship  Nancy  Bell 
sailed  to  the  Indian  Sea,  but  ran  on  a  reef  and  was  wrecked. 
Whereupon  the  ten  survivors  escaped  in  a  boat : 

"  *  For  a  month  we'd  neither  wittles  nor  drink, 

Till  a-hungry  we  did  feel ; 
So  we  drawed  a  lot,  and  accordin'  shot 
The  captain  for  our  meal.'  " 
46 


SIRE-NAMES 

Next  to  be  eaten  were  the  mate  and  the  midshipman. 

" '  And  then  we  murdered  the  bo'sun  tight, 

And  he  much  resembled  pig  ; 
Then  we  wittled  free,  did  the  cook  and  me, 
On  the  crew  of  the  captain's  gig.'  " 

Then   all   left   were  the   elderly   man   and   the   cook,   who 
contended  amicably  as  to  which  was  to  eat  the  other. 

"  Says  he  :  '  Dear  James,  to  murder  me 

Were  a  foolish  thing  to  do ; 
For  don't  you  see  that  you  can't  cook  me, 
While  I  can,  and  will,  cook  you.'  " 

So  he  filled  a  copper  and  put  in  the  necessary  ingredients. 

" '  And  he  stirred  it  round  and  round  and  round, 

And  he  sniffed  at  the  foaming  froth  ; 
When  I  ups  with  his  heels  and  smothers  his  squeals 
In  the  scum  of  the  boiling  broth. 

" '  And  I  eat  that  cook  in  a  week  or  two, 

And,  as  I  eating  be 

The  last  of  his  chops,  why  I  almost  drops, 
For  a  wessel  in  sight  I  see. 

"  '  And  I  never  larf,  and  I  never  smile, 

And  I  never  lark  nor  play ; 
But  sit  and  croak,  and  a  single  joke 
I  have,  which  is  to  say  : 

*  Oh,  I  am  a  cook  and  a  captain  bold, 

And  the  mate  of  the  Nancy  brig, 
And  a  bo'sun  tight,  and  a  midshipmite, 

And  the  crew  of  the  captain's  gig.' " 

What  is  Gilbert's  nonsense  is  to  the  unsophisticated  man 
sheer  common  sense.  He  desires  to  sum  in  himself  the 
personal  beauty  of  A,  the  success  in  affaires  de  cceur  of  B,  the 
eloquence  in  a  pow-wow  of  C,  the  heroism  in  war  of  D,  and 
the  acquisitiveness  in  scalps  or  skulls  of  E  ;  and  accordingly 
he  eats  A,  B,  C,  D,  and  E,  fondly  supposing  that  he  has 
thereby  concentrated  all  their  abilities  and  luck  and  good 
looks  in  himself.  On  the  Congo,  if  a  native  has  his  hair  cut, 
he  eats  what  has  been  shorn,  lest  another  man,  possessing 

47 


SIRE-NAMES 

himself  of  it  and  consuming  it,  should  absorb  therewith  his 
power. 

Among  primitive  peoples  a  man's  name  is  regarded  as  of 
the  highest  importance ;  it  not  merely  belongs  to  him,  but  it 
is  to  some  extent  inseparable  from  him.  He  who  gets  hold 
of  his  name  acquires  a  powerful  but  undefined  control  over 
the  man  himself.  So  strongly  is  this  felt  that  the  name  is 
kept  concealed  from  enemies ;  it  is  never  uttered.  He  is 
spoken  of  by  a  nickname ;  he  is  alluded  to  in  an  oblique 
manner.  His  true  name  is  kept  from  all  but  his  nearest  of 
kin.  Just  as  a  savage  is  afraid  of  having  his  portrait  taken, 
lest  by  this  means  the  artist  should  obtain  control  over  him, 
so  does  he  shrink  from  allowing  any  person  to  get  hold  of 
his  real  name. 

The  medieval  witch  made  a  figure  of  wax,  called  over  it 
the  name  of  a  person  she  sought  to  injure,  and  then  stabbed 
it  with  needles,  inflicting  thereby  on  the  person  in  whose 
name  the  figure  was  moulded  the  most  excruciating  pains. 
Into  the  Cursing  Well  of  St.  Elian,  in  North  Wales,  till  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  dropped  pieces  of  lead 
inscribed  with  the  names  of  such  individuals  as  the  envious 
and  malignant  sought  to  destroy ;  and  so  strong  was  the 
conviction  that  by  so  doing  sickness  and  death  were  pro- 
duced, that  those  who  believed  that  their  names  had  been  so 
plunged  would  have  recourse  to  the  keeper  of  the  well,  and 
bribe  him  to  draw  their  names  out. 

In  the  folk-tale  of  Rumpelstiltskin  we  have  preserved  the 
universal  belief  that,  if  a  person's  name  became  known,  his 
power  was  broken. 

By  incantation  with  the  name  of  a  demon,  the  necromancer 
obtained  control  over  that  devil,  and  was  able  to  convert  him 
into  a  veritable  lackey.  By  invocation  of  a  saint  by  name, 
that  saint  is  almost  compelled  to  listen  to  and  answer  the 
prayer  put  up. 

We  have  seen  how  costume  and  the  tartan  took  the  place 
of  disfigurement  and  tattoo.  In  like  manner  the  use  of  a 
man's  name  took  the  place  of  eating  him.  By  the  application 
to  another  of  the  name  of  an  ancestor  or  of  a  hero,  that 

48 


SIRE-NAMES 

other  became  a  possessor  of  the  qualities  of  him  whose  name 
he  bore.  But  this  is  not  all.  Among  many  primitive  peoples 
exists  the  belief  in  reincarnation.  After  death  the  soul 
escapes  to  the  spirit-world,  where  for  a  while  it  leads  a 
flighty  and  vacuous  existence,  and  then  returns  to  earth  into 
a  fruit,  a  herb,  or  a  fungus. 

Should  a  man  eat  of  any  one  of  these  in  which  is  lodged 
the  spirit  of  the  departed,  the  spirit  lies  latent  in  him  till  his 
next  son  is  born,  when  it  is  reincarnate  in  the  child.  Should 
a  beast  devour  the  disguised  soul,  there  is  still  hope  for  it  if 
that  beast  be  a  wild-pig  or  a  deer ;  for  should  a  hunter  kill  it 
and  eat  the  flesh,  he  absorbs  into  his  system  the  ancient 
soul,  which  will  come  to  new  birth  in  his  next  offspring. 
But  should  the  spirit  in  its  vegetable  envelope  perish  uneaten, 
the  soul  within  it  is  extinguished  for  ever. 

The  system  is  open  to  objections,  as  savage  men  readily 
perceived.  For  either  by  this  means  all  the  brilliant  qualities 
of  an  ancestor  might  be  totally  lost  to  the  family,  or  else  pass 
into  the  possession  of  a  warrior  of  a  hostile  tribe,  who  had 
chanced  to  consume  the  imprisoned  spirit.  And  no  per- 
spicuity would  avail  a  man  to  distinguish  the  dear  lineaments 
or  admired  moral  qualities  of  a  parent  when  hidden  in  a 
banana  or  a  potato.  He  accordingly  puzzled  his  brains  to 
discover  a  remedy.  This  he  found  by  securing  the  name  of 
the  deceased  and  applying  it  to  his  son  or  grandson,  By 
laying  hold  of  either  the  name  or  the  shadow  of  a  man,  that 
man  was  secured  soul  and  body  by  the  captor,  as  certainly 
as  you  master  a  monkey  by  laying  hold  of  his  tail,  or  a  cat 
by  clinging  to  the  scruff  of  his  neck.  The  shadow  was  of  a 
nature  too  elusive  to  be  caught ;  moreover,  that  of  a  full-grown 
man  would  hardly  accommodate  itself  to  a  new-born  infant. 
But  with  the  name  it  was  otherwise,  and  by  imposing  that 
of  a  heroic  ancestor  on  a  child  the  child  became  his  reincar- 
nation, and  acquired  all  his  qualities  as  surely  as  if  that 
ancestor  had  been  distilled  into  its  feeding-bottle. 

The  name  of  the  father  was  not  given  to  a  son  unless  it 
were  posthumous ;  that  was  an  invariable  rule,  for  naturally 
enough  no  parent  chose,  whilst  alive,  to  transmit  his  identity 

49  D 


SIRE-NAMES 

to  his  child,  and  himself  thereby  fall  back  into  nonentity. 
The  rule  was  strictly  observed  among  the  Scandinavians, 
even  after  they  had  emerged  from  a  condition  of  belief  in  the 
transmigration  of  souls. 

However  absurd  these  convictions  and  practices  may  seem 
to  us,  they  were  matters  of  serious  belief  and  conduct  among 
primitive  peoples,  and  even  after  our  forefathers  became 
Christians  traces  of  them  remain. 

It  will  be  remembered  with  what  astonishment  the  relatives 
of  Zachariah  and  Elizabeth  heard  that  the  name  of  the  child 
was  to  be  John.  "  They  said  unto  her  [Elizabeth],  There  is 
none  of  thy  kindred  that  is  called  by  this  name/' 

One  spring  night  in  1024  a  boy  was  born  to  Olaf 
Haraldsson,  King  of  Norway.  It  was  so  frail  in  appearance, 
and  seemed  so  likely  to  die,  that  the  priest,  Sighvat,  hastened 
to  baptize  it — without  holding  communication  with  the 
King,  who  had  left  strict  injunctions  not  to  be  disturbed  in 
his  sleep.  Beating  about  for  a  name,  the  thought  of  Charle- 
magne occurred  to  him,  and  he  christened  the  child  Magnus. 
This  name  had  not  been  previously  employed  in  Scandinavia. 
Next  day  Olaf  heard  of  the  event,  and  was  furious.  He 
asked  Sighvat  how  he  had  dared  to  christen  the  boy  without 
consulting  him,  and  to  give  him  such  an  outlandish  name. 
The  priest  told  him  his  reason,  that  he  had  called  the  infant 
after  the  greatest  of  all  Emperors.  Then  Olaf  was  pleased, 
for  he  thought  that  the  luck  in  war,  and  genius,  and  spirit,  of 
the  great  Charlemagne  would  follow  the  name  and  adhere 
to  his  son. 

This  feeling,  in  a  modified  form,  exists  among  us  still. 
When  John  Jobson  calls  his  son  Percy,  he  trusts  that  some 
of  the  radiance  of  the  great  Northumbrian  house  will  surround 
the  boy,  and  that  any  flashes  of  petulance  he  may  exhibit 
will  be  attributed  to  a  spiritual  filiation  from  Hotspur. 

We  like  to  name  a  child  after  some  honoured  member  of 
the  family  long  ago  passed  to  the  majority,  with  a  hope  that 
he  may  resemble  him.  And  I  have  heard  it  often  remarked, 
as  something  more  than  a  coincidence,  that  a  resemblance  in 
features  or  in  character  does  go  along  with  the  name.  In 

50 


SIRE-NAMES 

my  own  family  I  called  one  of  my  daughters  Diana  Amelia, 
after  my  grandmother,  and  she,  and  she  alone  among  my 
fourteen  children,  resembled  her,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  in 
face.  I  named  a  son  William  Drake,  after  my  grandfather's 
grandfather,  whose  portrait  hangs  in  our  dining-room.  And  it 
has  been  repeatedly  noticed  how  curiously  my  son  resembles 
his  namesake  of  the  eighteenth  century.  I  was  visiting  a 
friend,  and  saw  in  his  hall  a  portrait,  as  I  supposed,  of  his 
wife.  I  remarked  to  him  what  an  excellent  likeness  it  was. 
He  replied  laughingly :  "  That  is  the  picture  of  her  great- 
great-grandmother,  and,  curiously  enough,  she  bears  the  same 
Christian  name.  Moreover,  none  of  her  sisters  in  the 
slightest  degree  resemble  the  old  lady." 

One  of  my  daughters,  named  Margaret,  was  so  called 
after  the  daughter  of  the  before-mentioned  William  Drake 
Gould.  One  night,  at  a  ball  in  North  Devon,  my  daughter 
was  dancing  with  a  gentleman  whom  she  had  not  previously 
met,  when  he  said  abruptly :  "  How  like  you  are  to  your 
great-great-grandmother !" 

"Why,"  said  my  daughter,  "did  you  ever  meet  her?  I 
think  you  can  be  hardly  old  enough  for  that." 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  but  I  have  her  portrait  in  my  house, 
and  you  really  look  to  me  as  though  you  were  she  who  had 
stepped  out  of  the  frame  to  dance  with  me  this  evening." 

Of  course  these  are  coincidences,  and  coincidences  only ; 
but  such  coincidences  may  have  occurred  in  other  families, 
and  have  helped  to  confirm  the  supposition  that  the  giving 
a  name  to  a  child  conveys  to  that  child  a  something — a  like- 
ness in  face  or  in  character  to  the  individual  after  whom  it 
is  called. 

Among  Roman  Catholics  the  name  of  a  saint  is  conferred 
on  an  infant,  and  it  is  devoutly  held  that  thenceforth  the 
saint  takes  particular  care  of  his  or  her  namesake,  is  its 
patron,  protector,  and  advocate.  When  a  Pope,  on  his 
elevation  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  adopts  a  name,  it  is  that 
of  a  predecessor  whose  policy  he  purposes  following,  and 
whose  spirit  he  trusts  will  rest  upon  him.  It  was  so  with 
the  present  Pope,  Pius  X.,  who  desired  with  the  name  to 

51  D  2 


SIRE-NAMES 

tread  in  the  footsteps  of  that  most  obscurantist  and  retro- 
gressive of  all  Popes,  Pius  IX. 

The  princely  family  of  Reuss  has  long  laid  great  stress  on 
the  name  Henry.  The  first  so  called  died  in  the  year  1162. 
Henry  II.  had  three  sons,  every  one  named  Henry.  With- 
out a  break  the  line  of  Henrys  has  continued  to  the  present 
day.  Henry  XVI.  had  three  sons ;  each  was  a  Henry.  Of 
one  branch  of  the  family,  Henry  LV.  died  without  issue  in 
1636.  Henry  XLII.  of  another  line  had  three  sons ;  each 
was  a  Henry.  Of  the  junior  Reuss  line,  Henry  LXXIII.  died 
in  1855  ;  of  the  elder  line,  Henry  LXIX.  was  born  in  1792  ;  of 
another  branch  Henry  LXXIV.  was  born  in  1856.  In  fact, 
in  this  family,  in  all  its  branches,  every  son  is  baptized 
Henry.  Since  1162  there  have  been  in  the  Reuss  family 
over  168  Henrys,  and  not  a  single  son  bearing  another 
Christian  name.  Surely  it  must  be  held  that  fortune  and 
continuance  in  the  Reuss  family  depend  on  its  male  repre- 
sentatives being  every  one  a  Henry. 

The  idea  that  lay  at  the  root  of  taking  the  name  of  a 
grandfather  or  of  a  more  remote  ancestor  was  long  for- 
gotten when  patronymics  became  hereditary,  but  a  custom 
survives  the  reason  why  adopted.  The  first  step  after  the 
eating  of  a  grandparent  had  become  an  antiquated  custom 
was  the  assumption  of  the  grandfather's  name.  This  was 
when  personal  names  were  single.  If  not  that  of  a  grand- 
father, then  that  of  an  heroic  ancestor,  who  became  thereby 
reincarnate  in  the  child,  or,  if  not  actually  reincarnate,  con- 
tributed with  his  name  some  of  his  qualities  to  the  child. 

That  some  names  are  fortunate,  others  ill-omened — 
"  fausta  nomina,"  as  Tacitus  calls  the  former — has  always 
been  held.  After  the  murder  of  Prince  Arthur  by  King  John, 
for  long  no  Arthurs  occur  among  English  Christian  names. 

"  *  Now,  my  dear  brother,'  said  Mr.  Shandy,  '  had  my 
child  arrived  safe  into  the  world,  unmartyred  in  that  precious 
part  of  him — fanciful  and  extravagant  as  I  may  appear  to 
the  world  in  my  opinion  of  Christian  names  and  of  that 
magic  bias  which  good  or  bad  names  irresistibly  impress 
upon  our  characters  and  conducts — Heaven  is  witness  that 

52 


SIRE-NAMES 

in  the  warmest  transports  of  my  wishes  for  the  prosperity 
of  my  child  I  never  once  wished  to  crown  his  head  with 
more  glory  and  honour  than  what  George  or  Edward 
would  have  spread  around  it.  But,  alas  !  as  the  greatest 
evil  has  befallen  him — I  must  counteract  and  undo  it  with 
the  greatest  good.  He  shall  be  christened  Trismegistus, 
brother.'  '  I  wish  it  may  answer,'  replied  my  uncle  Toby, 
rising  up."1 

The  practice  of  reproducing  a  favourite  name  in  a  family 
lasted  for  many  generations  after  the  idea  of  reincarnation 
had  been  abandoned.  The  father's  or  the  grandfather's 
name  was  given  to  the  child  out  of  affection  to  the  former 
possessor,  and  perhaps  for  no  other  reason ;  but  it  continued 
to  be  given.  In  my  own  family  there  has  been  an  almost 
unbroken  chain  of  Edwards  from  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

It  is  quite  possible  that,  when  the  patronymic  of  Thomson, 
for  instance,  was  adopted  as  hereditary,  it  was  not  that  those 
who  assumed  it  were  the  actual  sons  of  Thomas,  but  that 
they  regarded  Thomas  as  the  prevailing  and  dominant  name 
in  their  family.  They  may  have  been  sons  of  a  John,  son  of 
Thomas,  but  had  acquired  a  poor  opinion  of  the  abilities 
and  character  of  their  parent.  He  may  have  outlived  his 
vigour,  and  the  infirmities  of  temper  or  body  may  have 
become  vexatious  to  his  offspring,  and  as  their  estimation 
of  their  father  went  down,  that  of  Thomas,  their  grandfather, 
went  up ;  and  when  it  came  to  the  adoption  of  a  patronymic 
as  a  fixture,  they  elected  to  be  known,  and  their  posterity  to 
be  known,  as  Thomsons  instead  of  Johnsons. 

I  will  now  subjoin  a  list,  not  by  any  means  exhaustive,  of 
the  Christian  names  of  men  that  have  been  adopted  in  the 
formation  of  patronymics,  many  of  them  in  a  so  contracted 
and  corrupted  form  as  at  first  glance  to  be  unrecognizable : 

ADAM  ;  whence  come  Adams,  A  damson,  A  dye,  Adcock,  Ad- 
dyman  (servant  of  Adam),  Addison,  Adkins,  Atkinson. 

AGILWARD  ;  whence  come  Aylward,  Allardson,  Alardice, 
A  Iward. 

1  "Tristram  Shandy,"  1760,  iv.,  p.  8. 
53 


SIRE-NAMES 

AILBRED  ;  whence  come  Aubrey,  Aubrison,  Brison  (if  not 
from  Brice). 

ALAN  ;  whence  come  Alanson,  Hallet  (or  from  Hal — Henry), 
Alkin  (when  not  from  Elias),  Allen. 

ALDRED  ;  whence  comes  A  Iderson. 

ALEXANDER;  whence  come  Saunderson,  Saunders,  Alkey, 
Sandercock,  Me  A  lister,  Palister  (ap  Alister). 

ANDREW;  whence  come  Anderson,  Anson,  Andrews,  Hen- 
derson, Henson,  Anderton. 

ANTHONY  ;  whence  come  Tonsonf  Tennison  (or  from  Dennis), 
Townson,  Tonkins,  Toney,  Tonks. 

ANSELM;  whence  come  Ansell  (or  from  Ancelot,  contrac- 
tion of  Lancelot). 

ARCHIBALD;  whence  come  Archison,  Aicheson,  Balderson, 
Archbutt. 

ARTHUR  ;  whence  come  Atty,  McArthur,  Earth  (ap  Arthur), 
but  not  always. 

BALDWIN  ;  whence  come  Balderson  (or  from  Archibald), 
Bawson,  Body,  Budd,  Baldock,  Bodkin,  Bawcock,  Bawkin, 
B  aw  den. 

BARNABAS  ;  whence  come  Burnaby,  Barnby,  A  bby ;  but 
Barnby  is  also  a  place-name. 

BARTHOLOMEW  ;  whence  come  Bartlett,  Letts,  Letson, 
Baits,  Bates,  Battey,  Batson,  Bettison,  Badcock,  Bartle,  Tolley, 
Tolson,  Bartley. 

BENEDICT;  whence  come  Bennett,  Benson,  Bennie,  Benn, 
Bennetson,  Benison. 

BENJAMIN  ;  whence  come,  perhaps,  some  of  the  above ; 
but  Benjamin  was  never  as  favourite  a  name  as  Benedict. 

BERNARD  ;  whence  come  Bernardson,  Burnard,  Barnes, 
possibly. 

BRICE;  whence  come  Bryson,  Bryce,  but  generally  for 
Ap  Rice. 

C^SAR  ;  whence  come  Keysar,  Cayzer. 

CHARLES  ;  whence  come  Charley,  Caroll,  O'Caroll  (or  from 
Cearbhoil),  Kelson  (but  Kelson  may  come  from  Nicholson). 

CHRISTOPHER  ;  whence  come  Christopher  son,  Christison, 
Christie,  Kitts,  Kitson,  Keates,  Kitto. 

54 


SIRE-NAMES 

CLEMENT  ;  whence  come  Clements,  Clemo,  Clemson,  Climp- 
son,  Clymo. 

CONSTANTINE;  whence  come  Custance,  Cust,  Custerson, 
Custison,  Cossentine. 

CRISPIN  ;  whence  come  Cripps,  Crisp,  Crespin. 

CUTHBERT;  whence  come  Cuthbertson,  Cutbeard,  Cutts, 
Hubbard,  Cobbet,  Cobett,  Crewdson  (with  an  intrusive  r). 

DAVID;  whence  come  Davidson,  Dayson,  Davis,  Davies, 
Davey,  Dawe,  Dawkins,  Dawes,  Davidge,  Duffy,  Dakins, 
Davitt,  Dawson,  Dawkes,  Dowson. 

DANIEL  ;  whence  come  Dancet,  Dance,  Danson,  Tancock. 

DENNIS  ;  whence  come  Dennison,  Tennyson  (or  from 
Anthony's  son),  Denson,  Dyson,  Denny,  Dyatt,  Dyett. 

DIGORY  ;  whence  come  Digges,  Diggins,  Dickens  (when  not 
from  Dick),  Digginson,  Dickenson,  Dickory,  Diggman. 

DODA  (old  Saxon) ;  whence  come  Dodds,  Dodson,  Dodd. 

DONALD  ;  whence  come  Donaldson,  Donkin. 

EDWARD;  whence  come  Edwardes,  Edkins,  Edes,  Beddoe 
(ap  Edward),  Eddison. 

EDMUND  ;  whence  come  Edmunds,  Edmundson,  Emson, 
Empson. 

EDWIN  ;  whence  come  Winson,  Winston. 

ELIAS  ;  whence  come  Ellis,  Ellison,  Elliot,  Elliotson,  Ellet, 
Elkins,  Ellicock,  Elliott,  Eales,  Eeles. 

EUSTACE  ;  whence  come  Stace,  Stacey. 

FRANCIS  ;  whence  come  Franks,  Franson. 

FULK;  whence  come  Fookes,  Fawkes,  Vaux  (when  not 
from  De  Vaux),  Faucett,  Fawson,  Yokes,  Foulkes,  sometimes 
Fox. 

GABRIEL  ;  whence  come  Gabb,  Gabell,  Gabelson,  Gable. 

GEOFREY;  whence  come  Jeffson,  Jefferson,  Jeffs,  Jeffries, 
Jepson,  Jefcock,  Goff,  Guthrie. 

GEORGE;  whence  come  Georges,  Jorris,  perhaps  Jury, 
Jorrock. 

GERARD  ;  whence  come  Garrod,  Garrett,  Garrick,  Jarred, 
Jerold,  Jarratt. 

GILBERT  ;  whence  come  Gilbertson,  Gibson,  Gibbs,  Gibbings, 
Gibbon,  Gilbard,  Gilpin  (from  Gibb-kin). 

55 


SIRE-NAMES 

GILES  ;  whence  come  Gilson,  Gillot,  Gillett,  Gilcock,  Jelly, 
Jellicock. 

GODBERT;  whence  come  Gotobed,  Gobbett,  perhaps,  or 
from  Godbald. 

GODARD  (GOTHARD)  ;  whence  comes  Goddard. 

GODBER  ;  whence  comes  Goodyear. 

GODESCHALK  ;  whence  come  Goodchild,  Godshall. 

GODFREY  ;  whence  come  Godkin,  Goad,  Freyson. 

GODRICK  ;  whence  come  Goodrich,  Godrich,  Goodridge. 

GODWIN1;  whence  come  Goodwin,  Godden,  Godding, 
Godon. 

GREGORY;  whence  come  Gregson,  Greyson,  Gregg,  Griggs, 
Gresson. 

GUTHLAC  ;  whence  come  Goodlake,  Goodluck. 

HALBERT  ;  whence  come  Robbie  (see  "  The  Black  Dwarf"), 
Hobbs,  Hobson. 

HAMON  or  AYMON  ;  whence  come  Hamond,  Hampson, 
Hammett,  Hammick,  also  as  diminutive  Hamlyn,  Hamley. 

HENRY  ;  whence  come  Harrison,  Harris,  Hawson,  Hawkins, 
Halse,  Hawes,  Hallet,  Halket,  Racket,  Allcock,  Parry,  Harri- 
man  (servant  of  Harry),  Hall. 

HILARY  ;  whence  come  Larkins,  Hilson. 

HUBERT  ;  whence  comes  Hubbard. 

HUGH  ;  whence  come  Hughes,  Hewson,  Pugh,  Hutchins, 
Huggins,  Hodgkins,  Hoskinson,  Higgins,  Hickes,  Hickson, 
Higginson,  Hewett,  Howett,  Hudson,  Higman. 

ISAAC  ;  whence  come  Isaacson,  and  possibly  Hicks,  Higgs, 
Higgins.  However,  Langland  writes  of  "  Hikke,  the  hackney- 
man,  and  Hugh,  the  nedlere." 

Ivo  and  IVAR  ;  whence  come  Ivison,  Ivers,  Maclver. 

JAMES  ;  whence  come  Jameson,  Jimson,  Jeames,  Jacox, 
Jacks,  Jaq^les,  Jackson,  Jacobs,  Jacobson,  Jimpson,  Cobb. 

JOB  ;  whence  come  Jobson,  Jope,  Jopling  (unless  from 
Jublains),  Jupp. 

1  Many  of  our  surnames  beginning  with  "  Good  "  come  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  name  beginning  with  "  God."  Goodchild\^,  Godeschild  (the  shield  of 
God),  or  else  a  Godchild  ;  Goodbody  is  God's  bothie  or  habitation  ;  Gatt- 
acre  is  really  God's  acre  ;  Goodfellow  is  God's  fellow  or  friend. 

56 


SIRE-NAMES 

JOEL  ;  whence  come  Joule,  Jowle,  Yole  (a  Norman  form 
was  Judual),  Jewel. 

JOHN  ;  whence  come  Johnson,  Jonson,  Jenkins,  Evans, 
Heavens,  Jennings,  Hanson,  Hancock,  Bevan,  Hawkinson, 
lans,  Jevons,  Joynes. 

JORDAN  ;  whence  come  Judd,  Judson,  Juxon  (or  else  from 
Jude),  Judkin,  Jukes. 

JOSEPH  ;  whence  come  Josephs,  Joskin,  Jose,  Jephson,  Jessop 
(Giuseppe). 

JUDE;  whence  come  Judd,  Judson.  See  above  under 
"Jordan." 

JULIAN  ;  whence  come  Jolland,  Jillson,  Gotland,  Jule, 
Gilson. 

KENNETH  ;  whence  come  Kennedy  and  McKenzie. 

LAMBERT  ;  whence  come  Lampson,  Lambkin,  Lambett 
(whence  Labett),  Lampert. 

LAURENCE;  whence  come  Larkin,  Lawes,  Law,  Laurie, 
Ranely,  Lawson. 

LUKE  ;  whence  come  Lukis,  Lukin,  Luxon,  Lukitt,  Locock. 

LEVI  ;  whence  come  Levison,  Lawson,  Lewson,  Leeson, 
Lewis,  as  if  for  Louis. 

MAGNUS  ;  whence  comes  Manson. 

MARK;  whence  come  Marks,  Marson,  Markin,  Marcock, 
Marcheson,  Marcet. 

MATTHEW  ;  whence  come  Matheson,  Mathews,  Matson, 
Maddison,  Mahew  (French  Maheu),  May,  for  Maheu,  Matkin, 
Makin. 

MAURICE  ;  whence  come  Morris,  Morrison,  Mawson,  Moxon, 
Morson,  Morse. 

MICHAEL  ;  whence  come  Mitchell,  Mitcheson,  Kilson. 

MILO  ;  whence  come  Miles,  Mil-son,  Millet,  Milsom  ("  som  " 
for  "  son  "). 

NICHOLAS  ;  whence  come  Nichols,  Nicholson,  Nixon,  Coles, 
Collis,  Collison,  Collins,  Colson,  Collin,  Collett,  Close,  Clowes, 
Glascock. 

NIGEL;  whence  come  Neale,  Neilson,  Nelson,  O'Neil, 
McNeal,  Nihill. 

OLIVER  ;  whence  come  Nollikins,  Knollys,  Knowles. 

57 


SIRE-NAMES 

OSBALD,  OSBERT,  OsBORN,  OSMUND,  all  have  their  modern 
representatives  in  surnames. 

OWEN  ;  whence  comes  Bowen. 

PATRICK  ;  whence  come  Patrickson,  Padson,  Pattison, 
Gilpatrick,  Kilpatrick,  Patterson,  Patton,  Patey,  Petherick, 
Pethick.  But  these  two  last  from  PETROC. 

PAUL;  whence  come  Paull,  Paulson,  Powlson,  Pawson, 
Porson,  Paulett,  Powlett,  Palk  (for  Paulkin). 

PETER  ;  whence  come  Peterson,  Peters,  Pier  son,  Pierce, 
Perks,  Perkins,  Purkis,  Parkinson,  Parr,  Parsons,  Perrin,  Perrot, 
Pether,  Peer.1 

PHILIP  ;  whence  come  Phillips,  Philipson,  Phipson,  Phipps, 
Lipson,  Lipton,  Filson,  Philpott,  Phillpots,  Philkin,  Phippen. 

RALPH  ;  whence  come  Rawlins,  Rawlinson,  Rowe,  Rapson, 
Rawson,  Raffson,  Rawes,  Rolfe,  Rawkins,  Rawle,  Rolle,  Roley. 

RANDOLF  ;  whence  come  Randals,  Ranson,  Rankin,  Randall. 

REGINALD  ;  whence  come  Reynolds,  Reynell,  Rennell,  Rennie, 
Renson. 

REGINHARD  (REYNARD)  ;  whence  come  Reynard,  Reynard- 
son,  Reyner,  Reynerson. 

RICHARD  ;  whence  come  Richards,  Richardson,  Dicks,  Dixie, 
Dickson,  Dixon,  Dickens  (when  not  from  Digory),  Dickenson, 
Hitchens,  Hitchcock,  Pritchard  (ap  Richard) ,  Richards,  Ricketts, 
Rickson. 

ROBERT  :  whence  come  Robbins,  Robertson,  Robson,  Dobbs, 
Dobson,  Dobie,  Hobbs,  Hobson,  Hopkins,  Roberts,  Robartes, 
Hopkinson,  Probert  (ap  Robert),  Probyn  (ap  Robin),  Hobbins, 
Hobbes. 

ROGER;  whence  come  Rogers,  Rogerson,  Hodge,  Hodges, 
Hodgson,  Hodgkins,  Hosking,  Hoskinson,  Hodgman,  Dodge, 
Prodger,  Dodson,  Dudgeon. 

ROLAND  and  ROLLO  ;  whence  come  Rowlandson,  Rollson, 
Rowlett,  Rolle,  Rawlins,  Rawlinson. 

RUDOLF  ;  whence  come  Rudall,  Ruddle,  Rolf. 

SAMSON  ;  whence  come  Sampson,  Sansom,  Samms. 

SAMUEL  ;  whence  come  Samuelson,  Samwell,  Smollett. 
1  In  the  Guardian,  No.  82,  p.  1713,  is  a  memoir  of  William  Peer,  the 
actor,  who  died  of  a  broken  heart  because  he  was  growing  fat. 

58, 


SIRE-NAMES 

SEBRIGHT  (for  Sigbert) ;  whence  comes  Seabright. 

SERLO  ;  whence  come  Searle,  Serell,  Sarell,  Serlson. 

SIBALD  ;  whence  come  Sibbald,  Sibbaldson,  Sibbson. 

SIMON  ;  whence  come  Simonds,  Symonds,  Simmens,  Sims, 
Symes,  Simson,  Simpkin,  Simkinson,  Simcoe,  Simcox. 

SIWARD  and  SIGGEIR  ;  whence  come  Seaward,  Seward, 
Sayer,  Seager,  Seeker,  Sears,  Sugar,  Siggers,  Syer. 

SOLOMON  ;  whence  come  Salman,  Salmon,  Sammonds. 

STEPHEN  ;  whence  come  Stephens,  Stevens,  Stephenson, 
Stevenson,  Stimson,  Stibbs,  Stebbing,  Stepkin,  Stiff. 

SWEYN  ;  whence  come  Swaine,  Swanson,  Swinson,  Swaynson. 

THEOBALD  ;  whence  come  Tibbald,  Tibbs,  Tippet,  Tipkin, 
Tebbets. 

THEODORIC  ;  whence  come  Theed,  Terry. 

THOMAS  ;  whence  come  Thorns,  Toms,  Thompson,  Tompson, 
Tomson,  Tomlyn,  Tomlinson,  Tomkin,  Tomkinson,  Thompsett, 
Tombling,  Tapson,  Tapling. 

THOROLD  ;  whence  come  Thoroldson,  Tyrell,  Terrell. 

THURGOD  ;  whence  come  Thoroughgood,  Toogood,  Tuggett. 

THURKELL  ;  whence  come  Thurrel,  Thurkill ;  in  some 
cases  Killson. 

TIMOTHY  ;  whence  come  Timms,  Timbs,  Timson,  Timmins, 
Timcock. 

TOBIT  ;  whence  come  Tubbes,  Betson,  Beatson,  Tobyn,  Tobey 
(changed  to  Sobey). 

WALERAN  ;  whence  comes  Walrond. 

WALTER;  whence  come  Walters,  Watts,  Watson,  Watkins, 
Vautier,  Goodyear  (from  French  Gautier),  Waterson,  Wat- 
kinson. 

WARIN  (for  Guarin) ;  whence  come  Warren,  Waring,  Wari- 
son,  War  son. 

WILLIAM  ;  whence  come  Williams,  Williamson,  Wilson, 
Wills,  Wilkins,  Wylie,  Willett,  Gillott,  Wellings,  Bill,  Bilson. 

WUNEBALD  ;  whence  comes  Wimbold. 

To  this  list  of  patronymics  must  be  added  one  of  metro- 
nymics.  These  naturally  lead  us  to  suspect  that  such  as  bore 
their  mothers'  names,  and  not  those  of  their  fathers,  were 

59 


SIRE-NAMES 

baseborn  ;  and  although,  no  doubt,  this  is  so  in  a  good  number 
of  cases,  yet  it  is  not  invariably  so.  Sweyn,  King  of  Denmark, 
was  called  Estrithson,  after  his  mother,  who  was  the  sister 
of  Canute  the  Great,  though  married  to  Earl  Ulf,  because  it 
was  through  her  that  he  obtained  his  right  to  the  throne. 
In  a  good  many  instances  the  metronymic  name  was  taken 
in  like  manner,  because  the  mother  was  of  higher  birth  than 
the  father,  and  through  her  the  son  inherited  some  land. 
Henry  II.  was  entitled  FitzEmpress  because  through  her  he 
had  his  claim  to  the  throne  of  England.  The  mother,  again, 
may  have  been  a  widow,  and  the  son  born  after  the  death  of 
his  father.  It  seems  hardly  credible  that  a  man  should  accept 
and  transmit  to  his  descendants  a  name  proclaiming  his 
bastardy,  unless  it  were  unavoidable.  It  is  true  that  among 
the  Normans  no  idea  of  disgrace  attached  to  bastardy,  but 
surnames  were  not  assumed  by  the  generality  of  the  people 
till  long  after  the  Conquest,  when  opinion  on  this  matter  had 
become  more  healthy. 

Again,  it  is  often  a  mistake  to  assume  that  the  name 
proclaims  illegitimacy  because  it  derives,  apparently,  from  a 
female,  for  many  personal  names  had  a  male  as  well  as 
a  female  form,  as  Julian.  Only  in  the  eighteenth  century 
did  the  name  become  Juliana  in  the  feminine.  Gilson  may 
well  be  the  son  of  a  male  Julian.  There  was  a  Jocosus  as 
well  as  a  Jocosa,  a  Joyeux  as  well  as  a  Joyeuse,  to  furnish 
the  family  name  of  Joyce.  Letson  and  Letts  are  not  necessarily 
descended  from  Laeticia  or  Lettice,  as  shall  be  shown  pre- 
sently. Nor  are  Nelsons  the  illegitimate  sons  of  a  Nelly,  but 
the  legitimate  offspring  of  Nigel. 

Mr.  Bardsley  gives  a  long  list  of  metronymics,  which,  if 
accepted,  point  to  a  state  of  demoralization  in  England,  at 
the  time  when  surnames  were  assumed,  that  is  truly  appalling  ; 
not  only  so,  but  to  the  indifference  English  people  showed  to 
being  proclaimed  bastards,  and  to  handing  on  such  a  name 
to  the  end  of  time,  to  children  yet  unborn.  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, believe  that  there  was  such  a  condition  of  affairs  as 
would  be  implied  were  we  to  accept  Mr.  Bardsley's  list.  I 
will  give  some  of  what  he  calls  metronymics,  and  shall,  I 

60 


SIRE-NAMES    . 

trust,  be  able  to  show   that  in  a  good  many  cases  he  has 
misinterpreted  them  : 

Allison,  son  of  Alice.     I  would  say,  of  Alexander. 

Amelot,  Amye,  Aimes,  son  of  Amy.     Why  not  of  Amias  ? 

Anson,  son  of  Anne.  I  suppose  same  as  Hanson,  son 
of  John,  or  may  be  of  Anthony.  But  Annott  may  indicate 
bastardy. 

Aplin,  son  of  Apolonia.    It  is  the  same  as  Ablin,  from  Abel. 

Ansty,  Anstice,  from  Anastasia.  Anastasius  was  a  man's 
name. 

Aveling,  son  of  Evelina.  But  it  may  stand  for  Abeling, 
diminutive  of  Abel. 

A  vis,  A  vison,  son  of  Avicia. 

Awdrey  and  Audrey,  son  of  Ethelreda.  But  why  may  not 
the  name  of  St.  Ethelreda  have  been  assumed  by  some 
resident  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  out  of  devotion  to  the  saint  ? 

Babb  and  Barbe,  for  Barbara.  Possibly  enough,  rather 
from  St.  Barbe,  a  Norman  place-name. 

Beaton,  Bettison,  Belts,  Betson,  Beatie,  etc.,  the  illegitimate 
issue  of  a  Beatrice.  Beaton  is  from  Bethune ;  so  Beatie  and 
Beits  and  Betson  are  mere  softenings  of  Batt  and  Batson,  for 
Bartholomew. 

Bell,  Bellot,  Bellison,  Izod,  Ibbott,  Ebbott,  Bibby,  Ibsen, 
Empson,  Epps,  Isbel,  Libby,  Nibbs,  Knibb,  are  all  supposed  to 
represent  the  offspring  of  Isabella  or  Isolt,  its  diminutive. 
Bell  and  Bellot  may  more  probably  come  from  the  shop  or 
tavern  sign. 

Cass,  the  son  of  Cassandra.     It  is  another  form  of  Case. 

Catlin,  from  Catherine,  a  North  Country  form. 

Cecil,  the  illegitimate  son  of  Cicely.  Probably  a  place- 
name — Chessel,  in  Essex. 

Claridge,  son  of  Clarice. 

Custance,  Cosens,  Custeson,  sons  of  Constance.  It  is  true 
that  Chaucer  uses  Custance  and  Constance  as  forms  of  the 
same  name,  but  Custance  actually  stands  for  Coutance. 

Deuce,  son  of  Dionisia.  The  name,  which  is  common  in 
Yorkshire,  is  also  spelled  Dewis,  and  means  son  of  Dewi  or 
David. 

61 


SIRE-NAMES 

Dowse  and  Dowson,  from  Dulcitia.  Probably  same  as 
Dewis  and  Daw  son. 

Dye,  Dyson,  Dyot,  Dight,  all  from  Dionisia,  just  as  rightly 
derive  from  Dennis  or  Dionis. 

Eames,  Emmott,  Imeson,  Empson,  from  a  mother  Emma. 
Eames  is  a  maternal  uncle;  Empson,  a  cousin  through  the 
mother's  uncle. 

Ede,  Eden,  Eade,  Eddison,  Etty,  from  a  feminine  name 
Eade.  But  why  not  from  Edward,  contracted  to  Eddy  ? 
There  is  also  a  place-name  Ide,  pronounced  Ede,  near 
Exeter. 

Elwes,  the  son  of  Heloise.     Quite  as  likely,  son  of  Aldwy. 

Eves,  Eave,  Eveson,  Evett,  sons  of  Eve.  Why  not  of 
Ivo? 

Florance,  Florry,  and  Flurry,  sons  of  Florence.  Florence 
was  a  man's  as  well  as  a  woman's  Christian  name,  as  for 
instance  in  the  famous  Geste  of  Florence  and  Blanchefleur. 
Moreover,  these  names  most  probably  were  given  to  Floren- 
tine merchants,  settlers  in  England. 

Gallon,  derived  from  Julian,  a  man's  as  well  as  a  woman's 
name.  So  also  Gilott,  Gillow,  Gillson,  cannot  be  accepted  as 
the  brood  of  a  Juliana. 

Gossett,  Jose,  Goss,  are  assumed  to  derive  from  Joyce.  Jose 
may  be  from  Joseph.  Goss  means  a  goose,  and  Gossett  a  little 
goose. 

Grundy,  from  Gundreda.  But  Gundred  may  have  been  a 
male  form. 

Helling,  from  Ellen.     Very  doubtful. 

Idson,  Ide,  sons  of  Ida.  As  already  said,  Ide  is  a  place- 
name,  and  Idson  is  a  corruption  of  Judson. 

Izzard  Mr.  Bardsley  derives  from  Ysolt.  As  a  fact,  it 
comes  from  Les  Essards,  in  Normandy. 

Jillot,  Gellot,  Gilson,  Jowett,  Joll,  are  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  Juliet  and  Juliana ;  but,  as  above  said,  Julian  is  not 
exclusively  a  female  name,  and  Joll  was  a  name  in  Cornwall 
before  the  Conquest,  and  before  the  introduction  into 
England  of  Juliana  and  Juliet. 

Letts,  Letson,  come  from  Letitia.  But  Letson  is  a  corrup- 

62 


SIRE-NAMES 

tion  of  Ledsham,  near  Pontefract ;  and  Letts,  as  already  said, 
is  from  Bartlett. 

Mabb,  Mabley,  Maberley,  Mabbot,  Mapleson,  are  the  sons 
of  Mabel.  Maberley  is  the  same  as  Moberley,  a  parish  in 
Cheshire. 

Maddison  is  not  the  son  of  Maude,  but  of  Matthew,  and  is 
the  same  as  Mattheson. 

Maggs,  Margeson,  Margetson,  Poggson,  are  the  sons  of 
Margaret. 

Mallinson,  Mallison,  Marriott,  Maryatt,  Mayson,  Moxon, 
Moggs,  all  signify  the  sons  of  Mary.  As  to  Marriott  and 
Mayyatt,  it  is  possible  enough  that  they  are  place-names — 
Merriott  in  Somersetshire.  May,  moreover,  comes  from 
Maheu,  the  French  for  Matthew. 

Maude  and  Mawson,  from  Matilda.  More  likely  from  the 
English  name  Maldred  or  from  Morris.  Maude  is  also  Le 
Maudit  (see  Battle  Abbey  Roll). 

Parnell  and  Pernell  come  from  Petronella,  and  the  word  was 
used  to  describe  a  light-charactered  wench. 

Sisson,  from  Cicely.     Very  doubtful. 

Tagg,  Taggett,  from  Agnes.  Tegg,  however,  is  from  Teague, 
and  Tagg,  is  its  diminutive. 

Tillett  and  Tillotson,  from  Matilda. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  although  apparently  a  good  number 
of  names  appear  to  be  metronymics,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  they  may  be  so  in  appearance  only.  Son  is  an  easy 
alteration  from  ston  as  the  end  of  a  name.  I  possess  a  manor 
that  was  called  in  Domesday  Waddleston  ;  it  is  now  called 
and  spelled  Warson.  I  should  be  most  reluctant  to  suppose, 
unless  constrained  by  evidence  so  to  do,  that  all  the  apparent 
metronymics  are  actually  the  unblushing  acceptance  by 
English  people  of  names  proclaiming  the  taint  of  bastardy. 
Some  unfortunates  could  not  escape.  When  the  Act  of  1538 
was  passed,  rendering  registration  compulsory  in  country 
parishes,  doubtless  there  were  "  love-children  "  whose  origin 
was  so  well  known  that  they  could  not  escape  having 
their  names  recorded  as  fatherless.  But  we  may  well  be 

63 


SIRE-NAMES 

mistaken  if  we  rush  to  the  conclusion  that  all  these  names 
are  reminiscent  of  a  scandal.  No  man,  as  I  have  said,  would 
register  his  surname  if  he  thought  it  smacked  of  that. 

There  was  another  reason  above  those  already  mentioned 
that  may  have  led  to  the  use  of  a  name  derived  from  a 
female.  Among  the  Northern  people — and  the  Normans, 
though  Frenchified  and  Christian,  had  their  ancestral  beliefs 
and  superstitions  uneradicated — there  existed  a  conviction 
that  men  without  hair  on  their  faces  changed  sex  every 
ninth  day.  That  which  caused  the  burning  of  the  worthy 
Njall  his  wife  and  sons,  in  their  house,  was  the  taunt  of  a 
certain  Skarpedin,  who  threw  a  pair  of  breeches  at  a  certain 
Flossi  and  bade  him  wear  them,  as  he  was  a  woman  every 
ninth  day.  This  was  an  insult  that  could  be  expunged  only 
with  blood  or  fire.  In  the  Gullathing  laws  is  one  condemning 
to  outlawry  any  man  who  charged  another  with  change  of 
sex,  or  with  having  given  birth  to  a  child.  When  Thorvald 
the  Wide-travelled  went  round  Iceland  with  a  German 
missionary  Bishop  named  Frederick,  preaching  the  Gospel, 
the  smooth  face  and  long  petticoats,  and  perhaps  the  portly 
paunch  of  the  prelate,  gave  rise  to  bitter  jests.  A  local 
poet  sang : 

"  Nine  bairns  born 

The  Bishop  hath, 

And  of  all  and  eke 

Is  Thorvald  father." 

This  was  more  than  Thorvald  could  endure,  and  he  hewed 
down  the  scald  with  his  battle-axe. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  some  beardless  father  of  a  family 
may  have  been  nicknamed  Little  Mary  (Marriott)  or  the 
Girl  (Piggot).  Gilbert  Folliott  may  have  been  designated 
Filliot  from  his  shaven  and  effeminate  face,  and  he  preferred 
to  be  known  as  Folliot  (the  Little  Fool)  to  Filliot  (the  Little 
Girl). 

Curiously  enough,  relationships  have  formed  surnames — a 
thing  not  easy  of  explanation.  Neames  signifies  uncle  (the 
Old  English  is  "neme"1),  and  N eaves  is  nephew.  "Neve, 

1  Neames  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  knights  in  the  popular  romance 
of  "  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon." 

64 


SIRE-NAMES 

Sony's  sone,  neptis,"  says  the  "  Promptuarium  Parvulorum." 
Eame  is  in  A.S.  a  maternal  uncle,  hence  Fames.  Cousins 
we  have  many,  also  Brothers  and  Freres,  as  surnames ;  but 
these  latter  may  be  due  to  the  bearers  at  first  having  been 
friars  who  had  quitted  their  convents.  Nevins  stands  for 
Nevinson,  the  great-nephew.  Beaufrere,  becoming  Beaufere, 
and  then  Buffer,  gave  a  surname,  as  also  its  equivalent  Fair- 
brother  ;  but  Mauf  was  the  Old  English  for  a  brother-in-law, 
and  this  remains  in  the  rare  surname  Whatmough — i.e.,  Wat's 
brother-in-law.  Maeg  was  a  sister-in-law,  and  just  possibly 
may  have  originated  some  of  our  Meeks.  Sometimes  we 
have  "  son  "  attached  to  a  trade-name.  That  is  explicable 
enough.  When  a  man  had  to  be  enregistered  who  had  no 
surname,  nor  his  father  either,  it  was  simple  enough  to  enroll 
him  as  Clerkson  or  Cookson,  Smithson,  or  Ritson  (for  wright's 
son) ;  or,  again,  Saggerson,  as  the  son  of  the  sagar,  or  sawyer. 
Why  Sackerson  should  have  been  a  name  applied  to  a  bear 
is  not  apparent  ("  Merry  Wives,"  I.  i.),  but  possibly  it  was 
due  to  the  up-and-down  movements  of  Bruin. 

Christian  names  when  adopted  as  surnames  underwent 
alteration.  Alban  is  transformed  into  Allbone,  the  German 
Albrecht  into  Allbright;  Wulferic  became  Woolridge,  the 
name  of  a  little  blacksmith  from  whom  I  derived  many 
traditional  ballads — a  man  so  small  that  one  could  hardly 
imagine  him  descended  from  a  sturdy  Saxon  stock.  The 
Norse  Arnkettil  in  Yorkshire  became  Arkle,  and  then  settled 
down  to  Artie,  which  was  the  name  of  the  cook  at  Horbury 
Vicarage  some  thirty  years  ago.  Baldwin  has  become 
Bawden,  and  Alberic  Aubrey.  A  sire-name  may  be  so  altered 
as  to  look  like  a  place-name.  An  example  in  point  is  Baynham. 
As  it  happens,  we  know  its  pedigree.  The  Heralds'  Visitation 
of  Gloucestershire  of  1623  tells  us  that  Robert  ap  Einion  had 
a  son  Robert,  who  changed  ap  Einion  into  Baynham,  and 
settled  at  Chorewell,  in  the  Forest  of  Dean.  Bedward  is  not 
a  to-name  that  looks  back  to  a  Lord  of  a  Bedchamber  to  a 
King,  but  derives  from  Ap-Edward. 

A  great  change  took  place  in  English  Christian  names 
after  the  Conquest.     Before  that,  those  borne  by  men  and 

65  E 


SIRE-NAMES 

women  were  of  very  ancient  character,  formed  out  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  or  Scandinavian  tongues.  But  after  that  event 
came  in  names  of  saints  and  such  as  were  Norman. 

For  the  history  of  nomenclature  Domesday  is  of  especial 
value,  for  it  gives  us  both  Anglo-Saxon  names  at  a  period 
before  to-names  had  begun  to  become  hereditary,  and  also 
Norman  names  when  on  their  way  to  become  surnames.  It 
shows  us  many  of  our  invaders  who  were  known  only  as 
sons  of  such  and  such  a  father,  precisely  as  were  Saxon 
thegns ;  and  others  who  had  Christian  names,  and  nothing 
else.  Others,  again,  had  nicknames,  and  many  men  were 
designated  after  their  castles  in  Normandy.  Previous  to  the 
Conquest,  Scriptural  and  saintly  names  were  rarely  em- 
ployed by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  with  the  advent  of  the 
Normans  they  came  in  with  a  flood.  "  The  great  mass  of 
our  Old  English  names,"  says  Freeman,  "  were  gradually 
driven  out.  The  change  began  at  once.  The  Norman 
names  became  the  fashion.  The  Englishman's  child  was 
held  at  the  font  by  a  Norman  gossip.  The  Englishman  who 
was  on  friendly  terms  with  his  Norman  lord  or  his  Norman 
neighbour — nay,  the  Englishman  who  simply  thought  it  fine 
to  call  his  children  after  the  reigning  King  or  Queen — now 
cast  aside  his  own  name  and  the  names  of  his  parents  to 
give  his  sons  and  daughters  names  after  the  new  foreign 
pattern.  The  child  of  Godric  and  Godgifu  was  no  longer 
Godwine  and  Eadgyth,  but  William  and  Matilda.  ...  In 
every  list  of  names  throughout  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  we  find  the  habit  spreading.  The  name  of  the 
father  is  English ;  the  name  of  the  son  is  Norman.  This 
is  a  point  of  far  more  importance  than  anything  in  the  mere 
history  of  nomenclature.  It  helps  to  disguise  one  side  of 
the  fusion  between  Norman  and  English.  Many  a  man  who 
bears  a  Norman  name — many  a  Richard  or  Gilbert  whose 
parentage  does  not  happen  to  be  recorded — must  have  been 
as  good  an  Englishman  as  if  he  had  been  called  Ealdred  or 
Aethelbert. 

"  When  this  fashion  set  in,  it  took  root.  The  Norman 
names  gradually  spread  themselves  through  all  classes,  till 

66 


SIRE-NAMES 


even  a  villain  was  more  commonly  called  by  a  Norman  name 
than  by  an  English  name.  The  great  mass  of  English  names 
went  out  of  use,  a  few  only  excepted,  which  were  favoured 
by  accidental  circumstances." 

We  see  something  of  the  same  thing  taking  place  at  the 
present  day,  when  labourers'  sons  and  the  children  of  colliers 
are  christened  Percy,  Vane,  Vere,  Granville,  and  are  given 
half  the  aristocratic  names  in  the  peerage. 

The  romances  of  chivalry  exercised  a  great  influence  on 
nomenclature,  at  first  only  on  members  of  the  Norman- 
French  families,  but  mediately  on  the  English.  The  fable 
of  King  Arthur  and  the  Round  Table  was  vastly  popular, 
and  supplied  us  with  our  Launcelots,  Tristans,  Percivals,  and 
some  of  our  Kayes.  The  following  fanciful  pedigree  of  the 
romances  relative  to  Ogier  the  Dane,  Godfrey  de  Bouillon, 
and  the  Four  Sons  of  Aymon,  will  show  how  these  names 
were  taken  up,  and  eventually  became  surnames.  These  I 
have  italicized. 


Doolin 

of  Mayence  (Dolling). 

1 

Godfrey,          Bevis, 
King  of          of  Aigi 
Denmark. 

Ogier  the 

Count 
•emont. 

\ 
Aymon,  Count  of 
Dordogne  and  Duke 
of  Ardennes 
(Hay  man). 

Doolin. 

Dane             |                 j 
(Odger).     Vivian.     Maugis 
(M  auger 
Mervin.                         and 

1                             Major}. 
Oriant. 

\                  \                 \ 
Reynald  Richard.    Allard. 
of  Mon- 
tauban. 

Guichard 
(Wishart). 

Helias,  Knight  of  the 
Swan  (Ellis). 


'odfrey  Bald\ 


Godfrey 
de  Bouillon. 


'win.        Eustace* 


All  these  names,  with  the  exception  of  Oriant,  were  taken 
up.  Not  only  so,  but  also  that  of  Bayard  (Baird),  the  name 
of  the  horse  that  was  ridden  by  the  Four  Sons  of  Aymon. 

67  E  2 


SIRE-NAMES 

The  story  of  the  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  is  now  forgotten, 
although  at  one  time  most  popular;  and,  indeed,  it  is  a 
touching  tale.  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  were  at  feud  with 
Charlemagne,  and  all  four  rode  on  the  back  of  their  great 
horse  Bayard.  At  last,  through  the  intercession  of  their 
mother,  the  great  King  agreed  to  receive  the  Four  Sons  of 
Aymon  into  favour  again,  on  condition  that  they  surrendered 
to  him  their  horse  Bayard.  This  was  agreed  to,  and 
Reynald  gave  up  the  steed  to  Charlemagne,  who  had  two 
millstones  attached  to  Bayard's  neck,  and  the  horse  was 
then  precipitated  into  the  water.  Bayard  managed  to  dis- 
engage himself  from  the  load,  and  rose  to  the  surface,  saw  his 
master  Reynald,  and  swam  to  him  and  laid  his  head  on  his 
shoulder.  When  the  King  saw  this  he  demanded  the  horse 
again,  and  Reynald  gave  it  up.  Charles  the  Great  now  had 
a  millstone  attached  to  each  foot  of  the  horse  and  two  to  its 
neck,  and  again  it  was  cast  into  the  water.  But  once  more 
Bayard  managed  to  free  himself,  and  swam  up  to  Reynald 
and  looked  at  him  piteously,  as  much  as  to  say :  "  Why 
have  you  done  this  to  me,  your  true  friend?"  Reynald 
caressed  the  poor  beast,  and  trusted  that  the  Emperor  now 
would  waive  his  determination  to  have  it  destroyed.  But 
Charles  once  more  insisted,  and  against  the  will  of  his 
brothers,  who  to  save  the  faithful  beast  would  have  renewed 
their  feud  with  the  Emperor,  he  gave  Bayard  up  for  the 
third  time,  but  as  he  parted  with  it  he  said :  "  Oh,  old 
friend,  how  hardly  am  I  repaying  all  your  trusty  service  to 
us  brothers!"  Then  Charlemagne  had  millstones  attached 
as  before,  and  he  bade  Reynald  turn  his  head  away,  and  not 
look  at  the  horse,  should  it  again  reach  the  surface.  Again 
was  Bayard  flung  into  the  river ;  again  the  horse  rose  and 
turned  its  eyes  towards  its  master.  But  Reynald  had  his 
head  directed  elsewhere,  and  when  Bayard  could  not  meet 
his  master's  eyes  it  sank  to  rise  no  more. 

The  surname  Bayard  occurs  repeatedly  in  English  records 
from  1273  down.  It  has  even  travelled  to  America  with 
our  colonists.  It  does  not  come  from  the  knight  sans 
peur  et  sans  reproche,  who  died  in  1524,  as  it  occurs  many 

68 


SIRE-NAMES 

centuries  earlier.  Bayard  undoubtedly  means  "  the  bay- 
coloured."  But  it  was  the  romance  that  gave  the  name  its 
popularity. 

To  the  romances  are  also  due  such  female  names  as  Gwene- 
ver,  that  remains  to  this  day  in  Cornwall  as  Jenefer ;  and 
Iseult,  that  became  in  English  mouths  Isolt ;  also  Ellaine, 
that  became  Ellen.  Firebrace  is  a  surname  derived  from  the 
romance  of  Fierabras.  A  family  of  Amadys  appears  in  the 
Heralds'  Visitation  of  Devon  in  1620.  The  pedigree  does 
not  go  back  before  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The  family  of 
Amadys  was  one  of  merchants  at  Plymouth,  never  of  much 
consideration  nor  of  landed  estate.  When  the  Adam  of  the 
family,  William,  was  pricked  to  serve  Henry  VIII.  in  arms, 
he  cast  about  for  a  surname,  and  thought  he  could  not  do 
better  than  assume  that  of  the  famous  champion,  Amadys  of 
Gaul.  The  names  of  Miles  and  Ames,  or  A  wye,  doubtless 
derived  from  the  romance  of  the  story  of  Milles  and  Amys, 
les  nobles  et  vaillants  chevaliers.  Perhaps  also  some  of  our 
Mills  may  hence  derive.  When  William  rode  to  the  battle 
in  which  the  destinies  of  England  were  determined,  Wace 
informs  us : 

"  Taillifer  qui  moult  bien  chantait 

Sur  un  cheval  qui  tost  alloit, 

Devant  eus  alloit  chantant 

De  1'Allemaigne  et  de  Rollant, 

Et  d'Olivet  et  de  Vassaux, 

Qui  moururent  a  Rainchevaux." 

From  that  day  the  famous  song  of  Roland  was  dear  to 
the  hearts  of  the  Norman  French,  and  gave  occasion  to  the 
spread  of  the  names  of  Oliver  and  Roland,  and  so  to  their 
being  adopted  as  surnames.  Not  all  Courteneys  are  lineal 
descendants  of  the  grand  William  de  Courtney,  Duke  of 
Aquitaine.  Even  the  female  name  of  the  patient  Grizzel 
was  assumed,  and  became  a  family  appellation  as  Griselle. 
Although  the  surname  Turpin — it  is  borne  by  a  carrier  of 
Plymouth,  and  was  made  famous  by  a  highwayman — derives 
from  Thorfinn,  yet  it  is  so  but  mediately  as  a  family  name. 
It  owes  its  introduction  to  the  popularity  of  the  fictitious 

69 


SIRE-NAMES 

Turpin,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  who  was  the  reputed  author 
of  the  romantic  "  History  of  Charlemagne."  Waring  as  a 
surname  comes  from  Guerin  de  Montglave,  another  famous 
hero  of  romance.  In  the  Hundred  Rolls  of  1273  are  two 
entries — John  le  Ape,  of  Oxfordshire,  and  Alured  Ape,  of 
Norfolk.  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  name  of  Ape  was  given 
or  assumed  out  of  anything  simian  in  the  appearance  or 
conduct  of  John  and  Alured,  but  was  due  to  the  romance 
of  Milles  and  Amys,  above  mentioned.  Milles  and  Amys 
went  on  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  and  the  former  left  his 
two  children  in  their  cradle  to  the  guardianship  of  a  trusty 
ape.  Lubiane,  the  wife  of  Amys,  resolved  on  their  destruc- 
tion, and  had  them  thrown  into  the  sea.  The  ape  swam  after 
them  till  two  angels  carried  them  off.  The  ape  floundered 
about  disconsolate,  and  was  picked  up  by  a  merchant  vessel. 
On  landing  he  searched  everywhere  for  the  lost  children, 
subsisting  the  while  on  herbs  and  water,  although  habitually 
addicted  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table.  Finding  his  search 
in  vain,  he  proceeded  to  Clermont,  the  paternal  inheritance 
of  his  wards,  where  he  was  received  with  acclamations  by 
the  populace ;  but  he  declined  the  honours  of  an  entertain- 
ment, as  he  felt  his  spirits  depressed  on  account  of  the  loss 
of  the  children.  Meanwhile  Lubiane  had  set  out  for  the 
Court  of  Charlemagne  to  obtain  a  grant  of  the  county  of 
Clermont,  on  pretence  that  the  race  of  Milles  was  extinct. 
The  ape  got  wind  of  this,  had  a  letter  composed,  narrating 
how  matters  really  stood,  and  hastened  to  Paris  with  it. 
But,  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the  roads  and  want  of 
relays,  he  did  not  reach  the  Court  of  the  Emperor  till  some 
days  after  Lubiane.  He  made  his  first  appearance  at  Court 
in  his  travelling  dress  during  a  great  festival,  and  signalized 
his  arrival  by  assaulting  the  Countess  and  rending  her 
garments.  He  then  respectfully  presented  the  letter  to 
Charlemagne,  who  ordered  that  the  case  should  be  decided 
by  single  combat.  Lubiane  readily  procured  a  champion, 
and  the  ape  met  him  in  the  lists  and  defeated  him. 
Lubiane's  champion  was  obliged  to  confess  himself  defeated, 
in  order  to  avoid  being  torn  piecemeal.  According  to  the 

70 


SIRE-NAMES 

established  custom,  he  was  hanged,  and  Lubiane  was  burnt 
alive. 

The  story  of  the  faithful  ape  was  so  popular  that  it  was 
represented  in  painting  on  the  walls  of  the  great  hall  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  in  Paris,  and,  according  to  Monmerque",  was 
a  favourite  subject  for  tapestry  hangings.  Now,  as  the 
horse  of  the  Sons  of  Aymon  furnished  a  surname,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  ape  of  Milles  did  so  as  well,  as  a  symbol  of 
fidelity.  At  the  present  day  the  novels  so  assiduously  read 
furnish  numerous  Christian  names,  and  the  romances  and 
ballads  that  were  the  delight  of  our  medieval  forefathers  in 
like  manner  supplied  both  Christian  names  and  surnames. 
We  must  figure  to  ourselves  our  ancestors  called  on,  perhaps 
suddenly,  to  give  their  surnames.  They  had  none,  and, 
being  constrained  at  a  push  to  call  themselves  something, 
laid  hold  of  the  name  of  the  preux  chevalier,  or  even  the  ape, 
whose  exploits  they  had  just  heard  sung  by  a  strolling 
jongleur,  or  which  were  familiar  to  them  through  the  hangings 
of  their  tapestried  chamber.  Such,  I  can  have  little  doubt, 
was  the  origin  of  some  of  these.  But  besides  the  introduction 
of  Biblical,  saintly,  and  romantic  names,  through  fashion  or 
imitation  of  the  Normans,  surnames  began  to  become  general. 
As  they  were  beginning  to  be  assumed  by  the  conquerors, 
they  began  to  be  assumed  also  by  the  conquered.  Among 
these  latter  the  process  was  slow.  It  took  something  like 
500  years  to  become  general.  It  worked  downward  from  the 
Norman  Baron  to  the  English  serf. 

I  will  again  quote  Mr.  Freeman  : 

"  Besides  this  change  in  personal  nomenclature,  this  intro- 
duction of  a  new  set  of  Christian  names,  the  Norman 
Conquest  also  brought  with  it  the  novelty  of  family  nomen- 
clature— that  is  to  say,  the  use  of  hereditary  surnames.  .  .  . 
Among  many  men  of  the  same  name  within  the  same  gens, 
one  needs  to  be  distinguished  from  another  by  some  epithet 
marking  him  out  from  his  namesake.  He  may  be  marked 
out  from  them  by  the  name  of  his  father,  by  the  name  of  his 
calling,  or  by  some  peculiarity  of  person  or  manner.  The 
distinctive  epithet  may  be  sportive  or  serious;  it  may  be 


SIRE-NAMES 

given  in  contempt  or  in  reverence.  In  all  these  cases  its 
nature  is  essentially  the  same.  In  all  cases  it  is  in  strictness 
a  surname.  Surnames  of  this  kind  are  common  in  all  times 
and  places ;  they  were  as  common  in  England  before  the 
Conquest  as  anywhere  else.  .  .  .  Beside  the  patronymics, 
the  local  surnames,  the  surnames  descriptive  of  the  bearer's 
person,  there  are  others  which  are  not  so  intelligible — 
surnames  which  are  mere  pet-names  or  nicknames,  whether 
given  in  scorn  or  affection,  or  in  caprice. 

"  But  in  England  before  the  Conquest  there  is  no  ascer- 
tained case  of  a  strictly  hereditary  surname.  A  surname 
cannot  be  looked  on  as  strictly  hereditary  till  it  has  ceased  to 
be  personally  descriptive.  The  line  is  drawn  when  the  surname 
of  the  father  passes  to  the  son  as  a  matter  of  course,  though 
it  may  no  longer  be  really  applicable  to  him.  In  the  older 
state  of  things  we  may  be  sure  that  Wulfred  the  Black  was 
really  a  swarthy  man ;  that  Sired,  Alfred's  son,  was  really 
the  son  of  an  Alfred ;  that  Godred  at  Fecham  really  lived 
at  Fecham.  When  hereditary  surnames  are  established, 
the  surname  of  Black  may  be  borne  by  a  pale  man,  that  of 
Alfred's  son  by  one  whose  father  was  not  named  Alfred, 
that  of  Fecham  by  one  who  neither  lived  at  Fecham  nor 
owned  any  land  there.  If  the  Norman  Conquest  had  never 
happened,  it  is  almost  certain  that  we  should  have  found  for 
ourselves  a  system  of  hereditary  surnames.  Still,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  use  of  hereditary  surnames  begins  in  England 
with  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  it  may  be  set  down  as  one 
of  its  results. 

"  At  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  England,  the  practice  of 
hereditary  surnames  seems  still  to  have  been  a  novelty  in 
Normandy,  but  a  novelty  which  was  fast  taking  root. 
Numbers  of  the  great  Norman  Barons  already  bore  surnames, 
sometimes  territorial,  sometimes  patronymic,  of  which  the 
former  class  easily  became  hereditary. 

"  But  the  patronymic  surname  did  not  so  readily  become 
hereditary  as  the  local  surname.  When  a  man  takes  his 
surname  from  the  actual  place  of  possession  or  residence,  it 
is  very  hard  to  say  at  what  particular  point  the  personal 

72 


SIRE-NAMES 

description  passes  into  hereditary  surname.  The  stages  are 
therefore  more  easily  marked  in  names  of  the  other  class. 
When  Thomas,  the  son  of  John,  the  son  of  Richard,  calls 
himself,  not  Fitzjohn  or  Johnson,  but  FitzRichard  or 
Richardson,  the  change  is  a  rather  violent  one.  But  when, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  Norman  who  bore  the  name  of  his 
birthplace  or  possessions  in  Normandy — Robert  of  Bruce  or 
William  of  Percy — found  himself  the  possessor  of  far  greater 
estates  in  England  than  in  Normandy,  when  his  main 
interests  were  no  longer  Norman,  but  English,  the  surname 
ceased  to  be  really  descriptive.  It  became  a  mere  arbitrary 
hereditary  surname.  It  no  longer  suggested  the  original 
Norman  holding  ;  it  remained  in  use  even  if  the  Norman 
holding  passed  away  from  the  family.  When  a  Bruce  or  a 
Percy  had  lost  his  original  connection  with  the  place  Bruce 
or  Percy,  when  the  name  no  longer  suggested  a  thought  of 
the  place,  Bruce  and  Percy  became  strict  surnames  in  the 
modern  sense.  There  is  nothing  like  this  in  England  before 
the  Norman  Conquest ;  the  change  is  strictly  one  of  the 
results  of  that  event.  And  the  like  process  would  take  place 
with  those  landowners,  whether  of  Norman  or  of  English 
birth,  who  took  their  surnames  from  places  in  England. 
With  them,  too,  the  local  description  gradually  passed  into 
the  hereditary  surname."1 

This  is  a  long  quotation,  but  it  is  too  important,  as  bearing 
on  the  subject  of  English  nomenclature,  not  to  be  given. 
Moreover,  the  authority  of  Mr.  Freeman  is  so  great  that 
I  am  glad  to  invoke  it  to  show  that  the  practice  of  using 
hereditary  surnames  in  England  began  with  the  latter  half  of 
the  eleventh  century,  and  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  sort 
before  in  England. 

1  "  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  v.,  p.  563  et  seq. 


73 


CHAPTER  IV 

TOTEMISM   AND   NAMES 

SOME  of  the  most  delightful  of  nursery  tales  are  those  that 
relate  to  transformation  of  Princes  into  beasts,  and  their 
release  through  woman's  love,  as  The  Frog  Prince,  and 
Beauty  and  the  Beast ;  or  the  reverse,  where  the  woman  is 
transformed,  as  The  White  Cat. 

Similar  stories  abound  in  folklore  everywhere.  A  damsel 
finds  a  serpent  lying  stark  with  cold  on  the  house  doorstep, 
and  takes  it  within.  It  pleads  to  lie  outside  her  chamber 
door ;  she  allows  this.  Then  it  asks  to  be  admitted  to  her 
bed ;  she  again  consents,  whereupon  it  is  transformed  into  a 
beautiful  youth. 

In  a  cave  lives  a  monster  like  an  overgrown  toad.  It  can 
be  released  on  one  condition  only — that  a  fair  maid  shall  kiss 
it  on  the  lips.  A  peasant  girl  does  so,  and  it  at  once  becomes 
a  nobleman  and  marries  her. 

The  Greeks  also  had  their  metamorphoses.  Zeus,  for  the 
love  he  bore  to  Europa,  became  a  bull ;  for  the  sake  of  Leda, 
a  swan. 

The  following  tale  is  told  by  the  Bosjemen  of  South 
Africa.  A  girl  dreamed  that  a  baboon  came  to  carry  her  off 
and  make  her  his  wife.  Alarmed  at  the  prospect,  she  fled  to 
a  certain  Owanciguacha,  who  lived  in  the  river  as  a  water- 
snake,  but  at  night  came  ashore,  divested  himself  of  his 
skin,  became  human,  and  slept  on  a  mat.  The  damsel 
obtained  a  magic  herb,  and  watched  hidden  among  the  reeds 
till  Owanciguacha  emerged  from  the  water  and  retired  to 
his  mat,  whereupon  she  obtained  possession  of  the  cast  skin, 

74 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

burnt  it,  and  thrust  the  herb  into  the  sleeper's  mouth,  where- 
upon he  remained  a  man,  made  her  his  wife,  and  through 
her  became  the  ancestor  of  a  tribe.1 

The  Scandinavians  have  a  tale  that  the  Valkyrie  are 
maidens  who  fly  about  in  the  form  of  swans,  but  occasion- 
ally lay  aside  their  feather  dresses  to  bathe,  and  appear  as 
women.  A  man  once  observed  them  alight,  concealed  him- 
self, and  got  possession  of  one  of  the  swan  robes.  When 
the  Valkyrie  left  the  water,  all  reassumed  their  bird-forms 
save  one,  and  he  secured  her,  made  her  his  wife  and  mother 
of  his  children.  But  one  day  she  opened  a  chest  and  found 
in  it  her  feather  dress.  She  at  once  put  it  on  and  flew  away, 
never  again  to  return.  The  descendants  of  this  man  and 
the  swan  wife  would  be  denominated  Alptings. 

In  Aurora  Island  in  the  Pacific  the  natives  tell  a  similar 
tale.  Once  some  women  came  down  from  heaven  to  earth 
to  bathe,  and  before  entering  the  water  divested  themselves 
of  their  wings.  A  certain  Quat  saw  them,  and  stole  one  of  the 
pinions.  When  the  maidens  came  out  of  the  water,  all  flew 
away  save  one,  who  could  not,  because  her  wing  was  stolen. 

Quat  took  her  home  with  him  and  married  her,  and  she 
became  the  mother  of  his  children.  He  had  concealed  the 
wing  under  a  post  of  the  house,  under  ground.  Quat's 
mother  proved  unkind  to  the  wife,  and  she  leaned  against 
the  post  and  wept,  till  her  tears  made  a  hole  in  the  soil  and 
disclosed  the  wing.  Thereupon  she  put  it  on  and  flew  away, 
deserting  her  husband  and  children  for  ever.2 

Here  is  another  tale  from  Celebes.  Utahagi,  with  six 
other  nymphs,  her  sisters,  flew  down  from  heaven  to  bathe 
in  a  pool.  At  that  time  a  man  named  Kasimbaha  was  there 
among  the  reeds,  and  saw  them.  He  stole  one  of  their 
feather  dresses.  By  this  means  Kasimbaha  secured  posses- 
sion of  that  one,  Utahagi,  whose  dress  he  had  obtained.  He 
made  her  his  wife,  and  she  bore  him  a  son  whom  he  named 
Tambaga.  Utahagi  had  a  white  hair  on  her  head,  and  she 
warned  her  husband  on  no  account  to  pluck  it  out.  Dis- 
regarding her  caution,  he  did  so,  and  she  at  once  fled  back  to 

1  Frobenius,  "The  Childhood  of  Man,"  p.  118.  2  Ibid.,  p.  305. 

75 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

heaven,  and  no  more  returned  to  earth.     But  her  son  Tam- 
baga  remained,  and  became  the  ancestor  of  a  tribe.1 

Now,  how  comes  it  that  peoples  divided  by  vast  tracts  of 
ocean,  and  who  have  no  racial  affinities,  should  possess 
similar,  even  identical,  stories  ?  The  reason  is  that  among 
these  peoples  there  are  tribes  that  regard  themselves  as 
descended  from  swans,  have  the  swan  as  their  totem,  and 
have  excogitated  myths  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  totem 
and  tribal  name. 

The  following  story  is  found  in  an  Icelandic  saga,  and  is 
also  given  in  brief  by  Norman- English  writers  as  the  origin 
of  the  family  of  Earl  Ulf,  who  married  the  sister  of  Canute 
the  Great,  and  by  her  became  the  ancestor  of  the  Royal 
Family  of  Denmark,  the  Ulfungs.  But  he  himself  was  a 
Bjorning,  a  Bear's  son. 

Bjorn  was  the  son  of  King  Ring  of  the  Uplands  in 
Norway.  A  jealous  stepmother  transformed  him  into  a  bear, 
and  bade  him  ravage  his  father's  flocks  and  herds.  Bjorn 
loved  a  small  bonder's  daughter  named  Bera,2  and  he  carried 
her  off  to  his  den  among  the  rocks,  and  when  the  sun  set  he 
reverted  to  the  form  of  a  man.  One  night  he  told  Bera  that 
his  mind  presaged  trouble  or  death,  and  he  bade  her,  in  the 
event  of  his  being  killed  on  the  morrow,  on  no  account  to 
allow  herself  to  be  induced  to  taste  his  roast  flesh.  It  fell 
out  as  he  foresaw.  Next  day  King  Ring's  hunters  killed 
him,  and  at  night  his  roasted  flesh  was  served  in  the  hall. 
The  wicked  Queen  endeavoured  to  induce  Bera  to  eat  of  it, 
but  she  refused.  She  clenched  her  teeth,  yet  by  force  the 
Queen  succeeded  in  thrusting  a  small  portion  between  her 
lips.  Soon  after  Bera  gave  birth  to  three  sons,  and,  because 
some  of  the  bear's  flesh  had  been  in  her  mouth,  two  of  them 
were  deformed,  and  the  third,  Bodvar,  could  change  himself 
at  pleasure  into  the  form  of  a  bear.  He  married  the  daughter 
of  Hrolf  Krake,  King  of  Leidre,  or  Denmark,  and,  in  the 
great  battle  in  which  Hrolf  fell,  Bodvar  fought  at  one  time 
in  the  shape  of  a  bear,  at  another  in  human  form. 

1  Frobenius,  "The  Childhood  of  Man,"  p.  312. 

2  Bera  means  "bear"  as  well  as  bjorn. 

76 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Now,  one  interesting  point  in  this  tale  is  that  in  which 
Bera  is  reluctantly  obliged  to  admit  some  of  the  flesh  of  the 
bear  into  her  mouth. 

One  of  the  murderers  of  Thomas  a  Becket  was  Sir 
Reginald  Fitzllrse.  The  family  was  descended  from  Ursus, 
the  Bear,  who  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror  held 
lands  in  Wiltshire,  of  the  Abbey  of  Glastonbury.  There  can 
exist  little  doubt  that  this  Bear  descended  from  the  stock  of 
the  Bjornings,  of  which  the  story  has  just  been  told.  So  also 
did  the  Orsini  of  Italy.  One  legend  of  their  origin  is  that 
they  derive  from  the  son  of  a  Gothic  chieftain  named  Aldvin, 
who  was  suckled  by  a  bear.  Another  story  is  that  Aldvin 
was  of  a  Saxon  family,  Lords  of  Ballenstedt  and  Ascania  in 
the  Hartz  Mountains,  and  that  he  was  a  younger  son.  Albert, 
the  Bear  of  the  Ascanian  house,  was  born  in  noo,  and 
became  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  ancestor  of  the 
present  Emperor  of  Germany.  The  Ballenstedt  arms  are  a 
black  bear  hugging  a  chessboard.  The  possible  origin  of 
this  is  that  Earl  Ulf,  the  Bear's  son,  was  playing  chess  one 
day  with  King  Canute.  After  they  had  played  together 
awhile,  the  King  made  a  false  move,  at  which  the  Earl  took 
a  knight  from  the  King ;  but  Canute  set  the  piece  again 
upon  the  board,  and  bade  the  Earl  make  another  move. 
Ulf,  being  incensed,  threw  the  chessboard  on  the  floor  with 
all  the  men,  and  stalked  away.  The  King  shouted  after 
him  :  "  Run  away,  Ulf  the  Timorous  !"  whereat  the  Earl 
replied :  "  Thou  wouldst  have  run  away  in  a  certain  battle 
had  not  I  come  to  thine  aid." 

Next  morning  Canute  sent  his  Chamberlain  to  kill  Ulf. 
The  man  found  him  in  the  church,  and  there  ran  him 
through  with  his  sword  whilst  he  was  engaged  in  prayer. 
The  early  pedigree  of  Albert  the  Bear  is  not  to  be  found,  but 
it  is  conceivable  that  he  may  have  derived  from  Earl  Ulf's 
second  son  Bjorn  (the  Bear).  Ulf  was  killed  in  1028,  and 
the  story  of  the  chessboard  may  have  given  rise  to  the 
representation  on  the  arms  of  the  Ballenstedt  family,  now 
represented  by  the  Duke  of  Anhalt 

But  to  return  to  that  point  of  the  story  that  concerns 

77 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Bera  having  partaken  of  a  particle  of  the  flesh  of  the  bear. 
The  persistence  of  the  Queen  to  force  her  to  eat,  and  the 
struggle  of  the  young  wife  not  to  receive  the  food,  stamp 
the  story  as  one  of  a  totem-taboo. 

Among  primitive  people  everywhere,  wheresoever  totemism 
exists,  there  the  partaking  of  the  flesh  of  the  beast,  bird,  or 
fish,  from  which  the  tribe  derives,  is  strictly  forbidden.  In 
totemistic  families  the  people  look  upon  it  as  the  worst  of 
crimes  to  taste  of  the  flesh  of  the  animal  whose  name  they 
bear.  We  do  not  know  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  Chatti 
— the  modern  Hessians — but  certainly  they  looked  to  a  cat 
as  their  progenitor ;  and  the  Count  of  Katzenellenbogen  had 
doubtless  a  legend  concerning  a  cat  to  account  for  his 
remarkable  name. 

One  of  the  oldest  of  the  Highland  clans  was  the  Clan 
Chattan — Children  of  the  Cat — and  the  younger  clans  bore 
animals  on  their  banners.  The  Clan  Alpine  had  a  boar  as 
its  totem. 

The  Picts — the  name  is  a  Latin  rendering  of  Cruithni, 
the  painted  or  tattooed  men  — certainly  had  symbolic  animals 
figured  on  their  bodies.  Caesar  speaks  of  the  Britons  as 
dyed  with  woad,  but  Solinus  is  more  explicit.  He  says  that 
they  were  figured  over  with  forms  of  divers  animals — in  fact, 
distinguishing  tattooes  marking  off  the  several  tribes,  each 
tribe  having  had  an  animal  ancestor. 

In  all  likelihood  Romulus  and  Remus,  in  the  earliest  form 
of  the  story,  were  the  actual  offspring  of  the  wolf,  and  it  was 
a  rationalizing  of  the  myth  to  make  them  to  have  been 
merely  suckled  by  her. 

One  of  the  greatest  families  in  Norway — one  that  came  to 
the  front  and  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  its  history — was 
that  of  the  Arnungs,  or  Eaglings. 

It  was  related  of  its  origin  that  the  ancestor  was  found  in 
an  eagle's  nest  wrapped  in  silk.  None  knew  whence  it  came, 
whether  laid  there  by  human  hands  or  hatched  out  of  an 
eagle's  egg.1 

1  The  Stanley  family  pretended  to  a  similar  derivation.     Its  crest  is  an 
oak-tree  supporting  a  nest  containing  a  swaddled  babe,  above  which  is  an 

78 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

This  ancestor  was  named  Finnvid,  the  Foundling,  and  his 
son  was  Thorarin  (Thor's  Eagle),  and  his  grandson  Arnvid 
(Eaglewood),  the  father  of  Earl  Arnmod  (Eaglemood). 
Arnmod's  son  was  again  Arne,  who  had  sons  Arnbjorn  and 
Arne,  so  that  the  family  clung  to  the  eagle  ancestry,  per- 
petuating the  name  of  Arne  from  generation  to  generation. 
One  of  Arne's  granddaughters  married  Malcolm  Caenmore, 
King  of  Scotland,  and  so  brought  the  eagle  blood  into  that 
race. 

We  can  hardly  doubt  that  in  the  primitive  form  of  the 
legend  the  ancestor  of  the  Arnungs  was  actually  an  eagle, 
and  that  Finnvid  was  hatched  out  of  her  egg.  But  the  story 
was  modified  to  suit  the  views  of  a  later  and  more  sceptical 
generation. 

We  do  not  know  for  certain,  but  we  may  suspect,  that 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  if  not  the  symbols  of  the  Saxon  tribes, 
looked  to  an  equine  ancestor.  The  white  horse  of  the  Saxons 
was  their  totem,  and  it  is  open  to  question  whether  Hengist 
and  Horsa  really  existed.  Hengist  means  a  stallion,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  the  leaders  were  merely  representatives  of 
families  deriving  traditionally  from  totemistic  horses. 

Our  present  Royal  Family  is  that  of  the  Guelfs.  And, 
indeed,  the  Guelfs  were  widely  represented  on  princely  and 
electoral  thrones  in  Germany.  The  story  of  the  origin  of 
the  race  is  this :  A  certain  Countess  of  Querfurt  bore  at 
a  birth  nine  sons.  Ashamed  of  this,  she  committed  them  to 
her  maid  to  drown.  As  the  servant  was  on  her  way  to  the 
river  with  the  infants  in  a  basket,  she  met  the  Count,  who 
asked  her  what  she  bore.  She  replied :  "  Only  some  whelps 
to  be  drowned."  "  I  want  a  young  whelp,"  said  he,  and 
opened  the  basket ;  and  so  the  truth  came  out.  He  had 
them  secretly  brought  up,  and  did  not  reveal  that  they  were 
his  sons  till  they  were  of  age.  Thence  came  all  the  branches 
of  the  Guelf  family. 

eagle.  King  Alfred  found  the  child,  reared  it,  and  named  it  Nesting. 
The  story  is  in  the  "Vita  Stae.  Wulfhildae"  in  Capgrave,  "Nova 
Legenda  Angliae." 

79 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

The  same  story  is  told  of  Isenhardt  of  Altorp  and  his  wife 
Irmentrude,  sister-in-law  of  Charlemagne.  Thence  came 
the  Swabian  Counts  of  Zollen,  who  bore  on  their  shield, 
quartered  black  and  white,  a  dog's  head. 

The  Hund  family  also  derives  from  one  of  nine  whelps, 
and  in  commemoration  of  this  have  as  their  crest  nine  pinks, 
representing  the  nine  sons,  and  on  their  arms  a  hound. 

One  of  the  Hunds  of  Wenckenheim  it  was  who  carried 
off  Luther  when  he  was  returning  from  Worms,  and  conveyed 
him  to  the  Wartburg.  From  the  Guelfs  also  came  the 
Princes  of  Scala  at  Verona.  They  changed  their  name  to 
Scala  or  Scaliger,  but  retained  on  their  arms  two  dogs,  in 
commemoration  of  their  origin. 

Another  noble  family,  again,  was  that  of  Ruden,  that  has 
the  same  tale  told  of  its  origin,  but  with  this  difference  :  In 
this  case  the  ancestor  of  the  family  scoffed  at  a  beggar 
woman  because  she  had  three  rosy-cheeked  boys  born  at  a 
birth.  Incensed  at  his  mockery,  she  prayed  that  he  might 
be  the  father  of  four  times  as  many  boys,  that  they  might 
have  the  appetites  of  dogs,  and  reduce  him  to  mendicancy. 
In  process  of  time  he  did  have  twelve  sons,  who  were  so 
voracious  that  they  were  called  Ruden — that  is  to  say,  dogs 
— and  they  ate  their  father  out  of  house  and  home,  so  that  he 
was  driven  to  beg  his  daily  bread.  The  Ruden  wear  on 
their  crest  and  in  their  arms  a  dog's  head. 

Everyone,  through  the  opera  of  "  Lohengrin,'*  has  been 
made  familiar  with  the  mythical  origin  of  the  Dukes  of 
Cleves.  In  the  story  a  mysterious  knight  arrives  at  the 
castle,  drawn  up  the  Rhine  in  a  boat  by  a  swan.  He  fights 
for  the  heiress,  and  marries  her.  She  is  forbidden  to  ask  the 
name  of  her  deliverer,  yet  one  day  puts  to  him  the  fatal 
question,  whereupon  the  boat  and  swan  reappear,  and  he 
leaves  to  go,  none  know  whither.  Thenceforth  the  swan 
remained  the  badge  of  the  House  of  Cleves  ;  and  our  taverns 
that  bear  the  swan  as  their  sign  date  from  the  arrival  of 
Anne  of  Cleves  in  England  to  be  the  wife  of  Henry  VIII., 
and  testify  to  a  certain  amount  of  sympathy  for  her,  enter- 
tained in  the  country  at  the  time. 

80 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Judging  from  the  name,  we  may  conjecture  that  the 
Merewings,  the  royal  Frank  family,  derived  from  a  mythical 
merow  or  merman. 

The  Lusignans  certainly  took  their  name  from  a  half-fish 
ancestress,  Melusina.  A  gallant  knight  passing  a  spring 
surprised  and  captured  a  transcendently  beautiful  nymph, 
and  induced  her  to  become  his  wife.  She  consented  on 
one  condition  only — that  on  every  Saturday  she  should  be 
allowed  to  retire  to  her  bathroom  and  remain  there  for  a 
whole  day  invisible.  She  became  a  mother,  and  ancestress 
of  a  splendid  race  that  wore  the  crowns  of  Jerusalem  and 
Cyprus.  One  day,  overcome  by  curiosity,  the  husband 
peered  through  a  chink  in  the  bathroom  door,  and  saw,  to 
his  dismay,  his  wife  transformed  from  the  waist  downwards 
into  a  fish.  Somewhat  later,  in  some  domestic  tiff,  he 
sneered  at  her  as  a  merow,  whereupon,  with  a  cry,  she  fled 
out  of  the  window. 

But  whenever  ill-luck  is  to  befall  a  Lusignan,  or  a  death  to 
occur,  Melusina  is  to  be  seen  hovering  about  the  castle 
wailing  and  wringing  her  hands.  It  was  due  to  this  mythical 
origin  that  the  mermaid  formed  the  crest  of  every  Lusignan, 
waved  on  their  banner,  and  creaked  on  the  vanes  of  the 
castle  towers.  Here  again  we  have  a  totem  story. 

There  are  indications  that  in  an  early  state  of  development 
the  Romans  derived  their  families  from  animal  ancestors. 
They  had  their  Asinian,  Aquillian,  Porcian,  Caninian  gentes, 
and  often  fantastic  stories  were  invented  to  account  for  these 
names.  The  Tremellian  family  obtained  the  title  of  Scropha, 
or  Sow,  according  to  the  tale,  in  a  peculiarly  discreditable 
manner,  as  we  should  think,  but  by  an  exhibition  of  justifiable 
cleverness,  as  was  considered  at  the  time.  A  sow  having 
strayed  from  a  neighbour's  yard  into  that  of  the  Tremellii, 
the  servants  of  the  latter  killed  her.  The  master  caused  the 
carcass  to  be  placed  in  his  wife's  bed,  and  when  the  neighbour 
came  to  claim  his  strayed  sow,  the  Tremellian  gentleman 
swore  by  all  that  was  holy  that  there  was  no  sow  on  his 
premises  save  that  lying  in  the  bed,  and  his  neighbour 
concluded  that  the  allusion  was  to  the  lady  herself. 

81  F 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

One  of  the  Fabian  families  was  named  after  a  buzzard — 
Buteo — and  the  fable  was  invented,  to  account  for  it,  that  a 
bird  of  this  species  had  lighted  on  the  vessel  of  a  Fabian 
when  he  was  on  a  voyage. 

Corvinus  was  the  name  of  another  Roman  family,  so  called 
after  a  crow.  The  name  of  Casar  was  from  an  elephant. 

The  children  of  Israel  were  in  tribes,  and  each  had  its 
banner :  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  ass  of  Issachar, 
the  wolf  of  Benjamin,  the  serpent  of  Dan. 

The  name  of  Lovell  is  still  current  among  us.  It  signifies 
a  young  wolf.  A  story  is  told  as  to  its  origin.  Count  Ascelin 
de  Perceval  obtained  it  on  account  of  his  violent  temper. 
"  By  ill-usage  and  torture,"  says  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  "  he 
compelled  his  liege  lord  (William  de  Breteuil)  to  grant  him 
his  daughter  Isabel,  with  £3,000  of  Dreux  currency.  During 
three  months  Breteuil  was  kept  in  duress,  ironed,  chained, 
plagued,  and  starved,  without  yielding,  till  at  length  the 
livres  and  the  lady  were  extorted  by  an  ingenious  mode  of 
torture.  In  the  depth  of  winter  Ascelin  fastened  him  to  the 
grating  at  the  bleak  top  of  a  tower,  unclothed  save  by  a  poor 
thin  shirt ;  he  was  thus  exposed  to  the  biting,  whistling 
winds,  while  water  was  poured  upon  him  abundantly  and 
continually,  till  he  was  sheeted  with  ice.  This  anguish 
Breteuil  could  not  resist ;  he  consented  to  the  terms  pro- 
posed, endowed  Isabel  in  the  church  porch,  and  gave  her 
away." 

Ascelin  appears  in  Domesday  as  Gouel,  intended  for  Lovel 
or  Louvel.  His  son  William  inherited  his  father's  ferocity 
of  character,  and  with  it  his  name  of  Young  Wolf.  But 
there  is  some  reason  for  suspecting  that  the  family  considered 
itself  to  be  descended  from  a  wolf — to  be  Ulfings. 

In  fact,  we  may  generally  take  it  for  granted  that,  where 
at  an  early  period  families  bear  animal  names,  they  were 
held  to  descend  from  a  bestial  ancestor. 

The  sons  of  Lodbrog,  who  harried  the  coasts  of  England 
in  the  ninth  century,  brought  with  them  from  Denmark  a 
raven  banner,  embroidered  by  their  sisters.  It  had  this 
virtue,  that  before  the  battle  it  spread  and  flapped  its  wings. 

82 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Now,  this  raven  banner  had  its  significance.  The  Lodbrog 
sons  were  the  descendants,  not  the  actual  sons,  of  one 
Ragnar  Lodbrog,  who  died  about  the  year  794.  He  left  no 
legitimate  issue.  His  posterity,  the  royal  race  of  Sweden 
and  Denmark,  descended  from  a  concubine  named  Kraka, 
"the  Crow."  Either  the  family  substituted  a  raven  for  a 
crow,  or,  what  is  more  probable,  the  English  chroniclers 
mistook  a  crow  for  a  raven.  But  this  seems  to  show  that 
the  descendants  of  Lodbrog  looked  to  an  ancestral  crow  as 
the  source  of  the  family.  Moreover,  Ragnar's  death-song 
(not  that  of  the  first,  but  the  second  Ragnar)  is  called  "  The 
Song  of  the  Crow."  We  may  suspect  that  the  story  of 
Kraka  is  really  a  rechauffe  of  an  earlier  tale  in  which  the 
ancestress  was  represented  as  an  actual  crow. 

The  Corbyns  and  the  Corbetts  (Corbeaux)  came  over  to 
England  with  the  Conqueror,  and,  we  may  suspect,  were  of 
the  Lodbrog  stock,  descendants  of  Kraka,  as  the  younger 
Ragnar  thrust  up  the  Seine  and  took  Paris  in  845,  and  his 
son  Bjorn  ravaged  in  Normandy  and  other  parts  of  France 
in  843  and  857,  and  another  son,  Sigurd,  and  a  nephew, 
Guthrod,  were  there  also  in  891 ;  so  that  it  is  far  from 
unlikely  that  they  left  some  descendants  behind  them  in 
Normandy. 

There  were  other  Norman  families  that  bore  the  names  of 
animals.  Indeed,  Hugh,  who  was  created  Earl  of  Chester, 
went  by  the  name  of  Lupus,  the  Wolf.  There  was  among 
the  Conqueror's  attendants  an  Asinus,  VAne,  and  we  can 
hardly  conceive  of  a  noble  family  accepting  such  an  appella- 
tion unless  there  was  some  story  to  dignify  it.  The  De  Mods 
bore  mules  on  their  arms  and  as  their  crest.  The  Oliphants 
were  named,  like  the  Caesars,  after  an  elephant. 

Le  Grize  was  a  swine,  with  a  swine's  head  as  crest.  Griis 
is  a  pig  in  Danish  to  this  day.  Le  Goz  was  a  goose.  De  la 
Vache  was  another  animal  name,  and  Thoreau  was  another. 
Although  the  Lyons  are  supposed  to  have  derived  their 
name  from  the  Forest  of  Lyon  in  Normandy,  we  cannot  be 
confident  that  they  did  not  impose  their  name  upon 
their  hunting-ground,  and  fable  a  descent  from  the  king 

83  F  2 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

of  the  beasts,  that  figured  on  their  helms  and  shields  and 
banners. 

Mr.  Bardsley  gives  a  list  of  beast,  bird,  and  fish  names 
of  'individuals  found  in  the  Hundred  Rolls,  Post-Mortem 
Inquisitions,  and  other  medieval  documents.  His  idea  is 
that  these  names  were  accorded  by  neighbours,  descriptive  or 
expressive  of  the  moral  or  physical  character  of  the  indi- 
vidual. If  so,  then  they  were  mere  nicknames  that  would 
die  out  with  those  who  bore  them.  This  was  no  doubt  the 
case  with  some  such  names,  not  necessarily  bestial,  that  are 
recorded  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  and  elsewhere.  Some  are 
names  that  no  man  with  any  self-respect  would  carry,  and 
certainly  his  sons  would  repudiate  their  transmission.  Such 
are  "  Milksop,"  "  Drinkedregges,"  "Sourale,"  "Sparewater," 
"  Pinsemaille,"  "  Pickcheese."  Those  who  drew  up  the 
registers  were  not  always  particular  to  take  the  name  by 
which  a  man  himself  chose  to  be  known,  and  accepted  any 
that  his  neighbours  gave  him.  This  may  possibly  enough 
account  for  such  nicknames  as  "  Rat,"  "  Mouse,"  "  Calf," 
"  Smelt,"  "  Shark,"  "  Whale,"  that  have  found  their  way  in. 
But  in  some  cases  the  names  exhibit  a  misapprehension. 
"  Whale  "  was  probably  Welsh  ;  "  Hawke  "  may  stand  for 
Hawker ;  "  Kite  "  may  have  been  written  for  Kitt — Chris- 
topher. "  Otter  "  may  not  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
animal,  and  represent  Othere,  of  which  the  German  form  is 
Otto  or  Otho.  "  Palfrey  "  stands  for  le  Balafre,  the  scarred  ; 
and  "  Salmon  "  is  a  shortening  of  Solomon. 

But  where  an  animal  name  is  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  it  stands  otherwise ;  in  that  case  the 
name  cannot  be  a  mere  nickname,  applied  to  one  member  of 
a  family  and  carried  forward  for  no  reason  whatever  to  later 
generations.  There  must  have  been  a  significance  in  the 
name — a  significance  accepted  by  the  family. 

There  are  several  explanations  of  the  acceptance  by  a 
family  of  a  hereditary  plant  or  animal  name.  Either 

(1)  That  name  indicated  its  mythical  origin; 

(2)  It  was  due  to  some  incident  in  the  family  history,  the 

memory  of  which  it  desired  to  perpetuate  ; 
84 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

(3)  It  represented  the  arms  of  the  master  under  whom 

the  bearer  had  served  ;  or 

(4)  It  was  derived  from  a  sign  over  a  shop  or  a  tavern 

where  the  family  had  long  been. 

1.  I  have  said  enough  about  the  totems  of  noble  families  ; 
but  it  is  quite  possible  that,  among  those  who  had  belonged 
to  the  manor  or  been  among  the  retainers  of  a  great  family, 
there  may  have  been  an  impression  that  they  pertained  to  it 
in  blood,  and  had  a  right  to  the  same  totem.     This  took  a 
peculiar  form  after  the  tribal  organization  came  to  an  end. 
Among  the  Scandinavians  it  was  a  common  thing  to  say  of 
a  man  that  he  was  not  "  einhamr " — i.e.,  not  one-shaped. 
It  was  supposed  that  he  could  at  will  change  into  some  other 
form — not  any  form,  but  one  particular  shape — in  which  he 
could  range  the  country :   a  bear,  a  wolf,  a  fox,  an  eagle,  a 
dolphin,  or,  with  a  woman,  a  swan,  a  she-wolf,  a  hare,  or  a  cat. 

In  the  Manchester  Directory  for  1861  appeared  the  name 
Hell-cat,  and  the  name  occurs  in  Northumbria  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  The  name  was  accepted  without  compunc- 
tion by  the  family,  because  it  supposed  that  some,  at  all 
events,  among  the  womenkind  were  able  to  change  shape 
into  cats  at  night.  The  conviction  that  this  transformation 
was  possible  remained  rooted  in  the  minds  of  men  through- 
out the  Middle  Ages,  and  gave  rise  to  the  many  stories  of 
werewolves  and  of  human  bears,  and  of  witches  running 
about  in  the  shape  of  hares  and  bitches  and  vixens. 

Indeed,  the  belief  is  not  extinct  at  the  present  day  in  the 
East  of  Europe,  and  is  only  so  in  comparatively  recent  times 
in  France  and  Germany. 

Accordingly,  a  family  that  at  a  remote  period  believed 
that  it  was  descended  from  a  totemistic  beast  or  bird  or 
reptile  or  fish,  at  a  later  period  held  that  some  among  its 
members  possessed  the  faculty,  at  will,  of  transformation 
into  the  beast,  bird,  fish,  or  reptile,  whose  name  it  bare ;  and 
it  was  proud  to  retain  this  name,  as  giving  to  it  a  distinction 
above  others  in  the  same  village,  and  one  that  imposed  on 
the  neighbours  a  certain  respect  and  awe. 

2.  It  is  also  possible  enough  that  some  incident  connected 

85 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

with  an  animal  of  some  sort  may  have  become  a  hereditary 
family  story,  and  so  may  have  given  occasion  to  the  per- 
petuation of  the  name.  And  this  would  apply  to  other 
objects  as  well  as  animals. 

In  the  twelfth  century  a  Mansfeld  was  in  the  Battle  of 
Wolfshitze,  fought  in  1115,  and  was  almost  the  only  one  on 
his  side  who  escaped  with  his  life ;  he  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Emperor  Lothair.  Angry  at  his  lot,  which  he  regarded 
as  dishonourable,  he  exclaimed,  "  I'm  like  a  fly-away  goose," 
and  he  ever  after  bore  the  name  of  Gans  (Goose),  and 
transmitted  it  to  his  posterity,  that  bears  the  name  to  the 
present  day. 

Now,  if  these  things  happened  and  gave  names  to  historic 
families,  why  may  not  events  of  moment  in  domestic  annals 
have  been  the  occasion  of  fixing  names  on  families  not  in  the 
highest  ranks  ? 

3.  Many  an  old  retainer  or  man-at-arms  of  a  noble  or 
gentle  family,  who  had  marched  under  its  banner,  followed 
its  crest,  borne  its  cognizance  on  his  surcoat,  married  and 
settled  down  on  a  little  farm  of  his  master,  when  past 
service ;  and  his  old  surcoat,  with  the  lion,  or  the  bear,  or  the 
lox,  the  badger  or  the  hart,  was  hung  up  over  his  mantel- 
shelf, and  was  pointed  to  with  great  pride  by  the  ancient 
trooper.  If  he  wanted  a  surname,  what  better  could  he  take 
than  that  of  the  cognizance  he  had  so  bravely  borne  for  many 
a  year  on  the  fields  of  Guyenne  or  Normandy  ? 

"  This  day  is  call'd  the  feast  of  Crispian  : 
He  that  outlives  this  day,  and  comes  safe  home, 
Will  stand  a  tip-toe  when  this  day  is  nam'd, 
And  rouse  him  at  the  name  of  Crispian. 
He  that  shall  see  this  day,  and  live  old  age, 
Will  yearly  on  the  vigil  feast  his  neighbours, 
And  say,  "  To-morrovv  is  Saint  Crispian  :" 
Then  will  he  strip  his  sleeve  and  show  his  scars.  .  .  . 
Old  men  forget ;  yea,  all  shall  be  forgot, 
But  he'll  remember  with  advantages 
What  feats  he  did  that  day.  .  .  . 
This  story  shall  the  good  man  teach  his  son  ; 
And  Crispin  Crispian  shall  ne'er  go  by, 
86 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

From  this  day  to  the  ending  of  the  world, 
But  we  in  it  shall  be  remembered  ; 
We  few,  we  happy  few,  we  band  of  brothers  ; 
For  he  to-day  that  sheds  his  blood  with  me 
Shall  be  my  brother  ;  be  he  ne'er  so  vile, 
This  day  shall  gentle  his  condition." 

And  what  surname  would  the  soldier  adopt,  when  his  posi- 
tion was  made  gentle,  but  one  from  the  banner  under  which 
he  had  fought  ? 

Moreover,  every  serving-man  bore  on  his  arm  the  badge 
of  the  house  where  he  served ;  and  we  may  well  suppose 
that,  when  retiring  to  his  cottage  after  years  spent  in  his 
master's  hall,  at  his  master's  table,  or  running  as  a  page  in 
early  days  by  his  master's  horse,  he  would  be  proud  to  name 
himself  after  the  badge  in  silver  that  had  so  long  and  so 
honourably  adorned  his  arm. 

4.  We  come  now  to  the  signs  that  were  suspended  in  the 
streets  above  shops,  and  such  as  swung  before  alehouses.  In 
the  Hundred  Rolls  are  entries  "at  Roebuck,"  "  at  the  Cock," 
"de  Whitehorse,"  etc.,  indicative  of  signs. 

A  good  many  of  our  families,  though  not  the  majority  of 
them,  draw  their  descent  from  the  class  of  tradesmen  who 
adopted  signs  for  their  shops.  Houses  were  not  numbered, 
and  were  distinguished  by  some  device  that  swung  in  the 
street.  Taverns,  moreover,  have  retained  their  signs.  These 
usually  followed  the  heraldry  of  the  noble  or  gentle  families 
that  held  the  manor.  In  former  days  it  was  not  always 
possible  for  the  mansion  to  receive  all  the  retinue  of  a 
visitor,  and  they  were  sent  to  the  manor  inn,  placed  under 
the  arms  of  the  lord. 

Camden,  in  his  "  Remaines,"  says :  "  Many  names  that 
seem  unfitting  for  men,  as  bruitish  beasts,  etc.,  come  from 
the  very  signs  of  the  houses  where  they  inhabited;  for  I 
have  heard  of  them  which  say  they  spake  of  knowledge, 
that  some  of  late  time  dwelling  at  the  signe  of  the  Dolphin, 
Bull,  White  Horse,  Racket,  Peacock,  etc.,  were  commonly 
called  Thomas  at  the  Dolphin,  Will  at  the  Bull,  George  at 
the  White  Horse,  Robin  at  the  Racket,  which  names,  as 

8? 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

many  others  of  like  sort,  with  omitting  at,  became  after- 
wards hereditary  to  their  children." 

Pasquin,  in  his  "  Nightcap,"  published  in  1612,  gives  the 
following  lines,  that  show  how  in  the  seventeenth  century 
persons  were  individualized  by  their  shop  signs : 

"  First  there  is  Master  Peter  at  the  Bell, 
A  Linendraper  and  a  wealthy  man. 
Then  Master  Thomas  that  doth  stockings  sell, 
And  George  the  Grocer  at  the  Frying  Pan. 
And  Master  Timothie,  the  Woollendraper, 
And  Master  Saloman,  the  Leatherscraper, 
And  Frank  the  Goldsmith  at  the  Rose, 
And  Master  Philip  with  the  fiery  nose. 
And  Master  Miles,  the  mercer  at  the  Harrow, 
And  Master  Nicke,  the  Silkman  at  the  Plow. 
And  Master  Giles,  the  Salter  at  the  Sparrow, 
And  Master  Dike,  the  Vintner  at  the  Cow. 
And  Harry  Haberdasher  at  the  Home. 
And  Oliver,  the  Dyer,  at  the  Thome. 
And  Bernard,  Barber-surgeon,  at  the  Fiddle, 
And  Moses,  Merchant-tailor,  at  the  Needle? 

One  can  see  that  in  a  very  short  time  those  occupying 
such  shops  would  acquire  the  name  either  of  their  trade  or 
of  the  sign  under  which  it  was  conducted.  Peter  would  be 
known  either  as  Dyer  or  as  Bell,  Frank  as  Goldsmith  or  as 
Rose,  Miles  as  Mercer  or  as  Harrow.  And,  indeed,  every 
one  of  the  above  signs,  excepting  only  the  Frying-pan,  has 
become  subsequently  a  surname. 

In  the  Spectator,  No.  28,  1711,  is  this  :  "  Our  streets  are 
filled  with  blue  Boars,  black  Swans,  and  red  Lions ;  not  to 
mention  flying  Pigs,  and  Hogs  in  Armour,  with  many  other 
Creatures  more  extraordinary  than  any  in  the  Desarts  of 
Africk.  .  .  .  The  Bell  and  the  Neat's-Tongue,  the  Dog  and 
the  Gridiron,  the  Fox  and  Goose,  may  suppose  to  have  met, 
but  what  has  the  Fox  and  the  Seven  Stars  to  do  together  ? 
And  when  did  the  Lamb  and  the  Dolphin  ever  meet,  except 
upon  a  signpost  ?  As  for  the  Cat  and  Fiddle,  there  is  a 
conceit  in  it ;  and  therefore  I  do  not  intend  that  anything 
I  have  here  said  should  affect  it.  I  must,  however,  observe 
to  you  upon  this  subject,  that  it  is  usual  for  a  young  Trades- 

88 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

man,  at  his  first  setting  up,  to  add  to  his  own  Sign  that  of 
the  Master  whom  he  served ;  as  the  Husband  after  Marriage 
gives  a  place  to  his  Mistress's  Arms  in  his  own  Coat.  This 
I  take  to  have  given  Rise  to  many  of  those  Absurdities  which 
are  committed  over  our  Heads ;  and,  as  I  am  informed,  first 
occasioned  the  three  Nuns  and  a  Hare,  which  we  see  so 
frequently  joined  together.  I  would  therefore  establish 
certain  Rules,  for  the  determining  how  far  one  Tradesman 
may  give  the  Sign  of  another,  and  in  what  Cases  he  may  be 
allowed  to  quarter  it  with  his  own  :  I  would  enjoin  every 
Shop  to  make  use  of  a  sign  which  bears  some  Affinity  to  the 
Wares  in  which  it  deals.  What  can  be  more  inconsistent 
than  to  see  a  Taylor  at  the  Lion  ?  A  Cook  should  not  live 
at  the  Boot,  nor  a  Shoemaker  at  the  roasted  Pig ;  and  yet, 
for  want  of  this  Regulation,  I  have  seen  a  Goat  set  up  before 
the  Door  of  a  Perfumer,  and  the  French  King's  Head  at  a 
Sword-Cutler's."1 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  same  family,  perhaps  for 
several  generations,  carried  on  the  same  trade  under  the  same 
sign,  so  that  the  family  became  as  identified  with  its  sign  as 
a  gentle  race  was  with  its  heraldic  crest  or  coat.  Not  only 
so,  but  it  acquired  a  respect  for  and  love  of  the  weather- 
beaten  sign  that  had  swung  over  the  shop  from  year  to  year, 
under  father  and  grandfather  and  great-grandfather,  and 
which  was  a  symbol  as  well  of  honesty  and  just  dealing. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  shop  signs  that  have 
contributed  names  to  English  nomenclature — not,  of  course, 
complete,  for  a  complete  list,  if  obtainable,  would  occupy  too 
much  space. 

BADGER.  The  Old  English  name  is  Brock,  and  both  occur 
as  surnames.  The  brock  was  a  cognizance  of  the  De  Brooke 
family,  and  so  may  have  been  a  tavern  sign. 

BEE.  This  occurs  but  rarely  as  a  surname,  yet  the  busy  bee 
must  assuredly  have  served  as  a  sign.  The  bee  was  perhaps 
obscured  by  the  hive.  A  beille  is  the  French  for  a  bee,  whence 
the  names  A  ble  and  A  beillard,  condensed  into  Ballard. 

BULL  is  a  common  name,  and  was  a  tavern  sign  and  also 
1  There  is  another  paper  on  Signs  in  the  Tatler,  No.  18,  1709, 

89 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

a  shop  sign.  It  occurs  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  and  in  Post- 
mortem Inquisitions.  Other  cognate  names  are  Steer,  Calf, 
Stot,  or  Bullock.  Calf  is  a  rare  surname.  Veale  occurs  in  the 
Hundred  Rolls  as  Le  Veale,  but  represents  Le  Viel,  the  old 
man. 

CAT.  Although  a  sign,  the  name  of  Catt  probably  comes 
from  the  Low  Countries.  A  Christopher  Catt  kept  a  coffee- 
house at  which  assembled  a  club  of  wits  in  Queen  Anne's  time. 
The  members  resolved  to  be  painted  by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller, 
all  of  a  size,  three-quarter  length,  and  this  originated  the 
designation  of  "  kit-cat  "  for  the  dimension  of  canvas.  There 
was  a  famous  designer  of  emblems  named  Catt,  whose  book 
is  now  much  sought  after. 

CRANE,  a  shop  sign. 

DOG.  The  Talbot  was  a  heraldic  cognizance.  The  name 
Kenn  is  perhaps  from  Chien. 

DRAKE,  a  dragon.  The  drake  gules  was  the  cognizance 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Drake  of  Ashe,  near  Axminster.  In 
this  instance  it  is  probable  that  the  armorial  bearing  was 
occasioned  by  the  name,  and  that  some  legend  lay  behind 
the  name.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  the  navigator,  assumed  the 
arms,  though  he  could  establish  no  relationship,  and  a 
contest  of  words  ensued  in  the  presence  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
between  Sir  Bernard  Drake  of  Ashe  and  the  sailor. 

"  Well,"  said  the  Queen,  "  I  will  settle  the  dispute.  Sir 
Francis  shall  bear  on  his  coat  a  ship  carrying  reversed  on 
its  flag  the  wyvern  gules." 

Eventually,  unwilling  to  mortify  so  worthy  a  man  as  Sir 
Bernard,  she  granted  to  Sir  Francis  an  entirely  different  coat. 

DOVE,  as  a  sacred  symbol,  was  certain  to  appear  on  a 
signboard.  Dove  was  the  name  of  the  great  clothier  of 
Exeter,  commemorated  by  Delony  in  his  prose  romance  of 
"Tom  of  Reading,"  circa  1590.  Of  this  Dove  the  jingle  ran  : 

"  Welcome  to  town,  Tom  Dove,  Tom  Dove, 

The  merriest  man  alive  ; 
Thy  company  we  do  love,  love,  love  : 
God  grant  thee  well  to  thrive." 

Pigeon  also  is  a  surname ;  Columb  as  well.     Columbarium 

90 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

became  contracted  to  Culverhouse,  a  pigeonry,  and  thence 
came  the  surname  Claverhouse. 

DUCK.  Shovellers  and  other  water-birds  appear  on  so 
many  coats  of  arms,  and  are  vulgarly  all  called  ducks,  that 
we  might  be  sure  to  find  Duck  as  a  surname.  I  have  seen  it 
spelled  in  registers  Doke,  and  the  surname  Duke  is  actually  a 
substitution  for  Duck.  The  name  appears  variously  spelled 
in  the  Hundred  Rolls  and  elsewhere. 

Among  some  of  the  ducks  that  appear  on  coats  of  arms 
are  coots,  the  bearing  of  the  Coode  family.  But  this  name 
does  not  come  from  the  bird,  but  from  the  Celtic  for  a  wood, 
coet,  it  being  a  Cornish  family. 

EAGLE.  The  king  of  the  birds,  we  know  was  a  sign.  The 
two-headed  eagle  was  an  armorial  bearing ;  it  was  the  symbol 
of  the  Habsburg  Emperors.  When  the  Archduke  John  was 
shooting  in  Tyrol,  he  one  day  brought  down  an  eagle.  On 
contemplating  it  he  expressed  his  astonishment.  "  Why," 
he  exclaimed,  "  it  has  one  head  only  !"  Gilbert  de  la  Hegle 
appears  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  ;  so  also  does  Custance  le 
Egle.  But  the  usual  name  for  an  eagle  was  an  erne.  "  Eagle  " 
was  from  the  French — an  imported  word. 

FALCON.  This  is  still  an  inn  sign.  The  bird  was  variously 
described  from  the  sign  as  a  Kite  and  a  Hawk,  a  Sparrow- 
hawk  or  Sparke,  and  a  Glede.  This  last  name  is  found  in 
Gledhill  and  Gledstone. 

FINCH,  probably  the  sign  of  a  birdseller,  or  B^^rder.  The 
training  and  sale  of  bullfinches  was  the  occupation  of  a 
special  tradesman,  also  called  a  Fincher.  The  story  is  told 
of  a  certain  damsel,  that  she  once  dreamed  of  finding  a  nest 
containing  seven  young  finches,  which  in  course  of  time  was 
realized  by  her  becoming  the  wife  of  a  Mr.  Finch  and  mother 
of  seven  children.  From  one  of  these  nestlings  is  descended 
the  present  Earl  of  Winchelsea,  who  is  a  Finch.  Probably, 
however,  Finch  is  but  a  contraction  of  Fincher. 

FISH,  the  sign  hanging  over  a  fishmonger's  shop.1     The 

1  But  in  the  register  of  Bishop  Stafford  of  Exeter,  1395-1419,  the  same 
man,  Edward  Fysch,  is  called  elsewhere  Edward  Fyshacre,  showing  how 
names  got  clipped. 

91 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

name  is  found  in  early  records  as  Fyshe  or  Fyske.  A  good 
many  fish  have  contributed  surnames.  Dolphin  is  from  a 
sign  or  an  heraldic  cognizance.  A  Dolphin  is  named  in 
Domesday.  Herring  is  not  uncommon. 

"  Of  all  the  fish  in  the  sea  that  swim, 
There  is  none  better  than  Herring  the  King." 

Codd,  Mackerel,  Whiting,  Keeling,  Crabbe,  Chubb,  Tench, 
Pike,  and  Spratt,  are  names,  but  we  cannot  be  at  all  sure 
that  they  originally  were  used  in  the  sense  of  fish-names.  A 
Codner  was  a  cordwainer,  and  Codd  may  be  but  the  shortening 
of  this  name.  Whiting  may  be,  and  probably  is,  a  whitinger 
or  whitster.  Crabbe  is  probably  after  the  crab-tree.  Chubb 
is  probably  a  contraction  of  Cuthbert  or  of  Job.  Pike  is  a 
pikeman,  and  Spratt  is  St.  Privat,  or  St.  Pratt,  a  French 
place-name. 

FOWL  is  either  the  sign  of  a  poulterer,  or  a  contraction  of 
Fowler,  or  stands  for  the  Welsh  foel  (bald). 

Fox.  The  Fox  and  Grapes  and  the  Fox  and  Hounds  are 
common  tavern  signs.  But  Fox  is  also  a  corruption  of 
Fawkes,  itself  a  rendering  in  the  vernacular  of  Folko  or 
Foulques,  a  Norman  name.  We  have  also  the  name  Tod 
(a  male  fox),  Renaud  or  Renard  or  Reynard  ;  but  these  latter 
are  alterations  of  the  Norman  name  that  came  from  Regin- 
hard,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  foxes. 

GOAT.  An  entry  in  the  Parliamentary  writs,  "John  att 
Gote,"  points  to  the  sign  of  the  Goat  hanging  over  his  shop. 
Under  the  French  form,  Chevre,  we  get  the  name  Chivers. 
Kidd  is  not  from  a  kid,  but  from  Christopher,  that  became 
Kitt,  and  then  Kidd. 

GOOSE,  a  very  likely  sign  for  a  shop  where  feathers  and 
down  were  sold  for  beds  and  pillows.  We  have  the  name 
among  us  under  the  old  form  of  Goss.  Gosling  is  not  the 
young  of  a  goose  in  nomenclature,  but  Gauscelin  or  Joscelyn. 

GULL.  I  doubt  if  it  ever  were  a  sign.  The  surname  is 
from  Goelo,  a  district  in  Brittany  whence  followers  came 
who  attended  William  the  Conqueror.  The  name  is  also 
found  as  Gully. 

92 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

HART,  as  certainly  a  sign  as  it  was  a  crest.  There  were 
Buck  and  Stag,  Doe  and  Roe ;  but  Buck  may  stand  for  buck- 
master,  Stag  in  the  West  of  England  means  a  cock,  and  Roe 
may  be  a  Danish  name  or  a  corruption  of  Ralph.  H art  is  the 
name  from  a  sign,  or  from  a  knightly  crest  that  has  found 
much  favour  in  England. 

HERON,  or  Herne,  and  Hernshaw  (a  young  heron),  are 
names  that  occur,  and  we  can  well  imagine  the  Heron  as 
a  sign.  Tihel  de  Heroun  came  over  with  the  Conqueror, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  taken  his  name  from  a  place ;  but 
undoubtedly  he  would  take  a  heron  as  his  cognizance. 

HOG  was  a  family  name,  as  Hogg.  A  man  so  called  was 
being  tried  before  Judge  Bacon  on  a  capital  charge.  He 
pleaded  to  be  dealt  with  mercifully  on  account  of  the  relation- 
ship implied  by  his  name.  "  No,  my  friend,"  said  the  Chief 
Justice,  "not  till  you  are  hanged."  Richard  III.  assumed 
as  his  symbol  the  boar,  and  inns  with  this  sign  date  from  his 
reign.  It  was  said : 

"  The  Rat,  the  Cat,  and  Lovel  the  Dog, 
Rule  all  England  under  the  Hog." 

The  Rat  was  Radcliffe,  and  the  Cat  was  Catesby.  Other 
names  for  a  hog  are,  as  already  given,  Gryse,  also  Gait;  both 
have  contributed  to  our  nomenclature.  Sug  was  a  sow, 
and  comes  into  the  name  Sugden.  Pig  is  also  a  surname ; 
Christopher  Pigg  was  Lord  Mayor  of  Lyme  Regis  in  1742. 
The  name  Piggott,  or  little  pig,  came  in  with  the  Conquest ; 
it  occurs  several  times  in  Domesday ;  but  the  derivation  is 
probably  from  pigge,  a  little  girl. 

HORSE.  The  White  Horse  figured  as  a  sign,  and  there 
is  an  entry  "  Walter  de  Whitehorse  "  in  the  Calendar  of 
Patent  Rolls  in  the  Tower.  There  were  also  the  Colt,  the 
Palfrey,  and  the  Charger.  But  the  horse  has  not  contributed 
much  to  our  nomenclature  directly,  except  under  the  French 
form,  Cheval,  which  in  English  became  Capel.  Chaucer  uses 
the  word — "  and  gave  him  caples  to  his  cart."  A  quarryman 
on  Dartmoor,  from  whom  I  took  down  many  folk  airs,  was 
named  Nankivell — i.e.,  the  Valley  of  the  Horse  (Cornish). 

93 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

His  mates  called  him  "  Old  Capel."  From  Capel  (Caballus) 
comes  the  surname  Cable. 

HOWLET,  an  owl.  Hence,  possibly,  the  name  Hollet,  then 
Rollick. 

JAY  and  POPINJAY  certainly  would  be  signs.  Walter  le 
Jay  occurs  among  Inquisitiones  Post-Mortem.  The  popinjay 
was  a  stuffed  bird  adorned  with  ribbons,  that  served  as  a 
mark  for  shooters  with  bow  and  crossbow.  From  its  gay 
colours  it  gave  a  title  to  the  parrot.  The  name  occurs  in 
Norfolk  as  a  to-name  in  1371.  Among  the  privy  purse 
expenses  of  Elizabeth  of  York,  1502,  is  the  entry:  "To  a 
servant  of  William  ap  Howell  for  bringing  of  a  popynjay  to 
the  Queene  to  Windesore  xiiis.  mid."  Hence  the  names 
Popjoy  and  Popgay,  also  Jaye. 

LAMB.  The  Lamb  and  Flag  was  a  Church  alehouse  sign — 
a  symbol  of  the  Resurrection.  A  brother-in-law  of  John 
Wesley  bore  the  name  of  Whitelamb. 

LARK  or  LAVROCK.  Hamo  Larke  appears  in  the  Hundred 
Rolls.  Larkins  does  not  come  from  the  lark,  but  is  a  diminu- 
tive of  Laurence. 

LION,  that  figures — blue,  red,  gold,  and  green — on  so  many 
signs,  has  certainly  contributed  some  lion  surnames. 

LUCE,  the  Old  English  name  for  a  pike,  but  also  for  a  lily 
(the  fleur  de  luce),  has  given  a  name  to  the  Lucy  family  at 
Guy's  Cliff  and  to  others  elsewhere.  The  wife  of  one  of  my 
farmers  was  a  Luce.  Shakespeare  got  into  trouble  with 
Squire  Luce,  or  Lucy,  J.P.,  for  poaching,  and  he  revenged 
himself  on  him  by  drawing  him  as  Justice  Shallow  : 

"  Slender.  A  dozen  white  luces  in  their  coat. 
Shallow.  It  is  an  old  coat." 

Actually,  the  Lucy  family  bore  as  arms  three  pikes  naiant ; 
but  as  Lily  and  Lilley  it  exists  as  a  surname,  taken  from  the 
sign  for  the  Annunciation. 

PARROT.  Of  this  as  a  surname  we  cannot  be  sure  that  it 
is  not  a  form  of  Pierrot. 

PARTRIDGE  is  not,  as  a  surname,  from  a  bird,  but  is  a 
corruption  of  Patrick.  The  transitive  form  of  the  name  is 
Partrick. 

94 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

PEACOCK,  a  sign  of  an  inn  or  of  a  shop.  There  was  an 
Icelander,  Olaf,  who  was  nicknamed  Pa,  or  the  Peacock, 
because  he  dressed  gaily,  but  the  name  died  with  him  ;  and 
so,  if  given  in  England  to  a  man  for  his  gay  attire,  it  would 
expire  with  him.  But  it  would  remain  to  a  family  that 
carried  on  business  for  several  generations  at  the  sign  of  the 
Peacock.  But  some  Peacocks  may  derive  from  Peter  the 
Cook. 

PYE  or  MAGPIE,  an  inn  sign;  probably  a  shop  sign  as 
well. 

RAM.  The  entry  "  Thomas  atte  Ram "  among  the  muni- 
ments in  the  London  Guildhall  shows  that  the  Ram  was  a 
sign. 

RAVEN,  again  a  sign,  the  armorial  bearing  of  the  Corbetts. 
But  Rafn,  the  Old  Norse  for  a  raven,  remained  in  Northumbria 
as  a  personal  name  till  late. 

ROOK,  also  a  sign ;  hence  the  surname  Rooke. 

SWAN.  This  bird  naturally,  from  its  beauty,  commended 
itself  as  a  sign,  and  was  also  used  as  a  crest. 

WOLF  has  been  already  dealt  with.  As  Lupus,  Louve,  it 
has  undergone  a  strange  alteration  into  Love. 

WOODPECKER,  commonly  called  in  the  country  the 
Woodwall — i.e.t  Woodcall.  This  has  furnished  surnames — 
Woodwall,  Woodwale,  and  Hoodwall. 

WOODCOCK  appears  as  a  surname,  not  likely  to  be  taken 
from  a  sign.  It  is  a  corruption  of  Woodcott. 

The  sign  of  the  Angel  was  by  no  means  infrequent,  and  it 
has  contributed  a  name  to  our  family  nomenclature.  The 
Lily  for  the  symbol  of  the  Annunciation  has  been  already 
alluded  to.  Various  symbols  of  saints  have  also  served  as 
signs,  as  the  Cross  Keys  for  St.  Peter,  and  this  has  given  us 
the  name. 

Key  and  Keyes  are  names  :  Key  was  a  sign  of  a  locksmith, 
but  Keyes  refers  to  those  of  St.  Peter.  The  Cross  and  the 
Crucifix  have  also  given  us  surnames.  So  also  the  Leg x  (a 

1  The  name  of  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth's  family,  Legge,  may  be  a 
corruption  of  Liege. 

95 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Golden  Leg  having  been  a  sign) ;  so  also  a  Foot,  for  a  hosier 
and  a  shoemaker.  The  red  Hand  for  a  glover  has  likewise 
furnished  us  with  many  Hands.  The  Head  as  well,  either  as 
the  sign  of  a  hatter  or  as  an  armorial  bearing,  has  given  us 
not  only  Heads,  but  also  Tetes,  as  Tait  and  Tate,  unless  this 
name  comes  from  the  Norse  Teitr.  Morshead  is  from  the 
swaying  sign  of  the  Blackamore's  Head.  In  some  cases, 
though  not  in  all,  Chalice  may  derive  from  the  sign  of  the 
gold  cup  with  a  serpent  issuing  from  it,  the  symbol  of  John 
the  Divine ;  but  it  also  represents  the  Christian  name 
Calixtus.  Beauflower,  now  Boutflower,  and  corrupted  to 
Buffler,  represents  the  sign  of  the  Beaupot  with  flower-bunch 
in  it.  Our  Flowers,  however,  are  a  corruption  of  Floyers. 
There  is  a  shop  at  Plymouth  under  the  two  names  of  Dainty 
and  Dilly — the  former  from  the  French  dente,  and  the  latter 
name  comes,  perhaps,  from  the  sign  of  the  Daffy-down-dilly. 
The  Rose  was  the  usual  badge  of  a  goldsmith.  The  sur- 
name Nation  may  be  a  mutilation  of  Carnation,  and  the  sign 
of  the  Planta  genista  originated  the  surname  of  Broom.  The 
bunch  of  Savory,  the  token  of  the  shop  of  a  herbalist,  probably 
gave  its  name  to  a  family  of  some  note  in  Devon,  one  of 
whom  was  an  inventor  of  the  steam-engine — unless  Savory 
be  a  corruption  of  St.  Ebrard.  Lavender  as  a  surname  does 
not  come  from  the  herb,  but  signifies  a  washerman.  The 
Primrose  remains  as  a  surname  ;  it  is  that  of  Lord  Rosebery, 
whose  remote  ancestor  chose 

"  Pale  primroses 

That  die  unmarried,  ere  they  can  behold 
Bright  Phoebus  in  his  strength," 

by  a  happy  inspiration,  as  the  sign  of  his  shop. 

Some  of  the  many  Kings  who  are  found  among  us  derive 
their  name  from  the  King's  Head  or  the  Three  Kings  that 
swung  over  the  ancestral  shop.  So  also  our  Greens  look  back 
to  the  Green  Man,  or  Jack-in-the-Green,  of  May  Day,  a 
common  and  popular  sign.  The  name  of  Savage,  also,  refers 
to  the  sign  of  the  Wild  Man,  which  has  contributed  a  name 
in  that  form,  oftenest  shortened  into  Wilde  or  Wylde.  The 

96 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Barber's  Pole  probably  gave  its  appellation  to  the  family 
of  De-la-Pole,  that  rose  from  an  ignoble  stock  rapidly  into 
power  and  pride.  Snake  is  a  rare  surname,  but  it  exists. 
William  and  Robert  Snake  were  ancient  Provosts  of  Bristol. 
The  name  comes  from  the  sign  of  the  rod  of  ^sculapius 
with  the  intertwined  serpents,  that  indicated  the  shop  of 
the  apothecary.  Pepper  comes  from  the  peppercorn,  that 
betokened  the  place  where  the  spicer  had  his  counter ;  but 
Onion  is  the  Welsh  Einion,  and  Garlick  in  some  cases  from 
the  German  Gerlach,  but  may  be  in  others  from  the  sign  of 
the  garlick-seller.  The  Bell,  the  Hammer,  the  Harrow,  the 
Image,  the  Plough,  the  Rainbow,  the  Gauntlet,  the  Shield,  the 
Buckler,  and  many  more  signs,  have  contributed  to  English 
nomenclature. 

It  seems  strange  at  first  sight  that  the  sign  of  the  Sun 
should  not  have  contributed  names  to  families,  as  the  Blazing 
Orb  or  the  Rising  Sun  was  a  common  sign.  But  the  reason 
was  that  Son  and  Sun  were  interchangeable,  and  son  entered 
in  composition  into  so  many  names.  Edward  of  York  says : 

"  Henceforward  will  I  bear 
Upon  my  target  three  fair-shining  suns. 

Richard.  Nay,  bear  three  daughters  :  by  your 

leave  I  speak  it, 
You  love  the  breeder  better  than  the  male." 

Henry  VI.,  Part  III.,  II.  I. 

The  Moon  occurs,  but  it  is  a  corruption,  at  least  in  Devon- 
shire, of  Mohun. 

Starre,  for  Star,  we  do  possess,  as  also  the  German  impor- 
tation of  Stern  or  Sterne,  the  surname  of  the  famous  Laurence, 
author  of  "  Tristram  Shandy." 

The  little  town  of  Sterzing,  on  the  Brenner  Pass,  was  once 
far  more  flourishing  than  it  is  at  present,  owing  to  the  silver- 
mines  in  the  neighbourhood,  once  extensively  worked,  but 
now  fallen  into  decay.  It  consists  of  one  long  street  of 
medieval  houses,  with  a  gateway  at  each  end.  Every  house 
has  its  sign — the  Bear,  the  Lion,  the  Swan,  the  Stork,  the 
Golden  Sun,  the  Star  of  the  Magi,  the  Crown,  the  Spurs,  the 

97  G 


TOTEMISM  AND  NAMES 

Pine,  the  Talbot,  and  the  Eagle,  all  in  lively  colours  and 
blazing  with  goldleaf.  One  can  form  a  judgment  from  this 
street,  with  the  projecting  elaborate  and  delicate  ironwork 
supports  and  the  depending  painted  boards,  what  must  have 
been  the  picturesque  aspect  of  an  English  town  thoroughfare 
in  medieval  days,  even  in  those  of  Elizabeth. 

Macaulay,  in  his  account  of  London  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  says  :  "  The  houses  were  not  numbered.  There 
would,  indeed,  have  been  little  advantage  in  numbering  them ; 
for  of  the  coachmen,  chairmen,  porters,  and  errand  boys,  of 
London,  a  very  small  proportion  could  read.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  use  marks  which  the  most  ignorant  could  understand. 
The  shops  were  therefore  distinguished  by  painted  signs, 
which  gave  a  gay  and  grotesque  aspect  to  the  streets.  The 
walk  from  Charing  Cross  to  Whitechapel  lay  through  an 
endless  succession  of  Saracen's  Heads,  Royal  Oaks,  Blue 
Boars,  and  Golden  Lambs,  which  disappeared  when  they 
were  no  longer  required  for  the  common  people." 

They  disappeared  indeed  as  signs,  but  remained  in  family 
nomenclature. 


98 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   CASTLE   AND   THE   MANOR 

THE  Conquest  and  resettlement  of  England  by  William  the 
Bastard  caused  as  great  a  change  in  the  social  condition  as 
did  the  Revolution  in  France,  but  in  an  inverse  manner. 

Previously  the  land  had  been  in  the  possession  of  free- 
holders— thegns  and  haulds  and  smaller  men — with  their 
well-defined  rights  to  so  much  acreage,  pasture,  common, 
and  vert.  The  Crown  appointed  the  Sheriff,  but  the  minor 
officers  were  elected  by  the  people,  and  were  responsible  to 
them  for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties.  But  after 
the  Conquest  all  this  was  changed.  The  land  throughout 
England  was  claimed  as  the  property  of  the  Crown,  to  be 
distributed  among  foreign  favourites  under  feudal  tenure. 

"There  can  be  little  doubt,"  says  Freeman,  "that  it  was 
to  the  great  transfer  of  lands  from  Englishmen  to  strangers 
that  the  Norman  Conquest  of  England  owes  its  distinguish- 
ing character.  This  was  the  cause,  more  than  any  one  cause, 
which  made  the  Norman  Conquest  so  thorough  and  lasting 
if  we  look  at  it  from  one  point  of  view,  so  transitory  if  we 
look  at  it  from  another.  .  .  .  William's  foreign  knights  and 
men-at-arms  were  changed  into  English  landowners,  holding 
the  soil  of  England  according  to  English  law.  He  had  his 
garrisons  in  every  corner  of  the  land,  but  his  garrison  was 
formed  of  the  chief  lords  of  the  soil  and  the  chief  tenants 
who  held  under  them."1 

After  the  coronation  of  William  no  man  could  hold  an 
acre  by  an  ante-Norman  title.  All  were  obliged  to  obtain  a 

1  "  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  54. 

99  G  2 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

regrant  from  the  King,  and  it  was  exceptional  that  a  thegn 
of  the  time  of  King  Edward  should  retain  his  possessions 
under  King  William.  Dispossessed,  he  must  sink  to  be  a 
tenant-farmer  or  a  villein.  The  freeholder  of  his  allodial 
land  had  become  extinct,  and  a  network  of  officials  was  cast 
over  England,  holding  the  people  involved  in  its  toils. 

Some  of  the  Barons  held  a  great  number  of  manors.  They 
could  not  reside  on  them  all,  and  were  constrained  to  place 
subtenants  in  them.  Many  of  these  were  men  of  foreign 
race — Normans,  Bretons,  Flemings ;  but  some  were  native 
Englishmen.  These  latter  could  not,  however,  reckon  on 
permanency  of  tenure,  for  they  were  always  liable  to  be 
displaced,  to  make  way  for  a  superannuated  dependent  of 
the  lord,  for  whom  a  home  had  to  be  found,  that  his  place 
might  be  rilled  by  one  younger  and  more  active. 

We  read  in  the  Buckinghamshire  Domesday:  "  Ailric 
holds  four  hides  of  William  Fitzansculf  [the  new  Norman 
lord]  .  .  .  the  same  held  it  in  the  time  of  King  Edward ; 
and  he  now  holds  it  at  farm  of  William  under  heavy  circum- 
stances and  miserably." 

This  case  was  not  unique.  Thus :  "  Leofwin  holds  of  the 
Earl  Bure  in  Herefordshire.  This  land  the  same  Leofwin 
held  of  King  Edward,  and  he  could  sell  it.  Now  he  holds  it 
as  farm  of  the  Earl."  These  passages  illustrate  the  remark 
of  Bracton  that  there  were  before  the  Conquest  freemen  who 
held  their  lands  by  free  service,  but  who,  after  they  had  been 
ousted  by  more  powerful  men,  took  back  the  same  tenements 
to  be  held  in  villeinage.  Some  who  were  fortunate  secured 
the  freehold  of  a  scrap  of  their  former  estate. 

The  ordinary  arrangement  in  every  manor  was  this :  It 
was  divided  into  two  parts.  One  portion  was  the  great 
home-farm  about  the  seigneurial  manor-house,  held  distinct 
from  that  of  the  tenants.  The  rest  of  the  manor,  called  the 
tenantry  part,  was  divided  into  small  copyholdings,  of  about 
nearly  equal  value,  and  enjoying  equal  rights  of  commonage. 
There  was,  however,  a  constant  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  tenantry  to  reduce  their  privileges,  and  the  functionaries 
of  the  lord  were  on  the  alert  to  pare  down  their  rights. 

100 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

Here  is  a  list  of  the  ten  largest  holders  of  land  after  the 
Conquest : 

1.  The  King  held  as  many  as               -  1,422  manors. 

2.  The  Earl  of  Mortaine  held     -         -  793  „ 

3.  Alan,  Earl  of  Brittany,  held  -         -  442  „ 

4.  Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  held          -  439  „ 

5.  Gosfrid,  Bishop  of  Coutance,  held  280  „ 

6.  Roger  de  Busle  held      -                  -  174  „ 

7.  Ilbert  de  Laci  held         ...  164  „ 

8.  William  Peverel  held     -                  -  162 

9.  Robert  de  Stradford  held       -  150  „ 
10.  Roger  de  Laci  held                          -  116  „ 

As  may  well  be  conceived,  the  great  Barons  must  have  em- 
ployed numerous  officials,  not  only  about  their  own  persons, 
but  in  supervision  of  their  many  and  scattered  estates ;  and 
thus  there  arose  a  whole  class  of  functionaries,  who  had 
to  be  maintained  out  of  the  land,  so  that  the  unfortunate 
under-tenants  and  copyholders  were  oppressed  with  the 
burden,  not  only  of  the  King's  taxes,  but  also  of  rent  to  the 
overlord,  and  dues  for  the  support  of  the  swarm  of  officials. 

The  Norman  Conquest  introduced  into  England  Bumble- 
dom and  Flunkey  ism. 

Every  great  owner  of  manors  must  have  his  bailiff,  his 
steward,  his  reves,  his  rangers,  his  foresters,  beside  the  many 
officials  about  his  person.  And  these  latter  were  men  of 
consideration,  who  had  to  be  well  paid,  naturally  at  the  cost 
of  the  tenants. 

Charles  the  Great  had  instituted  the  order  of  Ministrales. 
About  his  sacred  person  were  grouped  functionaries  who 
were  hereditary  servers  at  his  table — butlers,  shoers  of  his 
horses,  dispensers  of  the  provisions  in  his  household.  His 
Court  was  "  crowded  with  officers  of  every  rank ;  some  of 
the  most  eminent  of  them  exercised  functions  about  the 
royal  person  which  would  have  been  thought  fit  only  for 
slaves  in  the  palace  of  Augustus  or  Antonine.  To  carry  his 
banner  or  his  lance,  lead  his  array,  to  be  his  marshal,  or 
constable,  or  sewer,  or  carver ;  to  do,  in  fact,  such  services, 

101 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

trivial  or  otherwise,  as  his  lord  might  have  done  for  himself 
in  proper  person,  had  it  so  pleased  him — this  was  the  position 
coveted  by  youths  of  birth  and  distinction  at  such  a  period 
as  this." 

From  the  Court  of  the  Emperor  the  system  descended  to 
that  of  Dukes  and  Earls.  William  the  Conqueror  had  his 
Marshal  and  his  Despenser.  And  these  offices  were  by  no 
means  sinecures,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  story  of  the 
transfer  of  that  of  High  Steward  to  the  Conqueror  from 
William  FitzOsbern  to  Eudo  de  Rie.  At  dinner  one  day 
FitzOsbern  with  his  own  hands  had  placed  before  the  King 
a  crane  that  was  but  half  roasted ;  whereat  William  raised 
his  fist  to  strike  him  in  the  face,  but  Eudo  warded  off  the 
blow.  FitzOsbern,  very  angry,  asked  to  be  relieved  of  his 
function,  and  it  was  given  to  Eudo. 

The  Stuarts  were  the  hereditary  Stewards  of  the  Crown  of 
Scotland.  The  Marshalls,  whom  the  Conqueror  elevated  to 
become  Earls  of  Pembroke,  were  his  stable-keepers,  and  saw 
to  the  curry-combing  of  his  horses,  and  the  pitchforking 
out  every  day  of  their  dung  to  the  heap.  The  Despensers 
were  royal  officials  placed  in  charge  of  the  buttery,  or 
"  spence,"  where  the  store  of  meat  and  bread  was  kept  ; 
such  was  the  origin  of  the  family  of  Spencer,  Duke  of 
Marlborough.  The  ancestor  of  the  Grosvenors,  Dukes  of 
Westminster,  was  the  chief  huntsman  of  the  Duke  of 
Normandy. 

The  modest  Le  Boteler  was  the  proto-parent  of  the  family 
of  Butler.  James  Butler,  Duke  of  Ormond,  derived  in  lineal 
descent  from  a  grave  individual,  bottle  in  hand,  who  stood 
behind  some  Prince,  or  perhaps  only  petty  squire,  and  said 
deferentially,  in  the  corresponding  terms  of  the  day  :  "  Port 
or  sherry,  sir  ?"  Earl  Ferrers,  who  shot  his  valet  for  showing 
lack  of  proper  respect,  might  with  advantage  have  looked 
back  to  the  founder  of  his  family  in  a  leather  apron,  shoeing 
the  Bastard's  horse  before  the  Battle  of  Hastings. 

The  Chamberlaynes  derive  also  from  the  race  of  Ministrales, 
of  whom  Boyet  and  Malvolio  are  the  types,  pacing  back- 
ward, making  legs,  kissing  the  hand,  cap  lowered,  an  eternal 

102 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

smile  on  the  face,  proud  of  their  chain  of  office,  that  was 
also  a  badge  of  servitude.  Lord  Napier  of  Magdala  derives 
his  descent  from  the  functionary  in  charge  of  the  napery, 
sheets,  pillow-cases,  table-linen — the  man  with  a  towel  over 
his  arm,  like  the  modern  gar$on  or  kellner,  ready  to  wipe  his 
master's  ringers  after  he  had  washed  them  in  the  ewer, 
having  finished  tearing  his  food  with  his  hands.  And  con- 
sider the  family  motto,  implying  that  the  race  was  with 
"  na-na-peer  "  !  What  dexterity  in  wiping  gravied  fingers 
and  a  dirty  mouth  it  must  have  displayed,  or  in  ironing  and 
folding  bed-linen,  that  it  could  boast  of  having  no  equal  ! 

The  Earl  of  Morley  is  a  Parker,  and  the  office  of  the 
parker  was  to  see  to  the  palings  of  the  seigneurial  park,  lest 
they  should  rot  and  allow  the  deer  to  break  forth — the  same 
office  as  that  held  by  the  Pallisers. 

After  all,  it  may  be  thought  that  the  more  honourable 
ancestry  is  that  of  a  freeborn,  honest,  independent  yeoman, 
rather  than  that  of  one  of  the  flunkeys  who  capered  attend- 
ance on  the  great. 

The  official  life  of  feudal  times  has  left  its  existing  record 
in  our  family  nomenclature.  It  is  a  record  that  will  never 
be  effaced,  and  it  is  one  that  tells  its  own  tale. 

The  higher  feudatories  in  England,  as  elsewhere,  imitated 
the  example  set  them  by  the  Court  of  the  Kings,  and  the 
lower  Barons  followed  suif  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  were 
copied  eventually  by  every  manorial  lord  or  squire  as  far  as 
his  means  allowed.  Consequently,  household  officers  sprang 
up  on  all  sides  thick  as  toadstools. 

But  the  names  pertaining  to  these  offices  did  not  become 
hereditary  unless  the  offices  themselves  became  hereditary, 
and  then  adhered  solely  to  the  tenant  of  the  office,  and  not 
to  all  his  sons,  and  to  none  of  his  brothers. 

The  hereditary  principle  became  such  a  recognized  institu- 
tion in  feudal  Europe  that  the  son  of  a  chamberlain  or 
forester  might  expect  as  his  due  to  enter  upon  his  father's 
functions  when  that  father  died  or  retired,  and  his  lord 
would  recognize  the  claim  as  just  and  admissible. 

Suppose  that  John  the  Chamberlain  had  three  sons — Tom, 

103 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

Dick,  and  Harry.  Tom,  as  the  eldest,  remained  with  his 
father,  and  acquired  aptitude  in  all  the  functions  of  a 
chamberlain.  But  Dickon  would  have  to  suit  himself  with 
a  situation  elsewhere,  and  would  be  accommodated,  let  us 
say,  with  that  of  forester,  whilst  his  brother  Harry  would 
be  happy  to  enter  on  that  of  bailiff.  Then  the  two  younger 
sons  of  John  Chamberlain  would  be  Dickon  the  Forester  and 
Harry  the  Bailie.  Tom  Chamberlain  in  turn  would  be  the 
father  of  Robert,  Gregory,  and  Walter.  Robert  would 
succeed  to  the  office  and  title  of  Chamberlain  ;  but  Gregory, 
may  be,  would  migrate  to  a  town  and  become  a  mercer; 
and  Walter,  having  a  capacity  that  way,  would  become  a 
cook.  Neither  would  carry  away  with  him  the  title  of 
Chamberlain.  No  man  steps  into  his  father's  shoes  unless 
they  fit  him. 

Only  after  a  particular  office  had  been  held  for  several 
generations  in  lineal  descent,  till  the  period  when  surnames 
became  general,  would  the  title  of  the  bearer  of  the  office  be 
applied  to  all  his  family,  although  not  exercising  his  func- 
tions, and  so  become  a  hereditary  surname. 

In  feudal  tenure  there  was  a  graduated  scale  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  functionary,  but  below  him  a  line  was 
drawn  that  was  for  some  time  difficult  to  pass.  From  the 
lord  down  to  the  lowest  official,  all  were  of  foreign  blood  ; 
their  home  was  in  the  castle  or  the  manorial  hall,  and  their 
language  was  French.  But  below  the  line  of  feudatories  and 
retainers  were  the  villeins,  boors,  cotters,  coliberts,  socmen, 
and  churls.  The  only  intervening  class  was  that  of  the 
Vavasours,  suspended,  like  Mahomet's  coffin,  between  the 
heaven  of  the  Norman  castle  and  the  earth  of  the  villein 
hamlet. 

In  this  chapter  we  will  deal  only  with  the  official  class, 
and  that,  moreover,  which  belongs  mainly  to  the  land,  and 
not  to  the  town. 

In  the  next  we  will  step  out  of  the  castle  into  the  village, 
from  the  chatter  of  French  tongues  to  the  grave  speech  of 
the  English  farmer  and  peasant  in  the  field.  It  will  be 

104 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

seen  that  both  have  contributed  to  the  formation  of  English 
surnames. 

ACHATOUR,  the  purveyor  of  the  castle  or  hall,  purchasing 
the  necessary  food,  and  handing  it  over  to  the  steward. 
Hence  our  surnames  of  Cator,  Chater,  Astor,  and  Caterer. 
Chaucer  remarks  of  the  manciple  who  was  so  "nise  in  buying 
of  victuals  "  that  of  him  "  Achatour  mighten  take  example." 
Among  Oxford  University  accounts  for  1459  mention  is  made 
of  the  "  catours." 

ARMIGER,  the  esquire  who  carried  the  knight's  shield. 
Robert  Shallow  Esquire,  Slender  says,  is  "  a  gentleman  born, 
who  writes  himself  armigero  in  any  bill,  warrant,  quittance, 
or  obligation  armigero."  "  Shallow.  Ay,  that  I  do,  and  have 
done  any  time  these  three  hundred  years."  We  retain  the 
word  as  a  family  name  in  Armiger. 

ASSAYER,  a  taster,  to  assure  the  lord  at  table  that  the  food 
and  drink  had  not  been  poisoned.  The  word  is  used  as  well 
for  a  tester  of  metals.  The  names  Sayer,  Sayers,  Saer,  come 
hence. 

ASTRINGER,  the  functionary  entrusted  with  the  charge  of 
the  goshawk,  or  "oster."  "The  gentle  Astringer"  is  intro- 
duced in  "All's  Well  that  Ends  Well."  As  a  surname  we 
have  Stringer  and  A  ustringer. 

AVENER,  the  official  whose  charge  it  was  to  supply  hay — 
avoine — for  the  stables.  Hence  comes  Venners. 

BAILIFF,  the  same  as  reve  or  steward.  Wicklyffe,  in  Luke 
xvi.  2,  has,  "  Yelde  rekenying  of  thi  Baylye,  for  thou  myght 
not  now  be  baylyf,"  where  in  the  Authorized  Version  we 
have  this  officer  rendered  "  steward." 

BEDALL.  The  official  is  mentioned  in  Domesday  Book. 
He  was  the  functionary  who  executed  processes  in  the  courts 
of  the  manor,  or  in  a  forest,  or  any  other  court.  The  sur- 
name remains  as  Beadell,  Beadle,  Beadall,  and  contracted  to 
Biddle,  also  Bedell. 

BERNER.  The  berner  was  a  special  houndsman  who  stood 
with  fresh  relays  of  dogs,  ready  to  unleash  them  if  the  chase 
grew  long  and  the  hounds  out  showed  signs  of  being 

105 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

spent.  In  the  Parliamentary  Rolls  he  is  termed  a  "yeoman- 
berner." 

BERWARD  or  BEARWARD.  Some  nobles  kept  bears  for  the 
amusement  of  having  them  baited.  The  man  who  baited  them 
was  the  Bateman ;  he  in  charge  of  the  brutes  was  the  Bear- 
ward  or  B  carman,  often  spelled  B  or  man.  In  the  household 
expenses  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  in  1511  is  "6s.  8d. 
to  the  Kings  and  Queenes  Barward,  if  they  have  one,  when 
they  come  to  the  Earl."  In  the  Parliamentary  Rolls  mention 
is  made  of  the  "  Beremaster  of  the  Forest  of  Peake." 

Bears  were  taken  about  from  town  to  town,  to  be  baited 
for  public  amusement.  Bear-baiting  was  not  forbidden  by 
Act  of  Parliament  till  1835.  Slender  says:  "Be  there  bears 
in  the  town?"  "Anne.  I  think  there  are,  sir.  I  heard  them 
talked  of."  Surnames  of  Barman  and  Berman  remain ;  also 
Bates  for  the  Bater's-man. 

BLOWER  or  HORNBLOWER,  the  man  who  at  a  chase 
called  the  dogs  together.  Both  forms  remain,  but  Blower 
is  often  contracted  to  Blore  and  Blow ;  also  the  surname 
Horniman. 

BOWER  and  BOWERS,  an  indoor  servant,  attendant  on 
the  ladies.  Also  Bowerman  and  Burman. 

BUCKMASTER,  an  officer  of  the  chase ;  shortened  to  Buck. 

CARVER,  the  servant  who  carved  the  meat.  Same  as 
Dresser. 

CASTELLAN,  the  keeper  of  a  castle.  As  a  surname,  con- 
tracted to  Castle. 

CELLARER.  The  name  remains  as  a  surname  in  the  form 
of  Sellars,  unless  this  be  from  the  salt-makers. 

CHAMBERLAIN,  one  of  the  most  intimate  servants  in  a 
seigneurial  house,  and  one  who  had  charge  of  the  accounts. 
The  surname  from  the  office  is  sometimes  shortened  to 
Chambers. 

CHANCELLOR,  keeper  of  records. 

CLAVINGER,  the  keeper  of  the  keys ;  also  a  mace-bearer. 
As  a  surname,  Cleaver  and  Claver. 

CONSTABLE.  The  office  ranged  from  one  very  high,  as 
that  of  a  Constable  of  France,  to  the  constable  of  a  village. 

106 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

In    "  The    Man   of   Law's   Tale "    Chaucer   speaks   of   the 
Constable  of  the  Castle. 

COOK  or  LE  Cog,  a  very  important  functionary.  His 
name  enters  into  numerous  combinations,  as  Badcock  (Bar- 
tholomew le  coq),  Wilcox  (Will  le  coq),  Hancock  (John  le  coq). 
Mr.  Lower  and  Mr.  Bardsley  think  "  cock  "  is  a  diminutive 
only.  But  it  is  always  found  after  a  Christian  name  that 
is  already  in  the  diminutive,  and  I  consider  that  it  means 
"  the  cook."  Beside  the  French  termination  le  Coq,  whence 
Coxe,  we  have  the  English  surname  Cooke.  But  that  cock 
and  cox  so  frequently  end  names  indicates  that  the  Norman 
lords  did  not  trust  to  having  Englishmen  in  their  kitchen  to 
prepare  their  food.  The  name  is  sometimes  spelled  Cooke. 
We  have  also  the  names  Cookson,  Cookman,  and  Cokeman. 
The  entry  "Robert,  fil.  Coci"  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  shows 
that  some  Cooks'  sons  were  so  designated  whose  fathers  had 
no  recognized  surnames.  Also  Kitchen  and  Kitchener. 

DEERMAN,  a  warder  to  look  after  the  wild  animals  in 
a  park. 

DESPENSER,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  victuals  in  the 
buttery.  Hence  the  surnames  Spenser  and  Spencer.  "  Adam, 
that  was  the  Spencer"  ("The  Coke's  Tale"  in  the  "Canter- 
bury Pilgrims"). 

DRESSER,  the  official  who  dressed  the  table  for  a  meal, 
described  in  the  "  Promptuarium  Parvulorum."  Our  word 
"dresser,"  for  a  side-table  on  which  the  meat  is  placed  and 
cut  up,  comes  hence. 

ENGINEER,  the  officer  in  charge  of  catapults  and  other 
engines  of  war.  The  Hundred  Rolls  give  William  le  Engynur 
and  Wallis  le  Ginnur.  Hence  come  our  surnames  Ginners, 
Jenners,  and  Ginns. 

ESKRIMIGER,  attendant  on  a  knight  or  a  noble  to  instruct 
the  youths  in  the  art  of  employing  their  weapons.  Such  a 
mock-fight  was  a  skrimmage.  The  word  comes  from  the 
French  eskrimer,  to  fence.  Hence  the  fencing-master  has 
furnished  us  with  the  surnames  Skrimiger  and  Skrimshire. 

ESQUIRE.  The  place  of  shield-bearer  and  attendant  on  a 
noble  or  knight  was  much  sought  after  by  the  sons  of  men 

107 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

in  good  position,  as  it  was  an  admirable  apprenticeship  for 
war.  By  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  the  word  was  adopted  by 
the  heirs  of  gentle  houses.  From  it  come  our  Squires, 
Squeers  of  Dotheboys  Hall,  and  Swiers.  These  names  were 
acquired  by  such  as  did  not  proceed  to  knighthood. 

ESPIGURNEL,  the  official  in  charge  of  the  lord's  seal. 
Hence  the  surname  Spurnell. 

FALCONER.  In  Domesday  four  tenants-in-chief  are  given 
the  title  of  Falconers.  Until  the  reign  of  King  John  it  was 
unlawful  for  any  but  those  of  the  highest  rank  to  keep  hawks. 
By  a  statute  passed  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  anyone  who 
found  a  strayed  falcon  was  bound  to  bring  it  to  the  Sheriff 
of  the  county,  who  made  thereupon  proclamation  for  the 
owner  to  claim  it.  If  the  finder  concealed  the  bird,  he  was 
liable  to  two  years'  imprisonment.  We  have  the  surnames 
Falconer,  Falkner,  Faulconer,  Fauconer,  and  Faukner. 

FEUTERER  or  VAULTRIER  was  the  man  who  unleashed 
the  hounds.  The  surnames  of  Future  and  Futurer  come  from 
this  functionary. 

FORESTER,  a  very  important  officer  charged  with  the 
supervision  of  the  royal  forests.  There  were,  of  course, 
many  under-foresters.  From  these  officers,  when  the  offices 
became  hereditary,  came  the  surnames  of  Forester,  Forster, 
Foster. 

FORSET  (Old  Norse  forseti,  a  judge)  has  given  surname  to 
Forset,  Fawcett.  The  title  was  used  only  in  Northumbria, 
and  the  office  was  changed  and  lost  its  Scandinavian  desig- 
nation after  the  complete  reduction  of  the  North  by  William. 
It  occurs  in  Domesday. 

GARDENER.  The  name  is  French ;  we  may  conclude, 
therefore,  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  no  gardens,  only 
orchards.  The  surname  is  often  spelled  Gardiner  and  Gardner, 
also  Jar  dine. 

GAOLER,  a  French  name,  showing  that  no  Englishman 
could  be  trusted  by  a  Norman  with  the  keys  of  the  prison. 
The  surnames  from  the  office  are  Gayler,  Gale,  and  Jelly, 
perhaps. 

GRANGER,  one  who  occupied  the  grange  of  the  lord, 

108 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

secular  or  ecclesiastical,  in  which  the  corn  "  grain "  was 
stored. 

GRIEVE,  the  Gerefa  or  Reeve,  the  manorial  bailiff.  The 
"  Boke  of  Curtasye  "  says  : 

"  Gray  vis  and  baylys  and  parkers 
Shall  come  to  accountes  every  yere 
Byfore  the  auditours  of  the  lorde." 

As  a  surname  the  title  is  still  with  us,  either  as  Grieves  or 
Greaves  or  Greeves.  We  have  also  Grierson,  the  son  of  the 
Grieve. 

GUNNER,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  guns.  Our  surname 
contracted  to  Gunn.  In  Northumbria,  however,  from  Old 
Norse  Gunnar. 

HARBORER,  the  functionary  who  had  charge  of  the  guests 
to  see  them  properly  disposed  of ;  or  an  officer  who  preceded 
his  lord  when  he  progressed  looking  out  for  lodgings  for  the 
night  for  him  and  his  retinue.  In  the  "  Canterbury  Tales  " 
we  have  : 

"  The  fame  anon  throughout  the  town  is  borne, 
Here  Alia  King  shall  come  on  pilgrimage, 
By  harbergeours  that  wenten  him  before." 

The  modern  German  is  herberger.  The  several  Coldharbours 
found  in  England  express  that  there  were  comfortless  shelters 
for  travellers.  The  surname  Arbour  or  Arber  comes  from 
this  officer. 

HARAUD,  the  herald.  In  the  metrical  romance  of  "  Torrent 
of  Portygale,"  circa  1435,  spelled  Haraud.  Everyone  in 
London  knows  Harrod's  Stores,  but  not  one  in  a  thousand 
has  any  idea  that  the  ancestor  was  a  herald  in  tabard,  and 
held  in  high  honour;  unless,  indeed,  the  name  be  from 
Harrold,  near  Bedford. 

HARPER.  Most  large  castles  had  in  them  the  harper.  The 
surname  remains. 

HARTMAN,  the  officer  who  looked  after  the  harts  in  the 
chase.  The  surname  from  it  may  be  Hardman,1  and  some- 
times only  Hart. 

1  But  Hardman  may  be  the  serving-man  of  Hardy. 
109 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

HASTLER,  the  turnspit.  From  hasta,  a  spear,  to  which  the 
spit  bore  some  resemblance.  Surnames  :  Hasler,  Haseler, 
Haysler. 

HAUBERGER  and  HAUMER,  those  entrusted  with  the 
habergeon  and  the  hawlm,  or  helmet.  The  latter  has 
supplied  the  surname  Homer. 

The  FURBISHER  or  FROBISHER  kept  the  armour  polished. 

HENCHMAN,  a  messenger.  Surnames:  Hinksman,  Hinch- 
man. 

HIND,  the  man  who  looked  after  his  master's  affairs  in  the 
home-farm.  Hence  the  surnames  Hynde  and  Hyne. 

HOARDER,  the  English  name  for  the  cellarer.  From  it  we 
have  the  surnames  Horder,  Horden,  Hoadener,  Herder. 

HOBBLER  was  a  tenant  holding  his  tenure  on  the  obliga- 
tion of  coming  out  on  a  hobby,  or  farm-horse,  when  called 
upon  by  his  lord.  An  ordinance  of  Edward  III.  speaks  of 
men-at-arms,  hobblers,  and  archers. 

HUNTSMAN.  As  Hunter  the  name  of  the  office  remains  a 
surname.  Shortened  also  to  Hunt. 

KNIGHT  by  no  means  invariably  means  one  who  has 
received  knighthood.  A  knight  is  a  knecht,  a  servant.  The 
surname  Midnight,  perhaps,  means  the  mead-cniht,  the  man 
who  poured  out  the  mead. 

JACKMAN,  a  man-at-arms  in  a  coat  of  mail  or  jacket,  and 
wearing  jack-boots. 

MARSHALL,  originally  the  horse-groom.  He  rose  into 
consideration  and  became  a  regulator  of  ceremonies.  The 
"  Boke  of  Curtasye  "  says  : 

"In  halle  marshalle  alle  men  shalle  sette 
After  their  degree,  withouten  lett." 

MESSENGER,  a  servant  much  needed  when  there  was  no 
post.  Every  great  house  had  to  keep  its  messenger.  As  a 
surname,  sometimes  Massenger.  But  the  Old  English  word 
was  Sandiman  or  Sandman. 

MILLER.  The  mill  belonged  to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and 
the  tenants  were  not  allowed  to  grind  their  corn  at  any  other. 
HenceMilner  andMilward  (Anglo-Saxon  for  a  miller),  Millman. 

no 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

NAPPER,  the  servant  who  attended  to  the  napery.  Hence 
Napier,  and  perhaps  Knapper. 

PAGE  ;  of  this  PAGET  is  the  diminutive. 

PALFREYMAN,  the  keeper  of  the  ladies'  palfreys. 

PANTLER,  the  servant  in  charge  of  the  pantry. 

PARKER,  the  official  in  charge  of  the  deer-park.  Hence 
Parkman,  Parkes. 

PENNIGER,  the  man  who  bore  his  lord's  banner.  Some  of 
the  Pennys  we  meet  with  may  take  their  name  from  Penniger. 
Pfeniger  is  still  a  surname  in  Germany.  In  Scotland  the 
corresponding  officer  was  called  Bannerman. 

PIKEMAN.  From  him,  by  contraction,  comes  the  name 
Pyke. 

PORTER,  the  gatekeeper.  The  family  of  Porter  of  Saltash 
is  one  of  hereditary  gatekeepers  of  Trematon  Castle.  The 
English  of  Porter  is  Durward. 

POTTINGER,  the  gardener  of  potherbs  for  the  kitchen. 

POYNDER,  a  bailiff. 

PRICKMAN,  the  man  whose  duty  it  was  to  look  after  the 
prickets.  Cf.  "  Love's  Labour  Lost,"  IV.  n.  Also  Prickett ; 
but  Prickard  is  Ap  Richard. 

PROCURATOR,  an  attorney.     Hence  Procter,  Procktor. 

RANGER,  a  keeper. 

REVE,  from  Gerefa.  There  were  reeves  of  various  kinds, 
looking  after  the  manorial  rights  :  Woodkeepers,  whence  the 
surnames  Woodward  and  Woodrow ;  fenreeves,  to  look  after 
the  rights  to  turbary ;  hythereeves,  taking  harbour  dues ; 
portreeves,  in  coast  towns. 

RIDER.  The  Barons  maintained  German  mercenaries  as 
horsemen.  These  were  the  Reiter,  or,  as  the  English  called 
them,  Reuters.  They  soon,  however,  changed  Reuter  into 
Rider  and  Ryder.  An  old  song  begins : 

"  Rutterkyn  is  come  into  oure  towne 
In  a  cloke  withoute  cote  or  gowne, 
Save  a  ragged  hood  to  cover  his  crowne 
Like  a  rutter  hoyda." 

All  our  Ryders  may  with  confidence  look  back  to  a  German 
or  Brabant  origin,  when  the  ancestor  came  over  "withoute 

in 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

cote  or  gowne  "  to  take  the  King's  or  some  Earl's  or  Baron's 
money  as  a  mercenary,  but  saw  a  pretty  English  wench, 
married,  and  settled  down  among  his  wife's  people. 

RYMER,  a  reciter  of  poems  and  ballads. 

SCRIVENER.  In  the  castle  or  hall  the  illiterate  noble  or 
Lord  of  the  Manor  was  obliged  to  employ  a  writer,  to  put 
down  his  accounts,  arrange  contracts  in  writing  with  his 
tenants,  and  do  for  him  his  general  correspondence.  As  a 
surname  we  have  both  Scrivener  and  Scribner. 

SENESCHAL.  In  Latin  Dapifer,  and  so  found  in  Domesday. 
The  schalk  that  we  have  here  and  in  Marshall,  and  in  the 
old  word  for  a  porter,  Gateschall,  from  which  the  surname 
Gattishill,  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  schalk,  a  servant.  In  German 
Schalk  now  means  a  rogue.  In  an  old  poem  we  have : 

"  Then  the  schalkes  sharply  shift  their  horses, 
To  show  them  seemly  in  their  sheen  weeds." 

From  this  word  schalk  comes  the  surname  Chalk. 

SEWER  is  simply  a  server,  a  waiter.  The  "  Boke  of 
Servynge "  says :  "  The  server  must  serve,  and  from  the 
borde  convey  all  manner  of  pottages,  metes,  and  sauces." 
As  a  surname  it  has  become  Sour  and  Shower. 

SEIGNEUR,  a  lord,  has  become  the  surname  Senior. 

SHERIFF,  a  royal  officer  in  the  county,  and  only  inserted 
here  because  the  great  noble  was  often  nominated  to  be  a 
Sheriff.  Probably  the  surname  Sheriff  comes  from  some 
Sheriffs  officer. 

SQUILLER,  one  who  washed  up  the  escuelles,  porringers, 
and  bowls.  Hence  our  words  "scullery"  and  "scullion." 
Robert  of  Brunne  says : 

"  And  the  squyler  of  the  kitchen 
Piers,  that  hath  woned  [dwelt]  here  yn." 

The   "  Promptuarium    Parvulorum"    defines    "Swyllare: 
Dysche — weschowr."     Hence  the  surname  Quiller. 
STABLER,  an  ostler. 
STALLER,  much  the  same. 
STEWARD.  Hence  Stewart  and  Stuart. 
TODMAN,  the   man  employed   to  destroy  foxes   (tods),  as 

112 


THE  CASTLE  AND  THE  MANOR 

keeping  down  the  game.     Todhunter  and  Tadman,  for  Tod- 
man,  are  still  surnames  among  us. 
TROTTER,  a  running  footman. 

USHER,  from  the  French  huissier.  The  "  Boke  of 
Curtasye  "  says : 

"  Usher  before  the  dore 
In  outer  chamber  lies  on  the  floor." 

The  learned  Archbishop  of  Armagh  spelled  his  name  Ussher. 
In  Scotland  the  name  is  Wischart.1  In  England,  Hazard. 
There  is,  however,  a  place-name  Ushaw  in  Durham. 

VENOUR,  the  hunter ;  whence  Fenner. 

VEUTER,  one  who  tracks  deer  by  the  fuite  ;  hence  the  sur- 
name Future. 

VYLER,  the  player  on  the  viols ;  hence  Fyler. 

WARDEN  or  GUARD,  a  keeper.  Warden,  Warde,  Garde,  and 
Garden  for  Warden. 

WAGEOUR,  a  hired  soldier.     Surname,  Wager. 

WARDROPER,  the  keeper  of  the  wardrobe. 

WARRENER,  the  official  in  charge  of  the  warren.  Con- 
tracted to  Warne. 

1  Unless  from  Guiscard  ;  but  Guiscard  itself  is  Huissier,  with  the 
common  Norman-French  ending  ard. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE   VILLAGE 

IN  1085-86  the  great  inquest  was  made  into  the  tenure  of 
land  in  England,  and  into  the  amount  of  land  that  was 
taxable.  Commissioners  were  sent  into  the  shires,  who  took 
evidence  on  oath  from  the  Sheriffs,  the  parish  priests,  the 
reeves,  and  the  men  generally,  French  and  English  alike,  in 
every  lordship.  They  were  to  report  who  had  held  the  land 
in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  who  held  it  then ; 
also  as  to  how  many  lived  on  it,  what  was  their  quality  and 
what  was  the  value  of  the  soil,  and  whether  there  was  any 
prospect  of  the  value  being  raised. 

The  Chronicle  says :  "  He  sent  over  all  England,  into 
every  shire,  his  men  to  find  out  how  many  hundred  hides 
were  in  the  shire,  and  what  the  King  himself  had  of  land 
and  cattle  in  the  land.  Also  what  rights  he  ought  to  have 
in  the  twelve  months  in  the  shire.  Also  he  let  enquire  how 
much  land  his  Archbishops  had,  and  his  Bishops,  and  his 
Abbots,  and  his  Earls,  and  though  I  tell  it  at  more  length, 
what  and  how  much  every  man  had  that  was  a  land-holder 
in  England,  in  land  or  in  cattle,  and  how  much  fee  it  was 
worth.  So  very  narrowly  did  he  let  the  investigation  be 
carried  out,  that  there  was  not  a  single  hide,  nor  a  yard  of 
land,  not  so  much  as — it  is  a  shame  to  tell  it,  and  he  thought 
it  no  shame  to  do  it — not  an  ox  nor  a  cow,  nor  a  swine,  was 
left  that  was  not  set  in  his  writ.  And  all  the  writs  were 
brought  to  him." 

The  taking  of  this  inquisition  roused  great  dissatisfaction 
that  broke  out  in  tumults,  and  some  blood  was  shed. 

114 


THE  VILLAGE 

Hitherto  the  land-holders,  with  a  little  shuffling  and  some 
bribing,  had  been  able  to  assess  their  lands  lower  than  their 
actual  value.  This  would  now  be  impossible,  and  they 
looked  to  the  hard  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer  coming  down 
on  them,  and  remorselessly  squeezing  out  the  due  for  every 
acre,  whether  in  cultivation  or  fallow.  From  Domesday  we 
learn  what  were  the  several  classes  among  the  English  who 
were  now  under  the  heel  of  the  Norman. 

The  old  THEGNS  were  no  longer  great  men ;  they  had  to 
bow  their  necks  under  the  yoke,  and  see  their  land  taken 
from  them  and  their  influence  and  authority  gone.  Some, 
luckily,  remained  on  as  tenants  on  the  land  where  they  had 
been  freeholders,  and  in  remembrance  of  the  past  still  called 
themselves  Thegns  or  Theins,  and  continued  to  be  so  called. 
Hence  it  comes  that  we  have  the  surname  of  Thynne. 

The  FREEMEN,  freeholders,  held  their  land  after  the 
Conquest  no  longer  as  freemen,  but  subject  to  military 
service,  and  were  taxable.  Their  representatives  later  were 
the  yeomen.  They  have  contributed  to  our  nomenclature 
the  names  Freeman  and  Free.  Freebody  signified  a  freeholder 
of  a  little  wooden  cot.  Fry  as  a  surname  comes  thence 
as  well. 

RADMEN  were  socmen,  possessed  of  a  greater  amount  of 
freedom  than  others.  Hence  the  surname  Redman. 

SOCMEN,  inferior  landowners  who  held  their  lands  in  the 
soc,  or  franchise,  of  a  great  lord.  Hence  Suckerman,  Suckman. 

FRANKLYN  was  much  the  same  as  the  Freeman.  From 
Chaucer's  account,  he  would  seem  to  have  been  a  house- 
holder in  a  comfortable  position,  a  well-to-do  yeoman : 

"  Withouten  bake-mete  never  was  his  house, 
Of  fish  and  flesh,  and  that  so  plenteous. 
It  snowed  in  his  hous  of  mete  and  drinke 
Of  all  deinties  that  men  coud  thinke. 
After  the  sondry  seasons  of  the  yere 
So  changed  he  his  mete  and  his  soupere." 

As  a  surname  the  appellation  occurs  frequently  in  the 
Hundred  Rolls  and  Inquisitiones  Post- Mortem,  as  Frankly  n, 
Franckon,  for  Franch-homme,  or  simply  as  Franks.  Our 
Francombs  and  Frankhams  have  the  same  origin. 

115  H   2 


THE  VILLAGE 

BONDER.  The  old  Norse  bonder  was  the  man  in  highest 
position  under  the  Earl.  He  was  the  freeholder,  responsible 
to  none  save  the  Earl.  It  was  because  Harald  Fairhair 
resolved  on  introducing  the  feudal  tenure  of  land  into 
Norway  that  a  great  exodus  of  the  Bonders  took  place, 
and  they  migrated  to  and  colonized  Iceland  and  the  Faroe 
Isles.  In  parts  of  England  the  name  of  Bonder  seems  to 
have  been  used  in  place  of  Franklyn  and  Freeman — notably 
in  Northumbria  and  East  Anglia — that  were  occupied  by 
Danes  and  Northmen.  Hence  the  surname  Bond.  And  yet 
sometimes  the  word  was  employed  for  the  serf: 

"  Of  all  men  in  lande 
Most  toileth  the  bonde." 

In  Domesday,  Freemen,  Franklyns,  and  Bonders,  are  all 
included  under  the  heading  Liberi. 

BURS  or  GEBURS  were  workmen  giving  a  certain  number 
of  days'  work  in  the  fields,  and  a  small  money  payment  to 
the  Lord  of  the  Manor.  In  return,  a  Bur  received  two  men — 
villeins — as  his  labourers,  and  one  cow,  seven  acres  of  tillage 
land,  and  his  house  full  furnished.  As  a  surname  we  have 
Burr. 

BORDARS,  a  poor  but  numerous  class,  tenants  of  lands 
which  their  lord  kept  expressly  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
table,  the  rental  being  paid  in  kind.  Hence  the  old  English 
law-books  speak  of  board-service  and  board-land.  We  still 
have  a  reminiscence  of  this  class  in  the  surname  Boardman 
and  Boarder. 

COTTARS  and  COTTRELS,  also  COTMENS,  COSCETS.  The 
cottar  could  hold  nothing  of  his  own,  nor  acquire  anything 
without  the  consent  of  his  lord.  The  Cottrel  was  in  no 
better  position.  Shakespeare  employs  the  word  coystril,  a 
corruption  of  cottrel,  as  descriptive  of  a  very  poor  peasant. 
Hence  our  Cotter  els,  Cottrels,  Cotmans,  Cottars,  Coatmans, 
and  Coates.  The  coscet  was  a  cottar  paying  a  small  rent  for 
a  very  small  piece  of  land.  Guscot  is  the  coscet's  cottage. 

VILLEINS  were  men  in  the  servitude  of  the  Lord  of  the 
Manor,  who  held  the  folkland,  by  which  they  supported 

116 


THE  VILLAGE 

themselves  and  their  families.  They  stood  somewhat  higher 
than  the  serfs.  They  were  also  designated  as  knaves.  The 
odium  attaching  to  a  class  so  low  has  stood  in  the  way  of 
the  name  passing  into  our  family  nomenclature,  at  all  events 
in  its  Norman- French  form.  But  it  remains  as  Churl  for 
Ceorl.  The  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear  is  commonly 
called  Charles's  Wain,  and  in  this  instance  Charles  stands 
for  Ceorl.  In  the  Edda  of  Ssemund  the  churl  is  repre- 
sented by  no  means  as  a  villein  or  thrall,  but  as  a  freeman. 
In  Anglo-Saxon  the  ceorl  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  indistin- 
guishable from  the  serf.  In  the  Edda  the  churl  is  repre- 
sented, indeed,  as  the  offspring  of  different  parents  from  the 
noble  and  from  the  thrall,  but  he  occupies  the  position  of 
the  free  bonder.1  Carl  signified  a  man  generally.  Charles  is 
rarely  found  as  a  Christian  name  in  England  before  the  time 
of  Charles  I.  The  surnames  Charles,  Charley,  and  Car  oil, 
from  the  Latin  form  Carohts,  remain  with  us — the  last  in  the 
United  States. 

CENSORS  are  named  in  Domesday.  They  were  villeins 
who  paid  a  censum,  a  kind  of  relief,  by  which  they  redeemed 
their  estates.  Being  in  a  transitional  state,  they  have  left  no 
trace  in  our  nomenclature. 

SERF,  the  poor  wretch  who  owned  nothing  of  his  own 
but  his  wife  and  his  children,  is  only  recognizable  in  family 
names  as  Server,  Sewer.  Servant  became  Sergeant,  and  rose 
to  be  an  official. 

THRALL  was  given  the  surname  Thrale. 

AKERMAN  occurs  repeatedly  in  the  Hundred  Rolls,  and 
seems  to  mean  a  ploughman. 

MAN,  in  Latin  homo,  occurs  in  almost  every  page  of  the 

1  The  parents  of  Jarl,  the  noble,  were  named  Father  and  Mother. 
"Light  was  his  hair,  bright  his  cheeks,  his  eyes  piercing  as  a  young 
serpent's."  Those  of  Churl  were  Afi  and  Amma.  "  He  grew  up  and 
well  throve  ;  learned  to  tame  oxen,  and  make  a  plough,  houses  to  build, 
and  barns  to  construct,  and  make  carts,  and  drive  the  plough."  The 
parents  of  Thrall  are  Ai  and  Edda.  "  Of  his  hands  the  skin  was 
shrivelled,  the  knuckles  knotty,  and  the  fingers  thick.  A  hideous 
countenance  he  had,  a  bowed  back,  and  protruding  heels." — Rig-mal. 
The  three  classes  are  the  noble,  the  free  farmer,  and  the  serf. 

117 


THE  VILLAGE 

Domesday  Survey,  and  included  every  kind  of  feudatory 
tenant.  One  of  his  most  important  privileges  was  that  his 
person  and  case  could  be  tried  only  in  the  court  of  his  lord, 
to  whom  he  was  bound  by  submission.  Hence  the  word 
homage.  A  Newman  was  a  man  who  came  into  the  juris- 
diction of  the  lord  from  some  other  manor.  Also  described 
as  a  Newcomen.  The  surname  of  Man  would  be  puzzling 
if  we  did  not  know  its  origin  as  a  term  designating  a  par- 
ticular class. 

COLIBERTS  were  tenants  of  a  middle  class  who  do  not 
seem  to  have  had  an  enduring  tenure  in  England. 

Such  were  the  classes  on  the  land.  Now  let  us  turn  to 
the  occupations.  But  before  proceeding  any  farther  in  this 
division  it  will  be  as  well  to  explain  the  entry  of  ANGLI — i.e., 
ENGLISH — in  Domesday,  which  would  be  as  inexplicable  as 
Man  did  we  not  know  its  origin.  These  Angli  or  Anglici 
were  certain  English  subtenants  on  the  Welsh  frontier.  At 
the  time  of  taking  the  Survey,  those  of  Shrewsbury  paid  the 
whole  of  the  local  geld  for  the  support  of  the  State.  Probably 
at  that  time  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  of  Welsh 
origin,  and  those  of  Saxon  were  distinguished  as  English. 

ASHBURNER,  the  man  employed  on  the  production  of 
potash.  Till  soap  was  invented,  ashes  were  employed  as  a 
detergent.  Also  Ashman. 

BADGER,  properly  a  Bagger.  "  Up  to  the  seventeenth 
century  an  ordinary  term  for  one  who  had  a  special  licence 
to  purchase  corn  from  farmers  at  the  provincial  markets  and 
fairs,  and  then  dispose  of  it  again  elsewhere,  without  the 
penalties  of  engrossing"  (Bardsley). 

BARKER,  the  man  who  barks  for  the  tanner ;  Barkis  is  "  at 
the  Bark-house." 

BERCHER  or  BERGER,  a  shepherd.  A  Norman-French 
name  little  used,  yet  surviving  as  a  surname. 

BEEMASTER.  Occurs  in  Domesday  as  Apium  Gustos.  An  im- 
portant man  before  the  introduction  of  sugar,  as  honey  was 
employed  not  only  for  the  making  of  honey-cakes,  but  also 
in  the  brewing  of  metheglin  or  hydromel,  and  the  wax  was 

118 


THE  VILLAGE 

needed  for  candles.  We  have  the  Beemaster  contributing 
to  nomenclature  in  Beamster  and  Honeyman,  or  simply  as 
Honey. 

BEECHER,  a  spademan ;  from  the  Norman-French  beche. 

BOLTER,  the  bolter  of  flour,  a  servant  of  the  miller.  Sur- 
name Boult. 

BULLMAN,  the  bull-herdsman.  Hence  Pullman;  also 
in  some  cases  Buller. 

BUSKER,  the  man  employed  to  cut  down  and  clear  away 
bushes  or  undergrowth  for  the  accommodation  of  the  hunter, 
and  also  to  serve  the  ashburner.  Hence  the  name  Bush. 

BUZICARL,  a  seaman.  The  name  occurs  in  Domesday,  and 
was  the  title  of  a  noble  in  Northumbria,  as  head  of  the  fleet 
of  merchant  vessels  ;  but  as  a  surname  I  know  it  only  in 
France  as  Buscarlet. 

CALFHERD,  now  turned  into  the  surname  of  Calvert. 

CARPENTER,  in  country  and  town  alike.  In  Domesday 
Carpentaria. 

CARTER  comes  to  us  in  many  forms  as  a  surname — e.g., 
Carter,  Cartman. 

CARTWRIGHT,  the  maker  of  carts. 

CARTERET,  a  small  carter — i.e.,  not  a  little  man  in  size,  but 
one  who  drove  a  small  cart.  But  Carteret  is  also  a  Norman 
place-name. 

CATCHPOLE,  a  village  as  well  as  a  town  officer ;  an  under- 
sergeant  who  obtained  his  name  from  catching  his  victim  by 
the  head  by  means  of  a  long  wooden  forceps  that  nipped  by  the 
throat  the  delinquent  who  was  wanted.  The  name  was  borne 
by  Margaret  Catchpole,  the  horse-thief  who  was  sentenced 
to  be  hanged  at  Ipswich,  but  was  transported,  in  1841. 
We  have  the  name  also  as  Catchpool.  In  "  Piers  Plowman's 
Vision  "  we  are  told,  of  the  two  thieves  crucified  on  Calvary, 

"  A  Catchpole  came  forth 
And  cracked  both  their  legges." 

CHALKER,  the  marl-digger  or  chalk-quarryman,  who  pro- 
vided the  chalk-marl  for  the  fields,  or  the  chalk  for  the 
lime-burner,  or  the  clunch  for  the  carver  or  sculptor.  The 

119 


THE  VILLAGE 

chaucer,  or  shoemaker,  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  list  of  town 
tradesmen. 

CHURCHWARDEN.  This  officer,  from  the  function  being 
discharged  from  generation  to  generation  in  one  family, 
became  finally  a  surname,  and  survives  as  Churchward,  also 
corrupted  to  Churchyard. 

CLAYER  or  CLAYMAN,  the  marl-digger.  To  this  day,  in  the 
Fens  of  Cambridge,  the  fields  are  dressed  by  digging  down 
below  the  vegetable  mould  to  the  greasy  marl  beneath,  and 
this  is  spread  as  manure  over  the  soil.  But  the  clayer  also 
dug  the  clay  for  kneading  with  straw  for  the  building  of  cob- 
walls.  As  a  surname,  Claye. 

COCKER,  an  owner  of  fighting-cocks  ;  also  Cockman.  The 
author  of  the  "  Townley  Mysteries"  puts  him  in  bad 
company : 

"  These  dysars  [dicers]  and  these  hullars, 
These  cokkers  and  these  bullars  [bull -wards], 
And  all  purse  cuttars, 
Be  well  ware  of  these  men." 

Our  name  of  Cockerel  may  come  from  Cotterel,  and  not  signify 
a  petty  cockfighter ;  but  a  Coker  and  Cooker  refer  to  the  man 
who  supplied  entertainment  by  keeping  a  cockpit. 

COLTHERD,  the  herdsman  in  charge  of  the  colts ;  now,  as  a 
surname,  Colthard. 

COWHERD,  the  herdsman  of  the  cows  ;  hence  Coward. 

CRAMER  or  CREAMER,  a  huckster  ;  hence  Cranmer. 

CRUDE,  a  wheelbarrow;  hence,  probably,  Cruden  for 
Crudener. 

DIGGER,  DITCHER,  and  DYKER,  all  much  the  same — the 
man  who  attended  to  the  dykes.  The  surname  Digges  may 
come  from  this  or  from  Digory ;  but  Dykes  is  certainly  hence, 
as  also  Ditcher. 

DEYMAN  or  DAYMAN,  a  day-labourer ;  as  surname  often 
Daye.  A  deie  (Old  Norse  deigja)  is  a  dairy- woman ;  so  in 
'  Promptuarium  Parvulorum";  see  also  "  Love's  Labour 
Lost,"  I.  n. 

DYKEWARD,  the  man   appointed  on  the   East  Coast  to 

120 


THE  VILLAGE 

watch  the  embankments.  As  a  surname  it  has  become 
Duckworth. 

DRIVER,  the  driftman  ;  on  moors  the  man  employed  to 
sweep  together  colts  and  horses  and  cattle  and  sheep  sent 
out  on  the  commons,  to  a  centre  where  the  owners  may 
claim  them,  and  such  as  have  no  right  to  send  their  beasts 
on  the  commons  are  fined.  He  has  still  his  function  on 
Dartmoor,  and  a  drift  there  is  a  lively  scene.  No  notice  is 
given  beforehand,  except  to  the  moormen  or  drivers.  Horns 
are  blown,  and  horses  employed  to  drive  the  beasts. 

DUDMAN,  a  man  who  sold  coarse,  common  cloth  garments, 
generally  second-hand  and  patched.  The  name  remains  as 
Dodman  and  Deadman.  A  schoolmaster  of  the  latter  name 
was  at  Stowford  in  Devon ;  he  fell  down  the  Lydford 
Waterfall  rocks,  70  feet,  but  was  not  killed.  It  was  reported 
of  him  that  he  went  down  a  dead  man,  and  came  up  at  the 
bottom  a  live  man.  The  contraction  of  Dodds  remains. 

EWART  or  EWEHERD.  As  surname  also  Youart.  John 
Eweherd,  1379,  Yorkshire  Poll-Tax. 

FANNER,  the  winnower  of  corn.  Also,  among  tin-miners, 
the  fanner  tossed  the  pounded  stone  into  the  air,  fanning  it, 
and  the  wind  blew  away  the  light  dust  and  left  the  tin  ore 
on  his  fanning  shovel.  The  surnames  Fenner  and  Vanner  may 
derive  hence. 

FARMER  remains  on  the  land,  and  has  contributed  to  our 
nomenclature.  Also  Fermor. 

FARRAR  and  FARRIER,  the  man  who  shoes  horses.  Fearon 
is  a  smith  ;  also  Ferrier. 

FINCHER,  the  bird-catcher  who  provided  finches  that  were 
in  great  favour  with  our  forefathers  as  cage-birds.  The 
surnames  Fincher  and  Finch  remain. 

FOWLER  is  a  common  surname,  and  explains  its  origin.  This 
is  sometimes  contracted  to  Fowles  and  Fowle ;  also  as  Vowler. 

GATEHERD  is  probably  only  Goatherd.  It  has  contributed 
the  surnames  Gather d  and  Gateard;  and  GOATHERD  has  given 
us  Goddart  and  Goatman ;  but  Goddart  may,  and  probably 
does,  in  most  cases  derive  through  the  German  Gothardt. 

GELDER,  the  gelder  of  hogs,  etc. ;  hence  Geldart. 

121 


THE  VILLAGE 

GOOSEHERD,  the  man  who  takes  charge  of  the  geese  of  a 
village.  The  office  is  still  general  in  Germany,  but  is  now 
given  to  a  girl.  "  Barfussle  "  is  the  story  by  Auerbach  of  a 
little  goose-girl.  The  surname  from  it  is  Gozzard. 

GRAVER,  a  digger  of  graves — i.e.,  fall-pits  for  catching  wild 
beasts ;  also  of  ditches.  So  Gravesend  is  at  the  end  of  a  long 
dyke.  The  surnames  hence  are  Graves  and  Greaves.  A 
greave  is  also  a  woodland  avenue,  graved  out  of  the  forest. 
Hargreave  is  a  trapper  of  hares  by  pitfalls. 

HACKMAN  is  a  hatchetman,  a  chopper  of  wood  for  the 
hearth  or  the  furnace.  The  designation  remains  as  a 
surname. 

HAYMAN  l  or  HAYWARD  was  the  village  official  whose  duty 
it  was  to  guard  the  cattle  that  grazed  on  the  village  common, 
that  they  did  not  trespass  on  the  ground  where  was  the  grass 
grown  for  hay  during  the  winter.  Until  hedges  became 
common,  the  hayward  had  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  on  the 
cattle  committed  to  his  charge.  In  "  Piers  Plowman  "  we 
have: 

"  I  have  a  home  and  be  a  Hayward, 

And  liggen  out  at  nyghtes, 
'  And  kepe  my  corne  and  my  croft 
From  pykers  and  theves." 

In  an  old  song  descriptive  of  summer  and  autumn  it  is  said 
that  "The  hayward  bloweth  merry  his  home."  For  his 
services  it  would  seem  that  he  was  not  only  paid  a  few 
pence,  but  was  also  given  by  the  parish  a  cottage  and  a 
croft.  The  surname  now  sometimes  Heyman  ;  also  as  Hay- 
biddel  (i.e.,  hay-beadle)  and  Hayter. 

HERDMAN.  His  duties  much  the  same  as  those  of  the 
hayman ;  hence  Hurd,  Heard,  Hird,  Hardman. 

HAWKER,  or  Huckster,  much  the  same  as  an  itinerant 
pedlar.  Huxter,  Hawkes. 

HEDGER  and  HEDGEMAN,  he  who  made  up  the  hedges. 

HEWER,  a  woodcutter.  But  a  hewer  on  the  coast  is  a  man 
who  is  stationed  on  the  cliffs,  to  give  notice  when  a  shoal 

1  But  some  Hay  mans  may  be  from  Aymon. 
122 


THE  VILLAGE 

of  pilchards  or  herrings  is  in  sight.  From  the  Norman- 
French  hue. 

HOGGARD  or  HOGWARD  (whence  the  surname  Hogarth), 
the  village  hog-keeper.  The  artist's  name  was  originally 
Hoggart ;  he  altered  the  spelling. 

HONEYMAN.     See  BEEMASTER. 

HUSBAND,  the  man  who  cultivated  the  portion  of  soil 
which  derived  from  him  the  name  of  husband-land,  a  measure 
known  in  the  Merse  and  Lothian.  Hence  the  surname 
Younghusband — i.e.,  (John)  Young  the  Husband  (land-holder). 

KIDDER  and  KIDNER,  the  man  who  wove  kitts,  or  rush 
baskets.  A  butterkitt  was  one  of  those  in  which  butter  was 
carried  to  market.  Our  word  "junket  "  comes  from  the  curd 
being  sold  wrapped  up,  as  it  still  is  in  France,  in  rushes 
(jonc).  A  kidder  was  also  a  huckster.  Hence  the  surname 
Kidd  when  not  a  contraction  of  Christopher. 

KILNER,  a  lime-burner. 

MADER  or  MATHER,  a  mower.  On  August  16,  1417,  was 
served  a  writ  to  the  Sheriff  of  Lancashire  to  arrest  Mathew  le 
Madder,  husbandman.  Cotton  Mather  must  have  descended 
from  a  mower. 

NUTTARD,  probably  NEATHERD. 

OYSELER,  a  professional  bird-catcher  ;  hence  Whistler  and 
Oseler. 

PADMAN,  PEDLAR,  PEDDAR,  all  mean  the  same  as  Packman, 
of  whom  Autolycus  is  the  type.  Packman  has  been  corrupted 
into  Paxman.  The  packman  was,  however,  a  superior  pedlar, 
as  he  had  a  horse,  or  even  more  than  one,  that  carried  his 
packs. 

PEARMAN,  PERRIMAN,  PERRIER,  are  the  names  of  growers 
of  pears  for  making  perry. 

PIGMAN,  the  village  pig-driver  ;  whence  the  surname 
Pickman,  when  not  a  pikeman.  He  was  also  a  LARDER, 
a  fattener  of  pigs  on  acorns  and  beechnuts ;  also  a  PORKER, 
hence  our  surname  Porcher.  How  speedily  the  servitors 
began  to  rise  from  the  lowest  rank  may  be  seen  by  a  monu- 
ment, in  Upton  Pyne  Church,  of  Edmund  Larder  in  armour. 
The  date  is  1520,  and  yet — certainly  but  a  few  centuries 

123 


THE  VILLAGE 

before,  even  if  so  much  as  a  few,  his  ancestor  was  a  fattener 
of  pigs.     Also  the  surname  Lardner. 

PLOUGHMAN,  hence  Flower  and  Plows. 

RUSHMAN,  the  collector  and  strewer  of  rushes  on  the 
church  floor  and  the  floor  of  halls  ;  hence  the  surname  Rush. 

SAWYER,  also  Sagar  and  Sayer. 

SHEPHERD,  spelled  as  a  surname  also  Shephard  and 
Sheppard. 

SLATER  or  SCLATER  gives  also  Slatter  as  a  surname. 

STALLARD  is,  properly,  the  man  who  let  out  stalls  at  a  fair 
or  market. 

STEADMAN  or  STEDMAN,  a  farmer  occupying  a  homestead. 

STODDART,  the  keeper  of  the  village  stots,  or  bullocks. 

STUBBARD,  the  keeper  of  the  parish  bull.  The  old  word 
for  a  bull  was  a  stubb.  Hence  the  surname  Stobbart. 

SWINEHERD  explains  itself. 

TABORER  or  TABERNER,  the  village  player  on  the  tabor, 
or  small  drum,  at  dances,  etc.  The  surname  remained  also 
as  Tabor. 

TAVERNER,  the  innkeeper;  also  found,  but  much  more 
rarely,  as  Innman. 

THRESHER,  also  TASKER,  the  flailman. 

THACKER,  the  thatcher ;  also  Reader  and  Reeder. 

TILER  or  TYLER,  the  tile-maker ;  also  Tilewright. 

TILLY,  a  common  labourer.  In  full  he  was  called  eord- 
tilie,  earth-tiller.  So  in  Lagamon's  "  Brut,"  circa  1275,  and 
in  the  "  Ancren  Riwle,"  circa  1225.  Thence  the  surname 
Tilly,  when  not  a  place-name. 

TRANTER,  the  man  who  peddles  and  hawks  from  place  to 
place.  The  name  remains  as  Trant. 

WAGGONER,  usually  WAINMAN  ;  hence  Wenman. 

WOODMAN,  WOODREVE,  as  a  surname  Woodrow,  Wood- 
ward, Woodyer. 

WRIGHT,  either  a  wainwright  or  a  wheelwright — the  former 
synonymous  with  a  Cartwright. 

YEATMAN,  the  man  in  charge  of  the  heifers. 

WYEMAN,  probably  the  man  who  had  charge  of  the 
two-year-old  heifers. 

124 


THE  VILLAGE 

WYSEMAN  was  the  name  given  to  the  juggler  or  conjurer 
at  markets  or  fairs.  Often  contracted  to  Wyse  and  Wise. 
But  probably  Cardinal  Wiseman  derived  his  name  from 
some  individual  of  good  counsel,  and  not  from  a  showman 
by  profession.  Sometimes,  no  doubt,  the  wiseman  was  the 
male  witch,  as  the  wisewoman  was  the  female  dealer  in  the 
lighter  forms  of  soothsaying  and  charming  away  of  ills.  The 
wiseman  and  wisewoman  emphatically  protested  against 
having  any  dealings  with  the  Evil  One.  There  are  such 
exercising  their  profession  as  white-witches  still  in  Devon- 
shire, and  deriving  a  revenue  from  it. 


125 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   TOWN  :    TRADE-NAMES 

SHOULD  any  man  desire  to  acquire  a  conception  of  what  the 
trade  guilds  were  in  medieval  Europe,  he  should  attend  one 
of  the  great  Church  festivals  at  Ghent,  Bruges,  or  Malines. 
There  he  would  see  the  masters  of  each  trade  in  their  several 
guilds,  marching  in  procession,  each  confraternity  preceded 
by  a  banner  and  by  a  wonderfully  carved  and  gilt  pole  sur- 
mounted by  a  figure  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  trade — Crispin 
for  the  shoemakers,  Blaize  for  the  woolcombers,  Barbara  for 
the  armourers,  and  so  on — between  two  flickering  tapers. 

Almost  every  guild  has  its  own  band,  each  its  chapel  in  the 
great  church,  its  guildhall,  its  special  coffer,  and  its  particular 
charities.  In  each  hall  hangs  suspended  an  elaborately 
wrought  symbol  of  the  trade,  surmounted  by  a  wreath.  The 
crown  is  expressive  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  the  trade  is 
held  by  the  workers  :  it  considers  itself  ennobled  by  its  toil  ; 
it  holds  that  it  merits  its  coronet  as  truly  as  does  any  Baron 
or  Earl. 

Our  London  City  guilds  have  lost  most  of  their  significance, 
but  it  is  not  so  in  Belgium.  It  was  not  so  in  Germany  till  a 
comparatively  recent  date. 

In  Munich  the  insignia,  the  coffers,  and  the  banners,  even 
the  painted  candles,  of  the  guilds,  are  collected  in  the  National 
Museum  in  one  chamber.  They  are  no  more  required,  for  the 
old  guilds,  if  not  disbanded,  have  lost  their  purpose.  Among 
the  relics  there  gathered  is  a  coach-wheel,  the  meister-stiick  of 
a  wright  named  Gnettmann,  of  Lechhausen-near-Augsburg, 
who  on  July  20,  1709,  made  the  wheel  and  trundled  it  up  to 
Munich,  thirty-eight  miles,  all  in  one  day. 

126 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

Formerly  the  masters  in  each  guild  met  in  the  council- 
hall  to  consider  the  cost  of  the  raw  material,  to  determine 
the  price  to  be  put  on  the  manufactured  goods  ;  also  to  test 
the  quality  of  what  had  been  worked  up.  They  decided  the 
number  of  apprentices  each  master  was  justified  in  employing, 
and  what  was  the  remuneration  each  should  receive.  The 
masters  likewise  required  of  an  apprentice  a  test  production 
before  he  could  be  admitted  into  the  confraternity  of  masters, 
and  it  put  a  stamp  guaranteeing  the  quality  of  every  piece  of 
goods  turned  out  by  a  member,  just  as  still,  with  us,  the  Gold- 
smiths' Company  places  its  stamp,  guaranteeing  the  quality 
of  silver  and  gold  plate.  Any  master  whose  work  was  bad, 
who  sold  vamped  goods,  or  sold  at  a  price  higher  than  that 
determined  by  the  guild  as  just,  was  evicted  from  the  com- 
pany, as  among  us  a  dishonest  lawyer  is  struck  off  the  roll. 
Our  Apothecaries'  Company  still  maintains  a  right  to  license 
men  to  act  in  the  trade.  Every  member  of  a  guild  who  fell 
sick  or  met  with  an  accident  was  provided  for  out  of  the 
common  chest.  There  was  no  climbing  over  the  wall  into 
any  trade;  it  could  be  entered  only  through  the  door  of 
worthy  apprenticeship. 

Moreover,  in  order  that  the  trade  might  not  get  into  a 
groove  and  not  progress  with  the  times,  the  apprentices  were 
required  to  go  out  into  the  world — to  travel  for  three  years — 
so  as  to  observe  what  was  done  elsewhere,  enlarge  their 
minds,  and  gain  experience.  Every  apprentice  thus  sent 
forth  carried  with  him  a  certificate  from  the  master  whom 
he  had  served.  But  that  was  not  all.  A  certificate  might  be 
stolen  and  fraudulently  employed.  As  a  guarantee  against 
this,  every  town  had  its  Wahrzeichen,  certain  peculiar  tokens  : 
a  horseshoe  nailed  against  the  city  gate ;  a  cock  carved  on 
the  keystone  of  the  bridge ;  a  St.  Christopher  of  gigantic  size 
painted  on  the  wall  of  a  tower ;  a  face  under  a  clock  that 
rolled  its  eyes  and  lolled  its  tongue  at  the  stroke  of  the  hour  ; 
a  fountain  surmounted  by  a  stork  with  a  baby  in  its  beak ; 
and  so  on,  infinitely  varied.  When  a  wandering  apprentice 
presented  his  written  credentials,  the  master,  before  receiving 
him,  catechized  him  on  the  particular  tokens  of  the  town 

127 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

whence  he  came,  and  if  he  could  answer  correctly  to  these 
questions  he  was  given  work. 

The  young  fellows,  arnie  Reisender  or  wandernde  Burschen, 
were,  not  so  many  years  ago,  familiar  objects  in  Germany. 
I  can  recall  them,  when  I  was  a  boy,  on  all  the  roads,  staff 
in  hand,  in  light  blouses  girded  about  the  waist  with  a 
leather  belt,  singing  cheerily,  with  dusty  feet  and  sweat- 
bedewed  brows.  They  were  always  poor,  and  were  allowed 
free  admission  to  show-places.  They  were  kindly  received 
into  houses  when  they  solicited  food  and  a  shake-down,  and 
they  were  almost  invariably  as  well-conducted  as  they  were 
light-hearted.  Now  one  sees  them  no  more;  universal 
military  service  has  put  an  end  to  the  Wanderjahre.  Most, 
if  not  all,  of  these  youths  were  the  sons  of  master  tradesmen. 
They  had  but  a  single  ambition — to  qualify  themselves  for 
the  trade,  so  that  in  course  of  time  they  also  might  become 
masters. 

These  men  were  as  proud  of  the  Golden  Boot,  the  Yellow 
Saddle,  the  Blacksmith's  Pincers,  as  any  knight  could  be 
of  the  Green  Dragon,  the  Fireballs,  or  the  Talbot,  on  his 
shield. 

A  point  that  I  desire  to  impress  upon  the  reader  is  the 
high  esteem  in  which  every  member  of  a  trade  held  his 
particular  trade.  But  there  is  another  point  to  be  borne  in 
mind — that  the  several  trades  were  to  a  large  extent  in  the 
hands  of  particular  families.  In  former  days,  except  for  the 
wild-bloods  who  elected  a  profession  of  arms  and  attached 
themselves  to  knights,  and  the  tame-spirited  who  chose 
servitude  in  a  gentleman's  family,  the  sons  of,  say,  the  village 
smith  became  in  their  turn  smiths,  and  the  sons  of  a  tailor 
grew  up  to  sit  cross-legged  and  ply  the  needle ;  consequently 
the  name  of  the  trade  carried  on  for  some  generations  by  a 
certain  family  adhered  to  it.  Verstegan  says  :  "  It  is  not  to 
be  doubted  but  that  their  ancestors  have  gotten  them  [these 
trade-names]  by  using  trades,  and  the  children  of  such 
parents  being  contented  to  take  them  upon  them,  after- 
coming  posterity  could  hardly  avoid  them." 

Mr.  M.  A.  Lower  says  :  "  There  was  much  greater  propriety 

128 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

in  making  the  names  of  occupations  stationary  family  names 
than  appeared  at  first  sight;  for  the  same  trade  was  often 
pursued  for  many  generations  by  the  descendants  of  the 
individual  who  in  the  first  instance  used  it.  Sometimes  a 
particular  trade  is  retained  by  most  of  the  male  branches  of 
a  family  even  for  centuries.  Thus,  the  family  of  Oxley,  in 
Sussex,  were  nearly  all  smiths  or  iron-founders  during  the 
long  period  of  280  years.  Most  of  the  Ades  of  the  same 
county  have  been  farmers  for  a  still  longer  period.  The 
trade  of  weaving  has  been  carried  on  by  another  Sussex 
family,  named  Webb  (weaver),  as  far  back  as  the  traditions 
of  the  family  extend,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
business  has  been  exercised  by  them  ever  since  the  first 
assumption  of  the  term  as  a  surname  by  some  fabricator  of 
cloth  in  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century."  Harry  the 
Smith's  sons — John,  Joe,  and  Phil — all  swung  the  hammer 
and  wore  the  leathern  apron  ;  all  were  Smiths.  But  Harry 
may  have  had  a  son  Ralph,  who,  wearied  of  plying  the 
bellows,  went  off  to  the  wars,  and  he  would  be  called  Ralph 
Smithson,  instead  of  Ralph  Smith. 

To  the  present  day,  in  many  of  our  villages,  a  man  is 
spoken  of  by  his  trade,  as  Millard,  Carpenter,  Mason, 
Cobbler,  with  the  Christian  name  attached  and  the  surname 
ignored,  as  John  Millard,  Joe  Carpenter,  Mason  Bill,  and 
Cobbler  Dick. 

I  give  a  list  of  the  principal  trades  pursued  in  a  town 
during  the  period  when  surnames  were  becoming  hereditary, 
and  which  contributed  to  their  formation. 

A  good  many  of  these  trades  are  now  obsolete,  and  we 
have  to  look  into  the  books  of  old  writers  to  discover  of 
what  nature  they  were.  One  point  strikes  the  student  in  so 
doing,  and  that  is,  the  differentiation  of  the  trades.  There 
would  seem  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  have  been  no  Jack-of-all- 
trades,  who  could  turn  his  hand  to  anything.  Trade  was 
too  serious  to  be  treated  with  levity. 

"  Four  distinct  classes  of  artisans  were  engaged  on  the 
structure  of  the  arrow,  and,  as  we  might  expect,  all  are 
familiar  names  of  to-day.  John  le  Arowsmyth  we  may  set 

129  i 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

first.  He  confined  himself  to  the  manufacture  of  the  arrow- 
head. Thus  we  find  the  following  statement  made  in  an  Act 
passed  in  1405  :  '  Item,  because  the  Arrowsmyths  do  make 
many  faulty  heads  for  arrows  and  quarrels,  it  is  ordained 
and  established  that  all  heads  of  arrows  and  quarrels,  after 
this  time  to  be  made,  shall  be  well  boiled  or  braised,  and 
hardened  at  the  points  with  steel.'  '  Clement  le  Settere  ' 
or  '  Alexander  le  Settere '  was  busied  in  affixing  these  to  the 
shaft,  and  '  John  le  Tippere '  or  '  William  le  Tippere '  in 
pointing  them  off.  Nor  is  this  all ;  there  is  yet  the  feather, 
the  origin  of  such  medieval  folk  as  '  Robert  le  Flecher '  or 
'Ada  le  Flecher'  (Bardsley).  The  fletcher,  or  fledger,  in 
fact,  was  he  who  gave  wings  to  the  arrow.  Mr.  Bardsley 
might  have  added  a  fifth  trade — that  of  the  shafter. 

The  dressing  of  a  man  in  a  good  cloth  suit  demanded  the 
co-operation  of  many  and  various  workers. 

In  the  first  place,  when  a  farmer  had  wool  to  sell,  the 
Packer  was  sent  for,  to  fasten  it  up  in  bales  of  a  determined 
size  and  weight.  These  were  then  consigned  to  the  Stapler, 
who  classed  or  sorted  the  wool.  One  fleece  will  frequently 
contain  half  a  dozen  qualities  or  sorts.  The  greater  part 
would  be  wool  adapted  for  combing,  but  the  bellies  and 
shorter  portions  would  be  thrown  out  for  carding.  After 
the  sorting,  the  wool  goes  to  the  manufacturer.  When  in 
his  hands  it  is  thoroughly  scoured  and  dried.  The  combing 
portion  is  committed  to  the  Comber,  and  on  leaving  him  is 
ready  for  the  Spinner,  who  in  turn  passes  the  spun  wool,  or 
worsted,  to  the  Warper,  to  be  made  into  suitable  lengths, 
and  the  required  number  of  threads  wide  for  the  fabric 
desired  to  be  produced.  The  warp  is  then  ready  for  the 
Weaver  or  Webber  or  Webster,  who  has  it  put  into  his  loom 
on  a  beam,  from  whence  it  is  passed  through  the  slay  or 
harness  to  receive  the  weft. 

The  short  wool  is  taken  from  the  sorter  to  the  willay,  a 
machine  which  thoroughly  shakes  it,  getting  out  all  the  dust, 
and  it  is  then  oiled  and  given  to  the  Carder,  who  combs  it. 
It  leaves  his  hands  in  the  form  of  a  rope,  and  passes  to  the 
Mule-spinner,  who  brings  it  to  the  exact  size  required,  and 

130 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

at  the  same  time  winds  it  on  a  bobbin,  which  fits  into  the 
shuttle  of  the  weaver,  who  is  supplied  with  the  weft  for  his 
cloth.  On  being  cut  out  of  the  loom,  the  cloth  is  first  burled, 
which  is  a  process  for  ridding  it  of  imperfections,  and  this 
burling  is  done  by  the  Fuller,  who  washes  it  with  soap  and 
places  it  in  the  stocks,  where  it  is  hammered  till  it  shrinks 
to  the  required  length  and  width.  This  was  formerly  done 
by  trampling  on  the  cloth  with  the  feet ;  the  treading  up 
and  down  on  it  was  done  by  the  Walker. 

But  fuller  and  walker  were  often  synonymous  terms,  as 
the  same  man  often  fulled  and  walked  the  same  piece  of 
cloth.  This  process  made  the  serges  get  both  narrower  and 
thicker.  The  cloth  then  passed  to  the  Dyer,  and  from  him 
went  to  the  Tenter,  who  stretched  it  to  the  width  required. 
A  Lister  was  a  comber. 

In  the  case  of  linen-weaving,  the  Whitster  was  the  man 
who  saw  to  the  bleaching. 

Another  name  for  a  fuller  was  a  Tucker,  and  fulling-mills 
often  went  by  the  name  of  "  tucking-mills."  The  Tozer  or 
Towzer  was  he  who  brought  up  the  nap  by  going  over  it  with 
teazles. 

But  the  cloth  on  reaching  the  Tailor,  or,  as  the  English 
called  him,  the  Shaper,  went  through  the  hands  of  the 
Cutter.  Then  it  was  taken  up  by  the  Seamer  and  run  to- 
gether. Seamer  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  word  for  a  tailor.  The 
name  was  displaced  by  the  French  tailleur,  as  the  "  inn  "  has 
now  become  an  "  hotel."  In  the  fashionable  French  tailor's 
shop  the  English  seamer  fell  into  a  subordinate  position. 

But  even  when  fitted  and  adjusted  the  garment  was  not 
complete.  The  Trimmer  had  to  be  called  in  to  supply  the 
ornamental  laces,  and  the  Pointer  to  furnish  the  fashionable 
points  without  which  no  gentleman's  dress  was  complete. 


LIST  OF  TRADES  FURNISHING  SURNAMES. 

ADAM,  a  gaoler  ("  Comedy  of  Errors,"  IV.  in.). 
ANCERER  or  ANCELER,  from  the  vessel  in  which  provisions 
were  weighed  before  they  could  be  sold  in  the  market.     The 

131  I    2 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

surname  Ansell  may  derive  hence,  if  not  from  Anselm.  But 
also  anceler  is  a  handle-maker. 

APOTHECARY,  now  found  as  Pothicary.  A  pottinger  was 
another  name  for  the  apothecary,  and  this  has  become  a 
surname.1 

ARBALASTER,  a  man  who  works  a  catapult  for  hurling 
stones  in  time  of  war.  Now  found  as  Alabaster  or  Ballister. 

ARCHER,  a  bowman.  Every  town,  every  village,  had  its 
archer.  And  the  Butts  were  outside  the  town  for  common 
practice.  The  Butts  as  well  as  the  Archer  have  provided 
family  names. 

ARKWRIGHT,  the  chest-maker,  maker  of  those  coffers  that 
were  intended  to  preserve  linen  and  tapestries,  curtains,  etc. 
Such  as  were  made  of  cypress  wood  were  called  spruce- 
chests. 

ARMOURER,  an  important  man.  The  name  has  been 
shortened  into  Armour  as  a  surname. 

ARROWSMITH,  the  maker  of  arrow-heads. 

BAKER.  The  feminine  form  is  Bagster  or  Baxter.  The 
French  Boulanger  furnished  the  surnames  Bullinger  and 
Pullinger.  We  hear  of  French  bread  being  consumed  in 
England  during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  French  word  Four- 
nier  has  also  furnished  the  surname  Furner. 

BALANCER.  The  ancerer  and  the  balancer  were  both 
scalemakers.  The  manufacturer  of  such  is  mentioned  in 
"  Cocke  Lorelle's  Bote": 

"Arowe-heders,  maltemen  and  cornemongers, 
Balancers,  tynne-casters  and  skryvenors." 

BANISTER,  the  keeper  of  a  bath ;  from  the  French  "bain. 
BARBER.  Till  the  year  1745  every  surgeon  was  a  member 
of  the  Barbers'  Company.  The  surname  of  Surgeon  is  not 
often  met  with,  but  that  of  Barber  is  very  common.  Mr. 
Camden  Hotten,  in  his  book  on  "  Signboards,"  quotes  these 
lines  : 

"  His  pole  with  pewter  basons  hung, 
Black,  rotten  teeth  in  order  strung, 

1  The  pottinger  was  originally  the  man  who  grew  pot-herbs  and 
medicinal  herbs  as  well ;  then  the  town  herbalist. 

132 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

Rang'd  cups  that  in  the  window  stood, 

Lined  with  red  rags  to  look  like  blood, 

Did  well  his  threefold  trade  explain, 

Who  shaved,  drew  teeth,  and  breathed  a  vein." 

From  the  barber  we  get  Barbour  and  Barbor. 

BEADMAKER,  who  made  paternosters.  The  word  has  been 
compressed  into  Bedmaker. 

BEATER,  woollen-beater,  engaged  on  one  of  the  processes 
in  the  manufacture  of  cloth. 

BELLMAN,  the  crier. 

BELLSETTER.  The  "  Promptuarium  Parvulorum  "  gives 
Bellezeter  as  the  then  usual  name  for  the  bell-caster.  It  got 
corrupted  to  Belleyeter>  and  then  to  Billiter. 

BIDDER,  one  sent  out  to  summon  to  a  wedding  or  a 
church-ale.  In  Germany,  among  the  peasantry,  the  bidder 
is  still  a  person  of  office  and  importance. 

BENCHER,  a  banker. 

BIGGER,  a  builder. 

BILLMAN,  he  who  carries  a  bill  or  pike,  as  official  atten- 
dant on  a  Sheriff  or  constable. 

BINDER  of  books.  In  the  York  pageant  of  1415  the 
Parchmenters  and  Bookbinders  marched  together. 

BLACKSMITH.  This  trade  has  constituted  the  surnames 
Black  and  Smith,  Smyth,  Smeyt,  Smijth,  as  well  as  Faber, 
Fabricius,  Ferrier,  Ferrers,  Fervottr,  Fearon. 

BLACKSTER,  a  bleacher  of  linen.  Also  Blacker.  Hence  we 
have  the  names  Blaxtert  Blackister,  Blake,  for  Blaker.  The 
same  as  the  Whitster.  Anglo-Saxon  blac  is  white,  but 
blaec  is  black. 

BLADEMAKER  or  BLADESMITH,  the  same  as  our  modern 
cutler.  As  a  surname  it  has  been  condensed  into  Blades 
and  Blaydes. 

BLOCKER,  he  who  made  blocks  for  hats.  From  the  block 
came  the  slang  "  bloke  "  and  "  blockhead." 

BLOOMER,  a  man  who  runs  iron  into  moulds. 

BLOWER,  the  man  employed  to  work  the  bellows  in  a 
furnace  or  smelting-house ;  often  corrupted  into  Blore  or 
Blow.  The  architect  of  the  first  name  and  the  musician  of 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

the  second  must  each  have  descended  from  a  very  humble 
ancestor.  But  some  Blowers  are  Hornblowers. 

BOTELLER,  a  leather-bottle-maker.  The  name  has  been 
absorbed  by  that  of  Butler. 

BOUCHER  is  the  French  boucher;  we  have  it  in  the  form 
of  Botcher  as  well  as  Bouchier.  Labouchere  is  no  other  than 
the  female  butcher. 

BOURDER,  a  jester.  Hence  Burder.  But  a  byrder  was  a 
catcher  of  finches. 

BOWYER,  the  bowmaker.  As  a  surname  we  have  it  in 
Bower  and  Boyer. 

BOWDLER,  a  puddler  in  iron. 

BOWLER,  a  maker  of  wooden  bowls.     Also  Bolister. 

BRACEGIRDLER,  a  maker  of  braces.  "  Brace  "  is  from  the 
French  brayles.  Sir  John  Mandeville,  in  his  "  Travels," 
speaks  of  a  breek-girdle.  The  name  is  found  still  as  Brayler. 

BRAZIER,  BREWER,  or  BREWSTER.  It  was  not  till  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the  hop  was  introduced 
into  England  by  the  Flemings. 

"  Hops,  Reformation,  baize  and  beer, 
Came  to  England  all  in  one  year." 

Previously  ale  had  been  brewed  with  other  ingredients,  as 
wormwood.  Mead,  or  metheglin,  was  largely  drunk.  Hence 
Browse  —  i.e.,  at  the  brewhouse.  Chamier  is  from  the 
medieval  Latin  cambarius,  a  brewer. 

BRIDGEMAN  and  BRIDGER,  toll-taker  at  bridges. 

BROWKER  or  BROGGER,  he  who  transacted  business  between 
ourselves  and  the  Dutch  in  the  shipping  off  of  wool,  and  the 
introduction  of  cloth  from  Flemish  manufacturers.  James  I. 
speaks  of  the  broker  as  one  who  went  "  betweene  Merchant 
Englishe  and  Merchant  Strangers,  and  Tradesmen  in  the 
contrivinge,  makinge  and  concluding  Bargaines  and  Con- 
tractes  to  be  made  betweene  them  concerning  their  wares 
and  merchandises."  They  seem  not  to  have  borne  a  high 
character,  for  in  "  King  John  "  the  Bastard  speaks  of  the 

shifty  conscience  : 

"  That  sly  devil, 
That  broker  that  still  breaks  the  pale  of  faith." 


THE  TOWN  :   TRADE-NAMES 

BROWNSMITH,  a  coppersmith. 

BUCKLER,  a  maker  of  buckles. 

BURELLER,  a  weaver  of  a  cheap  kind  of  cloth,  brown  in 
colour  and  of  everlasting  wear,  and  worn  by  the  poorer 
classes,  who  came  to  be  designated  as  "  borel-folk." 

The  friar  in  the  "  Canterbury  Tales  "  thought  that  it 
accorded  not  with  one  of  his  faculty  to  have  acquaintance 
with  lazars,  beggars,  and  "  such  poraile  " — i.e.t  boraile.  The 
surname  Burrdl,  is  tolerably  widespread  in  England,  and  is 
the  family  name  of  Lord  Gwydyr. 

BUTTONER,  a  maker  of  buttons.  The  er  of  the  concluding 
syllable  is  generally  omitted  in  the  surname. 

BYRDER,  a  professional  birdcatcher,  mainly  of  finches, 
The  surname  Bird  is  merely  the  abbreviation  of  Byrder. 
Also  Oseler.  Osl  is  Anglo-Saxon  for  a  blackbird. 

CADER,  a  maker  of  cades,  or  casks.  Shakespeare  repre- 
sents Jack  Cade  as  a  clothier,  and  his  father  a  bricklayer, 
showing  that  the  name  from  the  trade  exercised  by  the 
founder  of  the  family  had  become  hereditary  without  refer- 
ence to  the  trade  practised.  The  cader  is  also  called 
Cadman. 

CAIRD,  a  tinker. 

CALLENDER,  one  who  puts  a  gloss  on  linen. 

CALLMAN,  the  maker  of  ladies'  calls.  In  the  "  Wife  of 
Bath's  Tale,"  the  wife  appeals  to  the  Queen's  attendants  : 

"  Let  see,  which  is  the  proudest  of  them  all, 
That  weareth  or  a  kerchief  or  a  calle." 

Sir  John  Call,  Bart.,  the  distinguished  engineer  in  India, 
the  son  of  a  Cornish  farmer,  derived  his  name  from  an 
ancestor  who  made  ladies'  headgear. 

CALTHROPER  or  CALCRAFTMAN  was  the  maker  of  calthrops 
— irons  with  four  spikes,  so  made  that,  whichever  way  they 
fell,  one  point  always  stood  upwards.  They  were  used  in 
war,  thrown  into  breaches  or  placed  on  bridges,  to  annoy 
an  enemy's  horse.  A  similar  instrument  with  three  iron 
spikes  was  used  in  hunting  the  wolf.  As  a  surname,  Calthrop. 
But  Calcraft  is  probably  Calves-croft. 


THE  TOWN  :   TRADE-NAMES 

CAPPER,  the  maker  of  caps.  Also  the  French  Chapeller. 
Like  so  many  other  trade-names  when  adopted  as  a  surname, 
the  last  syllable  has  been  dropped,  and  the  name  has  become 
Chapell.  But  Capper  remains. 

CARDER  or  CARDMAKER,  maker  of  cards  for  weaving. 
Christopher  Sly  said  of  himself :  "  By  birth  a  pedlar,  by 
education  a  cardmaker." 

CARPENTER  needs  no  explanation. 

CARTWRIGHT,  maker  of  carts. 

CATER,  a  confectioner,  maker  of  cates. 

"  Though  my  cates  be  mean,  take  them  in  good  part ; 
Better  cheer  may  you  have,  but  not  with  better  heart." 

Comedy  of  Errors,  III.  I. 

CHALLICER,  a  maker  of  drinking  vessels  out  of  metal ; 
hence  the  names  Challis  and  Challys,  unless  named  from 
Calais. 

CHALONER,  an  importer  or  manufacturer  of  chalons — 
woollen  coverlets  originally  introduced  from  Chalons- sur- 
Marne.  In  the  "  Reve's  Tale  "  we  are  told  of  the  miller, 
that 

"  In  his  owen  chambre  he  made  a  bedde 
With  shetes,  and  with  chalons  fair  yspredde." 

Surname  Chawner. 

CHANDLER,  candle-maker. 

CHANTER,  cantor,  a  singer  in  church ;  hence  the  surnames 
Chanter  and  Gaunter. 

CHAPMAN,  a  travelling  merchant.  Cheap-Jack  takes  his 
name  from  the  word,  so  does  Cheapside.  Copenhagen  is  the 
chapman's  haven. 

CHAUCER,  from  chausseur,  a  shoemaker. 

CHEESEMAN,  dealer  in  cheese.  Also  called  a  Fromisher, 
from  the  French  fromage. 

CLERK,  one  who  could  read,  and  plead  the  benefit  of  the 
clergy.  Hence  Clark  and  Clarke. 

COBBLER,  a  mender  of  boots  and  shoes. 

CODNER,  a  cordwainer. 

COFFERER  has  two  meanings — a  coiffeur,  or  hairdresser, 
and  a  maker  of  coffers,  boxes,  or  chests. 

136 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

COGGER,  a  skipper  in  a  small  boat ;  whence  our  word 
"  coxswain  "  (coggs-swain).  The  expression  "  an  old  codger  " 
is  hence  derived.  But  a  cogger  is  also  a  cheat  by  loading  dice, 
and  is  so  employed  by  Shakespeare. 

COVERER,  the  maker  of  cuves,  tubs  and  vats. 

COLLIER.  Although  originally  a  charcoal-burner,  the  name 
came  to  be  used  for  the  dealer  in  the  town  in  charcoal  and  in 
sea-coal. 

COMBER,  maker  of  combs.  This  has  become  a  surname, 
as  Comper,  Kemster,  Kimber,  Kemble. 

CONDER,  a  partner  in  a  fishing-boat. 

COOK  enters  into  many  combinations,  as  in  Norman- 
French  Le  Coq,  Badcock  (Bartholomew  the  Cook),  Hancock 
(John  the  Cook),  Wilcox  (William  le  Coq),  etc. 

COOPER,  a  maker  of  vats  and  barrels. 

COSTER,  a  doorkeeper. 

COSTERMONGER,  properly  Costardmonger,  a  dealer  in 
apples  and  other  fruit. 

COUCHER,  a  maker  of  beds.  The  surname  Couch  comes 
from  hence. 

COWLER,  a  maker  of  cowls  or  calls  for  ladies ;  the  same 
as  a  callman. 

COWPER  or  COUPER,  a  maker  of  cups.    Langland  speaks  of 

"  Coupes  of  clere  gold 
And  coppes  of  silrer." 

CROCKER,  maker  of  common  earthenware  crocks.  Wyck- 
liffe  in  Matt.  xv.  7  uses  the  word.  Hence  Crocker  and 
Croker. 

CRAMMER  or  CRANMER  (German  kramer),  a  packman. 

CROWDER,  a  player  on  the  crowd,  or  fiddle ;  hence 
Crowther. 

CRYER,  the  town  bellman. 

CURRIER,  the  curer  of  skins  ;  hence  Curry. 

CUTTER,  a  cutter  of  cloth  for  the  tailor.  The  cutter  is  still 
employed  by  every  tailor. 

CUTLER,  properly  Scutler,  a  shield-maker,  from  the  Latin 
scutum. 

DANCER,  a  morris-dancer. 


THE  TOWN :  TRADE-NAMES 

DEMPSTER,  a  Deemster,  Member  of  Parliament  in  the  Isle 
of  Man  and  in  Scotland.  Deemer,  Deamer,  and  with  intru- 
sive r,  Dearmer. 

DOSER,  a  stuffer  of  pillows  for  the  back  of  seats. 

DRAPER,  from  the  French  drap. 

DRESSER,  a  hemp-dresser,  but  also  one  who  cuts  up  the 
meat  at  a  sideboard  for  the  banquet.  Chaucer  speaks  of 
dressing  a  heritage — i.e.,  of  dividing  it  among  the  heirs 
("  The  Coke's  Tale  "). 

DUBBER.  In  the  "  Liber  Albus "  we  have  a  Peter  le 
Dubbour,  whose  trade  was  to  furbish  up  old  clothes.  But 
a  Dauber  was  the  decorator  of  walls.  In  "  Cocke  Lorelle's 
Bote  "  we  have 

"  Tylers,  bryckeleyers,  hardehewers  ; 
Paris-plasterers,  daubers  and  lymeborners." 

DYER  or  DISTER,  also  Dexter,  Dwyer. 

FABER,  a  smith. 

FARRIER,  also  Ferrier  and  Farrar,  a  shoer  of  horses. 

FARM  AN,  a  ferryman. 

FARADAY,  a  travelling  merchant. 

FELLMONGER,  a  seller  of  skins.  Remains  as  a  surname  as 
Fell. 

PLANNER,  maker  of  pancakes. 

FLAXMAN,  dealer  in  flax. 

FLESHER,  a  butcher,  or  flesh-hewer. 

FLETCHER,  an  arrowsmith ;  French  fleche. 

FLOYER,  one  who  skins  beasts  for  the  tanyard.  Surname 
Flower. 

FORCER,  a  maker  of  small  caskets  delicately  carved,  for  the 
keeping  of  jewellery. 

FRIEZEMAKER,  contracted  as  a  surname  to  Frieze;  unless 
a  Frieslander. 

FRUITERER,  a  greengrocer. 

FULLER,  already  described. 

FURRIER,  also  as  PELTER. 

FUSTER  or  FEWSTER  was  the  joiner  employed  on  the 
wooden  fabric  of  a  saddle.  It  is  derived  from  the  Old  French 

138 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

fust,  wood.     Sir  Jenner  Fust's  ancestor  must  have  been  a 
saddler. 

GAGER  or  GAUGER.  "  His  office  was  to  attend  to  the 
King's  revenue  at  the  seaports,  and  with  the  measurement 
of  all  liquids,  such  as  oil,  wine,  and  honey.  The  tun,  the 
pipe,  the  tierce,  the  puncheon,  casks  and  barrels  of  a  specified 
size — these  came  under  his  immediate  supervision,  and  the 
royal  fee  was  accordingly"  (Bardsley).  The  surname  Gage 
comes  from  this  officer. 

GAUNTER,  a  glover.  Gunter— unless  from  the  German 
Gunther. 

GIRDLER,  a  maker  of  girdles. 

GLAZIER  needs  no  explanation. 

GLOVER,  same  as  Gaunter. 

GROCER,  a  rare  and  late  word ;  properly  an  engrosser,  one 
who  took  into  his  own  hands  several  different  branches  of 
trade,  as  those  of  the  spicer,  drug-merchant,  pepper-dealer. 
A  statute  of  Edward  III.  in  1363  speaks  of  "  Merchauntz 
money-Grossers,"  so  termed  because  they  "  engrossent  totes 
maners  de  marchandises  vendables."  The  surname  Grosser 
exists. 

HABERDASHER,  a  seller  of  hats  and  small  wares.  One  was 
in  the  party  of  Canterbury  pilgrims. 

HAMPERS  or  HANAPERS,  basket-makers. 

HARNESS-MAKERS,  as  a  surname  contracted  to  Harness. 

HELLIER,  a  slater.  "  To  hell "  is  to  cover  in.  In  the  West 
of  England  slates  are  hellens.  As  a  surname,  Hillyard  and 
Hellyer. 

HOLDER,  an  upholsterer,  or  stuffer  of  mattresses,  beds,  and 
cushions. 

HOOKER,  a  maker  of  crooks. 

HOOPER,  a  maker  of  hoops  for  casks. 

HORNER,  a  maker  of  cups  and  other  articles  out  of  horn 
also  of  children's  horn-books  and  lanterns  glazed  with  horn. 
In  the  "  Franklin's  Tale,"  descriptive  of  winter,  it  is  said  : 

"James  sits  by  the  fire  with  double  berd 
And  drinketh  of  the  bugle  horn  the  wine." 

This  refers  to  the  double  use  of  the  bugle.     It  had  a  metal 

'39 


THE  TOWN  :   TRADE-NAMES 

plug  to  stop  the  mouthpiece,  so  as,  if  required,  to  serve  as  a 
drinking  horn.  In  the  second  part  of  "  Henry  VI."  we  have 
Thomas  Homer,  an  armourer,  showing  that  the  man  had 
drifted  into  another  profession  from  that  which  furnished 
him  with  his  surname. 

HOSIER,  seller  of  long  stockings,  in  wool  or  silk.  Surname 
Hozier. 

HURRER,  seller  of  a  peculiar  sort  of  hairy  hat.  All  kinds 
of  hoods  and  caps  came  under  his  hands,  so  that  he  was 
what  we  now  call  a  hatter.  Hurell  for  Hurreller. 

IRONMONGER,  usually  Iremonger.  To  the  present  day  in 
the  West  of  England  "  iron  "  is  pronounced  "  ire."  A  band 
of  ire,  not  of  iron.  Hence  the  surname  Irons. 

JOINER,  a  maker  of  chairs  and  tables,  etc. 

JESSMAKER,  maker  of  jesses  for  hawks;  hence  the  sur- 
name Jesse. 

KISSER,  maker  of  "  cuisses  "  (greaves). 

KITCHENER,  from  cuisinier,  a  French  or  Norman  name  for 
a  cook. 

KINCH,  a  worker  in  the  bleaching-fields. 

LACER,  maker  of  laces  (not  lace),  the  strings  of  twisted  or 
plaited  wool  or  silk  for  fastening  portions  of  the  dress 
together. 

LANER,  a  dealer  in  wool — lain. 

LARDINER  or  LARDNER,  if  not  a  fattener  of  hogs,  is  a 
dealer  in  lard  and  bacon. 

LATINER,  altered  to  Latimer,  an  interpreter. 

LATONER,  a  maker  of  latten,  a  mixture  of  lead  and  tin — in 
fact,  a  pewterer. 

LAUNDER  or  LAVENDER,  a  washerman.  We  have  a  trace 
of  the  word  in  "  laundress  "  and  in  a  "  launder  "  that  brings 
water.  Hence  the  surnames  Launder  and  Landor.  Beatrice 
ap  Rice,  who  washed  for  the  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of 
Henry  VIII.,  is  always  set  down  in  the  accounts  as  Mistress 
Launder.  Sir  Hugh  Evans,  in  "  The  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,"  calls  Mistress  Quickly  the  "  dry-nurse,  or  cook, 
or  laundry,  or  washer,  or  wringer,"  of  Dr.  Caius. 

LAYMAN,  lagman  or  lawyer. 

140 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

LEADBEATER,  the  maker  of  leaden  vessels  and  the  lead 
for  roofs.  The  word  has  been  corrupted  to  Ledbitter  and 
Liberty. 

LEADER,  a  drawer  and  carrier  of  water  in  a  town — properly, 
a  water-leader.  The  surname  of  Loder  is  the  same  as 
Leader. 

LEAPER.  A  "  leap  "  was  a  sort  of  basket  made  of  rush.  In 
Wyckliffe's  version,  Moses  is  placed  in  a  "  leap  of  segg" — 
i.e.,  basket  of  sedge.  So  also  Matt.  viii.  8  :  "  And  thei  eeten 
and  weren  fulfilled,  and  thei  taken  up  that  that  left  sevene 
leepis."  Hence  the  names  Lipman,  Leapman,  Lipper.  Has 
nothing  to  do  with  "  lepper." l 

LEECH  or  LEACH,  a  surgeon,  so  called  because  he  ministers 
to  the  health  of  the  lych,  or  body. 

LIMMER,  an  artist  who  decorates  manuscripts. 

LISTER,  engaged  in  one  part  of  clothweaving. 

LOCKSMITH  or  LOCKIER,  hence  Lockyer  and  Locke. 

LYNER,  a  dealer  in  linen.  The  surname  remains  as  Line 
and  Lyne. 

LORIMER,  maker  of  straps,  bits,  and  girths. 

LYTEMAN,  probably  the  torch  or  link  bearer.  The  surname 
Lyte  comes  from  it.  Also  SPELTMAN,  that  has  become  Spell- 
man  (Anglo-Saxon  speld,  a  torch). 

MAILER,  a  maker  of  mails  or  leather  portmanteaus. 
Perhaps  the  surname  of  Mellor  may  in  some  instances  derive 
hence. 

MALSTER,  for  Maltster. 

MARINER.  The  name  of  sailor  is  very  uncommon  ;  the 
usual  word  descriptive  of  one  who  lived  on  the  sea  was 
"  mariner  " — hence  Marner. 

MASON,  also  Waller  and  Walster. 

MAUNDER,  a  maker  of  maunds,  or  hampers,  and  then  a 
beggar  who  collected  food  given  to  him  in  a  maund. 

MAZERER,  a  turner  of  mazer  bowls  in  maplewood.  "  It 
was  the  favourite  bowl  of  all  classes  of  society.  By  the  rich 
it  was  valued  according  as  it  was  made  from  the  knotted 

1  But  the  Dutch  loeper,  German  laufer^  is  a  running  footman.  Cf. 
Pott,  "  Personnennamen,"  p.  632. 

141 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

grain,  or  chased   and   rimmed   with   gold   and   silver   and 
precious  stones  "  (Bardsley).    We  are  told  of  Sir  Thopas,  that 

"  They  fetched  him  first  the  swete  win, 
And  made  eke  in  a  maselin, 
And  real  spicere." 

Mazerer  was  also  Mazeliner — hence  the  name  of  the  famous 
conjurer,  Maskelyne. 

MERCER,  a  dealer  in  silks. 

MERCHANT,  also  Marchant,  from  the  French,  in  place  of 
the  English  "  monger." 

MITCHENER,  a  pastrycook ;  maker  of  mitchkin,  a  cake  or 
small  loaf. 

MONIER,  maker  of  current  coins  minted  in  many  towns. 
Also  Minter,  Monyer,  and  Money,  if  this  last  do  not  stand  for 
De  Mauney. 

MUSTARDER,  seller  of  mustard.  As  a  surname  reduced  to 
Mustard. 

NEEDLER,  needlemaker.  As  surname,  Neelder.  Aguillier, 
a  French  form,  gives  Aguillar  and  Gillard. 

ORFEVER,  a  goldsmith ;  hence  our  modern  surnames  of 
Offerer  and  Off  or,  if  this  last  be  not  a  place-name. 

OSTLER,  hence  Oastler  and  Hostler;  but  OSELER,  as  already 
said,  is  a  birdcatcher. 

PACKER,  a  woolpacker  ;  also  Pack  as  a  surname. 

PAINTER,  often  as  a  surname  Paynter. 

PARCHMENTER,  preparer  of  parchment  and  vellum. 

PARGITER,  a  plasterer. 

PARMINTER,  for  parmentier,  a  tailor — a  French  fashionable 
tailor,  doubtless. 

PATTENER,  maker  of  pattens.     Surname  Patner. 

PELTER,  a  furrier. 

PEPPERER,  a  seller  of  pepper ;  name  remains  as  Pepper. 

PESSONER,  a  fishmonger. 

PEWTERER,  also  Powter. 

PILCHER,  a  maker  of  warm  garments  lined  with  fur ; 
much  the  same  as  a  pelter. 

PINNER,  a  pinmaker. 

PLASTERER,  as  a  surname  Plaister. 

142 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

PLATNER,  a  maker  of  dishes  and  plates.     Surname  Plait. 

PLAYER,  an  actor  by  profession. 

PLUMBER  remains  in  surnames  as  Plumer  and  Plummer. 

POINTER,  one  who  made  "  points,"  tags  to  dresses  by 
which  laces  were  fastened  together — often  made  of  silver. 
Surname  Poynter. 

POTTER,  maker  of  common  pots.  The  name  remains 
both  as  Potter  and  Potts. 

POUCHER,  maker  of  pouches.  A  poacher  is  so  called 
because  he  carries  a  pouch  for  the  game  he  secures. 

POULTERER.  The  surname  remains  as  Poulter  and  Pulter. 

POYSER,  a  weigher,  a  scalemaker. 

PURSER  or  BURSER,  a  pursemaker. 

PYEBAKER,  shortened  into  Pye. 

QUILLER,  also  KeeleYy  the  dresser  of  quilled  ruffs  and 
collars,  such  as  were  worn  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Mr. 
Quiller- Couch  has  in  his  name  references  to  two  trades 
— the  starcher  who  quilled  collars,  and  the  coucher  who 
stuffed  beds,  etc. 

QUILTER,  the  liner  of  garments  and  coverlets. 

RAFFMAN,  also  RAFFLER,  the  dealer  in  rags  and  rubbish. 

RECORDER,  a  player  on  the  record,  a  musical  instrument ; 
hence  the  surname  Corder. 

RIDLER,  a  maker  of  sieves  and  riddles, 

ROCKSTER,  a  maker  of  rocks  or  spindles ;  hence  the 
surname  Rockstro,  and  sometimes  also  Rock  ;  also  Rooker 
and  Rooke  and  Rookard.  Mr.  Bardsley  strangely  makes  of 
the  last  a  rookward,  or  keeper  of  rooks. 

ROPER  and  RAPER,  a  cordwainer,  a  ropemaker.  Cordery 
is  the  man  at  the  ropewalk. 

RUNCIMAN,  a  dealer  in  an  inferior  kind  of  horses.  The 
shipman  among  the  Canterbury  pilgrims  rode  upon  a 
"  rouncy." 

SACKER,  a  maker  of  sacks.  Archbishop  Seeker  derived, 
doubtless,  from  a  sackmaker. 

SADLER,  also  SELLER,  from  the  French  sellier.  We  have 
both  as  surnames. 

SALTER,  also  SALTMAN,  a  salt-boiler. 


THE  TOWN  :   TRADE-NAMES 

SAWYER,  self-explanatory. 

SHIPMAN,  a  merchant  sea-captain.  One  was  among  the 
Canterbury  pilgrims :  "  The  hoote  somer  hadde  maad  his 
hew  at  broun,  and  certlinly  he  was  a  good  felawe." 

SEALER,  a  seal-cutter.  In  some  cases  may  have  originated 
the  surname  Scale. 

SEAMER  and  the  feminine  SEMESTER,  a  maker  of  seams 
for  the  tailor. 

SEXTON,  also  as  Saxton,  for  Sacristan. 

SHEARMAN,  one  who  shaves  or  shears  worsted  and 
fustians.  Sherman,  Shears. 

SHAILER,  a  maker  of  ladders  (echelles).  As  a  surname, 
Shayler  and  Shelter. 

SHOEMAKER,  curiously  enough,  rare  as  a  surname.  The 
Old  English  name  (from  the  French)  was  Corser,  but  also 
Souter  =  Chausseur ;  hence  Chaucer. 

SILKMAN,  a  mercer.  The  surname  remains  as  Silke  and 
Sylke. 

SINGER,  a  professional  chanter,  a  ballad-singer  or  minstrel. 
Sangster. 

SKINNER,  one  who  prepared  skins  for  the  tanyard.  As  a 
surname,  Skynner. 

SLAYER  or  SLAYWRIGHT,  one  who  makes  slays  for  weaving. 

SLAUGHTERER,  the  man  who  kills  for  the  butcher.  A  late 
Government  School  Inspector  was  Colonel  Slaughter.1 

SLOPER,  a  maker  of  slops,  a  loose  upper  garment.  In  the 
"  Chanon  Yemannes  Tale  "  it  is  said  that 

"  His  overest  sloppe  is  not  worth  a  mite." 

SMITH,  a  general  term.  There  were  Whitesmiths,  i.e., 
Tinmen,  Goldsmiths,  Brownsmiths,  Blacksmiths,  Arrow- 
smiths,  Spearsmiths,  Nailsmiths,  etc. 

SOAPER,  a  soap-boiler.     Soper. 

SOUTER,  a  shoemaker.  The  surname  Shutter  is  from  Shoester. 

SPICER,  from  the  French  Spicier. 

SPILLER,  a  maker  of  spills  or  spindles. 

SPINNER.     The  feminine  form  is  SPINSTER. 

1  There  are,  however,  two  villages  so  named  in  Gloucestershire. 

144 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

SPOONER,  maker  of  spoons  in  wood  and  horn. 
SPURRIER,  maker  of  spurs. 

STAMPER,  the  official  who  put  the  stamp  either  on  tin  or 
on  the  nobler  metals.  It  has  been  corrupted  into  Stammer. 

STARCHER,  important  in  Elizabethan  times  and  in  that  of 
James  L,  when  yellow  starch  came  in.  Perhaps  the  origin 
of  Starke  and  Starkie. 

STAPLER,  the  merchant  who  bought  wool  en  gros.  As  a 
surname  it  exists  as  Staples. 

STEYNER,  the  maker  of  steenes,  or  stone  jars,  out  of  white 
clay.  The  surname  remains  as  Steyner  or  Stayner. 

STRAKER,  a  twine-spinner. 

SUMMONER  or  SUMNER,  one  who  conveys  legal  summons. 
Sumner  was  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  According  to 
Chaucer,  the  summoner  was  not  a  man  of  high  character. 

SURGEON,  a  chirurgeon,  was  merged  in  the  barber  and 
apothecary.  If  it  ever  became  a  surname,  it  has  been  over- 
whelmed by  Sergeant. 

TAILOR,  variously  spelled  as  a  surname,  in  the  vain  hope 
to  disguise  its  humble  and  somewhat  despised  origin.  A 
taizler  was  the  same  as  a  tozer,  a  man  who  brought  up 
the  nap  on  cloth  with  teasels,  and  it  is  possible  that  some 
Taizler s  may  have  become  Tayleurs.  The  Old  English  name 
for  a  tailor  was  a  schepper  or  shaper.  Possibly  enough  some 
Sheppards  may  derive  thence. 

TANNER  needs  no  explanation. 

TAPISER,  a  tapistry  worker,  contracted  to  Tapster,  and  so 
goes  along  with  the  tavern  assistant. 

TABURNER,  one  who  played  on  the  tambourine. 

TAWER,  a  skinner  or  leather-dresser;  hence  Tower  and 
Tuer. 

TENTOR,  one  who  stretches  cloth. 

TESTER,  same  as  Assay 'er. 

TELLER  or  TELLWRIGHT,  a  tentmaker.  Old  English  for 
a  tent  was  teld. 

THROWER,  a  silkwinder  ;  hence  Trower. 

TINNER,  a  whitesmith — usually  tinker  and  tinkler.  There 
is  an  old  ballad  still  sung  by  the  Devonshire  peasants  of 

145  K 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

"  The  Maid  and  the  Box."  She  was  serving  in  London,  but 
desired  to  return  to  see  her  parents  in  Falmouth. 

"  Her  master  paid  her  wages,  and 
Her  wages  were  five  pound. 
She  put  the  money  in  a  box 
With  flowers  flourished  round. 

"  She  put  the  money  in  the  box, 
She  put  in  that  her  clothes  ; 
She  set  it  all  upon  her  head, 
And  nimbly  forth  she  goes. 

"  She  had  not  walked  very  far, 
The  space  was  scarce  a  mile, 
Before  a  tinkler  she  espied 
Was  lying  at  a  stile." 

The  tinkler  requires  her  to  set  down  the  box,  that  he  may 
examine  its  contents,  and  to  hand  him  the  key.  She  does 
this ;  but  as  he  lays  aside  his  stick  and  budget,  that  he  may 
open  the  box,  she 

"  Seized  the  walking-stick 
And  struck  him  sharp  a  knock. 

"  She  struck  the  tinkler  on  the  head, 
She  struck  him  strokes  full  three, 
And  ne'er  a  word  he  spoke  or  stirred  ; 
The  tinkler— still  lay  he." 

Of  her  further  adventures,  and  of  how  she  married  the 
Squire,  I  have  not  space  to  tell,  the  ballad  consisting  of 
sixteen  double  verses.  A  surname  is  Tingler. 

TIREMAN,  a  maker  of  ladies'  tires,  or  headgear. 

TOLLER  (Anglo-Saxon),  the  official  who  received  the  royal 
tolls  at  fairs  and  in  harbours.  As  a  surname  it  remains, 
also  as  Towler ;  but  possibly  the  latter  may  be  a  corruption 
of  Toulousier,  an  adventurer  from  Toulouse. 

TOZER,  or  TOWZER,  or  TAIZLER.     See  under  Tailor. 

TRIMMER,  the  provider  of  laces  for  garnishing  the  dresses 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen. 

TUBMAN  or  TUBBER,  a  maker  of  tubs,  a  step  in  the  social 
scale  below  the  cooper ;  hence  the  surnames  Tupman  and 
Tubbs. 

146 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

TUCKER,  one  engaged  in  part  of  the  process  of  woolmaking 
into  cloth.     Tucking  mills  were  introduced  in  all  wool  dis 
tricts.     The   name   takes   the  form  of  Toker,  Tooker,   and 
Towker. 

TURNER,  spelled  as  a  surname  also  Tumour.1 

TYLER,  tilemaker ;  sometimes  Tittler. 

VINTNER,  sometimes  as  Vyner. 

WADMAN,  a  dealer  in  woad  for  dyeing.     Wadster. 

WAINWRIGHT,  a  maker  of  carts  or  waggons.  As  a  surname 
spelled  Waynwright. 

WALKER.  Cloth  before  the  introduction  of  the  roller  had 
to  be  trodden  underfoot.  In  Wyckliffe's  version  of  the  Trans- 
figuration he  describes  Christ's  raiment  as  shining  so  as  no 
"  fullers  or  walkers  of  cloth  "  could  whiten.  Langland,  in 
describing  the  process  of  cloth  manufacture,  says : 

"  Cloth  that  cometh  fro  the  wevyng 
Is  nought  comely  to  wear 
Till  it  be  fulled  under  foot, 
Or  in  fullying  stokkes, 
Washen  well  with  water. 
And  with  taseles  craccked 
Y-ton-ked  and  y-teynted, 
And  under  tailleurs  hands." 

WATERER  or  WATERMAN,  a  boatman  on  the  Thames. 

WAYMAN,  a  driver  of  wains. 

WAYTE,  a  watchman  (Old  French,  guet) ;  hence  the  sur- 
names Wade,  Gates,  Yates,  and  Wakeman. 

WEAVER,  same  as  Webber  and  Webster ;  sometimes  Webbe. 

WHEELER,  a  wheelwright. 

WHITSTER,  a  bleacher  of  linen.  Mrs.  Ford  says  :  "  John 
and  Robin  .  .  .  take  this  basket  on  your  shoulders.  That 
done,  trudge  with  it  in  all  haste,  and  carry  it  among  the 
whitsters  in  Datchet  mead." 

WHIFFLER,  a  piper. 

1  Some  Turners  pretend  that  the  name  derives  from  some  imaginary 
Tour  Noire.  In  early  entries  we  have  always  le  Tourneur,  never  de  la 
Tour  Noire.  There  was,  however,  a  "  Sire  de  le  Tourneur "  at 
Hastings. 

147  K  i 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

WHITTIER,  a  white  Tawier ;  one  who  prepares  the  finer 
skins  for  gloves,  whitening  them.  Wheatman,  Wightman. 

WIRER,  a  wire-drawer. 

WOOLER,  a  wool-monger,  a  collector  of  fleeces  from 
farmers  and  yeomen.  Also  Woolner. 

It  is  remarkable,  and  admirable  as  well,  to  see  how  many 
of  the  descendants  of  quite  humble  tradesmen  are  now 
represented  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  Duke  of  Northumberland  is  actually  no  Percy,  but  a 
Smithson,  and  must  recognize  that  his  ancestor  wielded  the 
hammer  at  the  anvil.  Little  can  the  nominal  ancestor,  "  his 
brow  wet  with  honest  sweat,"  have  imagined  that  his  descen- 
dant would  reign  in  Alnwick  Castle. 

The  viscounty  of  Strangford  is  now  extinct,  but  that  was 
held  by  a  Smith  disguised  as  Smythe ;  but  Earl  Carrington  is 
a  Smith,  though  apparently  not  descended  from  a  blacksmith, 
but  from  a  goldsmith.  The  family  seems  to  have  pursued 
this  trade  and  banking  and  money-lending  till  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Lord  Gwydyr  is  a  Burvell,  and  his  ancestor,  judging  from 
his  name,  was  a  weaver  of  coarse  cloth,  such  as  was  sold 
only  to  labouring  men.  The  ancestor  of  Lord  Alverstone  was 
a  webster  or  weaver.  Lord  Ribblesdale's  family  ancestor — 
a  Lister — must  have  been  a  wool-worker.  That  of  the  Mar- 
quess of  Headfort,  a  tailor  sitting  cross-legged  on  a  table, 
and  no  disguise  of  Tailor  into  Tayleur  can  obscure  the  fact. 
Earl  Winterton  is  a  Turner,  dignified  into  Tumour,  and  the 
ancestor  of  Lord  Castlemaine  must  have  been  a  John  the 
Cook  in  some  nobleman's  or  squire's  house,  for  the  family 
name  is  Handcock.  Earl  Cowper  derives  his  family  and 
titular  name  from  a  tradesman  who  made  drinking-mugs, 
and  Lord  Monkswell  from  a  collier,  who  carried  sacks  of 
coals  over  his  shoulder.  If  Sturt  comes  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Steort,  then  Baron  Alington's  family  must  have  come 
literally  from  the  plough-tail.1 

A  There  is,  however,  a  place  called  Stert  near  Devizes,  and  entries  in 

the  Hundred  Rolls,  etc.,  confirm  the  derivation  from  a  place — William 
de  la  Sturte,  1273. 

148 


THE  TOWN  :   TRADE-NAMES 

As  might  have  been  anticipated,  many  domestic  and  other 
servants  have  climbed  up  their  masters'  backs,  stepped  over 
their  shoulders,  and  installed  themselves  in  their  places. 

Baron  Forrester  and  Viscount  Massereene  derive  from 
salaried  attendants  who  ministered  to  the  pleasures  of  their 
masters  in  the  chase.  Barons  Gardner  and  Burghclere 
derive  from  some  worthy  working  man  who,  when  engaged 
in  the  potting-shed  or  in  manuring  the  soil,  had  no  notion 
that  a  descendant  would  wear  a  coronet.  Lord  Bateman 
deduces,  as  the  name  implies,  from  the  bear-warder  in  some 
castle,  where  he  fed  the  brutes  that  were  to  be  baited  for  his 
master's  amusement.  The  Earl  of  Morley,  as  a  Parker, 
must  have  had  as  ancestor  one  who  looked  to  his  lord's  park 
and  kept  the  palings  in  order ;  so  also  the  Earl  of  Maccles- 
field.  The  Earl  of  Harrowby,  as  a  Ryder,  had  as  an 
ancestor  some  German  renter,  who  sold  his  sword  for  his 
entertainment  and  some  plunder ;  and  Barons  Napier  and 
Ettrick  and  Napier  of  Magdala  derive,  as  already  said,  from 
the  official  who  looked  after  the  linen  for  bed  and  table  in  a 
noble  house.  The  ancestors  of  the  Earls  of  Carrick,  Glen- 
gall,  Lanesborough,  of  the  Marquess  of  Ormonde,  of  Viscount 
Mountgarret,  and  of  Baron  Dunboyne,  were  all  butlers. 

Baron  Calthorpe  is  descended  from  a  maker  of  balls  with 
spikes,  used  in  war.  Earl  Summers  had  as  his  nominal 
ancestor  a  Sompner  : 

"  A  Sompnour  was  ther  with  us  in  that  place, 
That  hadd  a  fyr-reed  cherubyns  face, 
For  saweeflem  [pimply]  he  was,  with  eyghen  [eyes] 

narwe  [narrow] 
As  hoot  he  was,  and  leecherous,  as  a  sparwe  [sparrow]." 

So  Chaucer  describes  the  sompner,  or  summoner.  The 
ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  judging  from  the  name, 
was  a  Cook,  whose  place  was  not  by  any  means  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  but  in  the  kitchen  ;  and  that  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury  was  a  Cooper. 

Lord  Teynham,  being  a  Roper,  must  have  drawn  his 
family  from  one  who  was  a  cord-wainer,  pacing  hourly  back- 
wards and  dealing  out  the  hemp  that  was  being  spun  and 

149 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

twisted,  a  monotonous  toil  from  dawn  to  sunset,  unlightened 
by  a  glimpse  of  the  future  in  which  a  descendant  would  wear 
the  six  pearls  and  have  as  crest  a  lion  rampant  bearing  a 
ducal  crown. 

Baron  Newland's  ancestor  was  a  hosier,  who  from  behind 
his  counter  sold  silk  stockings  to  ladies  and  gents,  and 
worsted  stockings  to  farmers  and  domestics. 

If  we  chose  to  look  among  the  Baronets,  what  a  string  of 
trade-names  should  we  find  ! 

There  are  six  Smiths,  one  affecting  the  spelling  Smyth,  and 
one  Smythe  ;  as  many  Walkers  ;  a  Webster  ;  a  Quitter  ;  a  Poyn- 
der,  a  Poynter,  both  having  the  same  meaning,  a  maker  of 
points  to  hold  the  garments  together — we  use  buttons  instead : 

"  Fals.  Their  points  being  broken. 
Poins.  Down  fell  their  hose." 

King  Henry  IV.,  Part  II.,  XI.  IV. 

— a  Runciman  ;  a  Spicer ;  a  Chapman ;  a  Tupper — a  hog  and 
ram  gelder ;  a  Naesmyth — i.e.,  nailsmith  ;  a.  Fender,  or  pindar ; 
a  Loder,  or  water-carrier.  Half  a  dozen  hail  from  the  Mill. 
Two  Jardines  derive  from  French  gardeners.  There  are 
Forsters,  Fosters,  contractions  from  Forester ;  a  Fowler  and 
a  Falkener ;  a  Dyer ;  two  Cooks ;  four  Coopers,  and  one 
Couper ;  an  A  shman,  who  prepared  ashes  for  the  soap-boiler  ; 
and  one  Farmer. 

No  pedigree  of  any  of  these  families  goes  back  to  the 
original  Smith  or  Tailor,  Webster  or  Runciman,  Cooper  or 
Miller,  but  the  name  is  an  indelible  stamp  of  a  trade  origin. 
Why  any  man  should  be  ashamed  of  this  I  fail  to  see.  The 
honest  tradesman  was  a  far  worthier  man  than  the  loafer 
about  the  Court,  and  the  hotspur  who  "  kills  me  some  six  or 
seven  dozen  of  Scots  at  a  breakfast,  washes  his  hands,  and 
says  to  his  wife  :  '  Fye  upon  this  quiet  life  !' '  Yet  I  pre- 
sume there  is  some  dislike  of  the  fact,  for  the  arms  chosen 
never  bear  any  reference  to  the  trade  of  the  name-founder  of 
the  family,  and  in  a  good  many  cases,  where  there  is  a  trade- 
name,  it  is  either  wriggled  out  of  or  smothered  by  the 
addition  of  some  more  aristocratic  and  resonant  name. 

And  yet  anyone  who  can  be  shown  to  have  borne,  or  his 

150 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

forbears  to  have  borne,  a  name  connected  with  a  trade  most 
certainly  did  spring  from  the  shop  or  the  factory.  There 
can  be  no  mistake  about  it.  The  name  may  be  twisted  or 
tinkered  into  Smijthe,  Tayleure,  Cuttlare,  or  what  you  will : 
it  makes  no  difference.  The  Adam  of  each  wielded  a 
hammer,  or  patched  the  knees  and  seat  of  old  breeches,  or 
fashioned  scissors  or  shield.  In  Germany  no  man  is 
esteemed  to  be  adel — that  is  to  say,  can  write  himself 
armiger,  a  gentleman — who  has  not  a  von  before  his  name, 
and  the  old  historic  families  can  always  be  recognized  by  a 
territorial  name  preceded  by  von.  We  know,  without  con- 
sulting a  peerage,  that  a  Von  Falkenstein  or  a  Von  Rabeneck 
has  a  pedigree  of  over  eight  descents,  and  had  his  seat  in 
former  days  in  a  castle  Falkenstein  or  Rabeneck,  now  in 
ruins.  However,  during  last  century  a  considerable  number 
of  Webers,  Dreschlers,  Gartners,  and  Schmidts  were  en- 
nobled ;  but  their  names  remain  as  permanent  testimonies  to 
their  burger  descent  from  a  weaver,  a  turner,  a  gardener, 
and  a  smith. 

And  they  have  no  reason  to  be  other  than  proud  of  the 
fact.  Whilst  the  Vons  were  ravaging  the  country,  and 
rendering  the  roads  insecure  for  peaceful  traders,  the  citizens 
within  the  walls  of  the  towns  were  building  up  the  prosperity 
of  their  country. 

"  William  the  Conqueror  divided  England  among  the 
commanders  of  his  army,"  writes  an  American,1  "  and  con- 
ferred about  twenty  earldoms.  Not  one  of  them  exists 
to-day.  Nor  do  any  of  the  honours  conferred  by  William 
Rufus,  1087-1100;  Henry  I,  1100-1135;  Stephen,  1135- 
1154;  Henry  II.,  1154-1189;  Richard  I.,  1189-1199;  or 
John,  1199-1216. 

"  All  the  dukedoms  created  from  the  institution  of 
Edward  III.,  1327-1377,  down  to  the  commencement  of 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  1649,  except  Norfolk  and  Somerset 
and  Cornwall — the  title  held  by  the  Prince  of  Wales — have 
perished.  Winchester  and  Worcester — the  latter  merged 
in  the  dukedom  of  Beaufort — are  the  only  marquisates  older 

1  "  England  and  the  English, "Scribner*s  Magazine^  February,  1909. 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

than  George  III.  (1760-1820).  Of  all  earldoms  conferred 
by  the  Normans,  Plantagenets,  and  Tudors,  only  eleven 
remain,  and  six  of  these  are  merged  in  higher  honours. 
The  House  of  Lords  to-day  does  not  number  a  single  male 
descendant  of  any  of  the  Barons  who  were  chosen  to  enforce 
Magna  Charta.  The  House  of  Lords  does  not  contain  a 
single  male  descendant  of  the  Peers  who  fought  at  Agincourt. 
There  is  only  one  single  family  in  all  the  realm — Wrottesley 
— which  can  boast  of  a  male  descendant  from  the  date  of 
the  institution  of  the  Garter  (1349).  In  a  word,  the  present 
House  of  Lords  is  conspicuously  and  predominantly  a 
democratic  body,  chosen  from  the  successful  of  the  land. 
Seventy  of  the  Peers  were  ennobled  on  account  of  distinction 
in  the  practice  of  the  law  alone.  The  Dukes  of  Leeds  trace 
back  to  a  cloth-worker ;  the  Earls  of  Craven  to  a  tailor ;  the 
families  of  Dartmouth,  Ducie,  Pomfret,  Tankerville,  Dormer, 
Romney,  Dudley,  Fitzwilliam,  Cowper,  Leigh,  Darnley, 
Hill,  Normanby,  all  sprang  from  London  shops  and  counting- 
houses,  and  that  not  so  very  long  ago. 

"  Ashburton,  Carrington,  Helper,  Overstone,  Mount- 
Stephen,  Hindlip,  Burton,  Battersea,  Glenesk,  Aldenham, 
Cheylesmore,  Lister,  Avebury,  Burnham,  Biddulph,  North- 
cliffe,  Nunburnholme,  Winterstoke,  Rothschild,  Brassey, 
Revelstoke,  Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal,  Michelham,  and 
others  too  many  to  mention,  have  taken  their  places  among 
the  Peers  by  force  of  long  purses  gained  in  trade. 

"  Lord  Belper,  for  example,  created  in  1856,  is  the  grand- 
son of  Jedidiah  Strutt,  who  was  the  son  of  a  small  farmer, 
and  made  wonderful  ribbed  stockings. 

"  Wealth,  however  got,  in  England  makes 
Lords  of  mechanics,  gentlemen  of  rakes. 
Antiquity  and  birth  are  needless  here  ; 
'Tis  impudence  and  money  makes  the  Peer. 

*  *  *  * 

Great  families  of  yesterday  we  show, 
And  Lords  whose  parents  were  the  Lord  knows  who." 

In  the  names  given  before  this  quotation  I  have  relied 
solely  on  the  testimony  of  the  family  appellation,  and  have 
left  on  one  side  altogether  such  noble  families  as  can  be 

152 


THE  TOWN  :  TRADE-NAMES 

proved  by  reliable  pedigrees  to  have  issued  from  the  com- 
mercial class.  If  we  were  to  add  those  known  historically  to 
have  so  risen  to  those  known  to  have  risen  by  the  evidence 
of  their  names,  it  would  be  found  that  they  make  up  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  land. 

The  prophet  saw  in  vision  the  House  of  Israel  as  a  boiling 
pot  set  upon  live  coals,  and  sending  its  scum  to  the  surface. 
He  was  thinking  of  the  "  smart  set  "  of  the  time.  But 
England  from  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  has  also 
been  set  on  the  coals ;  but,  unlike  the  House  of  Israel,  it  has 
sent  its  very  best  to  the  top,  and  often  from  the  very  bottom, 
and  has  brought  down  from  above  that  which  was  worthless, 
there  perhaps  to  recover  and  again  to  mount  aloft.  I  have 
taken  pains  to  show  in  the  chapter  on  Battle  Abbey  Roll, 
and  also  in  that  on  French  Names,  that  there  has  been  such 
a  descent.  There  is  nothing  stationary  in  the  social  caldron 
— all  is  in  revolution,  not  violent,  but  gentle,  natural,  healthy. 
And  be  it  further  remembered  that  most  of  our  humble 
tradesmen  of  old,  those  who  gave  their  trade-names  to  their 
families,  issued  originally  from  the  class  of  manumitted  serfs 
and  villeins — men  of  English  blood  probably — and  then  we 
can  see  for  ourselves  how  that  the  down-trampled  native  of 
our  isle  has  succeeded  in  reversing  the  condition  of  affairs : 
he  is  at  the  top,  and  the  bearer  of  the  Norman  name  is 
nowhere. 

Hear  again  what  the  American — an  outsider — has  to  say 
on  the  subject  of  our  nobility  :  "  William  the  Conqueror 
was  a  bastard,  and  his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a 
humble  tanner  of  Falaise.  The  mother  of  the  great  Queen 
Elizabeth  was  the  daughter  of  a  plain  English  gentleman. 

"  The  Englishman  would  not  be  what  he  is,  nor  would  he 
in  the  least  be  transmitting  his  very  valuable  Saxon  heritage, 
if  he  gave  up  his  democratic  custom  of  an  aristocracy  of 
power  for  the  feeble  Continental  custom  of  an  aristocracy  of 
birth.  What  the  one  and  the  other  is  to-day  answers  the 
question  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  systems  without 
need  of  discussion.  The  English,  though  nowadays  many 
of  them  do  not  know  it  themselves,  are  the  most  democratic 
of  all  nations." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PLACE-NAMES 

CAMDEN  says  :  "  About  the  year  of  our  Lord  1000  (that  we 
may  not  minute  out  the  time)  surnames  began  to  be  taken 
up  in  France,  and  in  England  about  the  time  of  the  Conquest, 
or  else  a  very  little  before,  under  King  Edward  the  Confessor, 
who  was  all  Frenchified.  .  .  .  This  will  seem  strange  to 
some  Englishmen  and  Scottishmen,  which,  like  the  Arcadians, 
think  their  surnames  as  ancient  as  the  moone,  or  at  the 
least  to  reach  many  an  age  beyond  the  Conquest.  But  they 
which  think  it  most  strange  (I  speak  under  correction)  I 
doubt  they  will  hardly  finde  any  surname  which  descended 
to  posterity  before  that  time ;  neither  have  they  scene  (I 
feare)  any  deede  or  donation  before  the  Conquest,  but  sub- 
signed  with  crosses  and  single  names  without  surnames  in 
this  manner :  >J<  Ego  Eadredus  confirmavi.  >J<  Ego  Sigarius 
conclusi.  >J«  Ego  Olfstunus  consolidavi,  etc." 

This  is  true  so  far  as  that  there  were  no  hereditary 
surnames  before  about  1000 ;  but  there  were  nick,  or  descrip- 
tive, names  in  use,  and  appear  in  charters,  but  these  were 
personal,  and  did  not  descend  to  the  sons. 

The  Normans  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror  brought 
with  them  the  names  of  their  estates  and  castles  in  Normandy 
and  Brittany,  or  else  some  personal  name,  which  they  trans- 
mitted to  their  posterity  ;  or  they  held  hereditary  offices,  as 
stewards,  constables,  marshals,  from  which  they  took  their 
names  and  passed  them  on.  Some  had  personal  names, 
originally  Norse,  but  altered  through  contact  with  French. 

"  Under  the  feudal  system,"  says  Mr.  Lower,  "  the  great 
Barons  assumed  as  surnames  the  proper  names  of  their 


PLACE-NAMES 

seigniories ;  the  knights  who  held  under  them  did  the  like, 
and  those  in  turn  were  imitated  by  all  who  possessed  a 
landed  estate,  however  small.  Camden  remarks  that  there 
is  not  a  single  village  in  Normandy  that  has  not  surnamed 
some  family  in  England." 

In  Britain  settlements  by  the  Celtic  freeholders  took  the 
names  of  the  settlers.  Tre,  or  tref,  the  house  of,  preceded 
the  name  of  the  man  who  built  the  house,  as  Trecarrel, 
Trevanion,  Tremadoc.  A  church  also  took  the  name  of  its 
founder,  as  Llanaelhaiarn,  Llancadoc  ;  but  in  far  later  times, 
when  place-names  were  taken  up  as  surnames,  then  we  shall 
find  a  Henry  de  Trecarrel,  a  John  Trevanion,  and  a  David 
Tremadoc  ;  also  the  church  might  give  a  name  to  a  layman, 
as  in  Cornwall,  de  Lanyon — i.e.,  the  Church  of  St.  John. 

The  Saxons  and  Angles  also  called  places  after  their 
names.  The  English  Chronicle  is,  of  course,  wrong  in 
making  Portsmouth  derive  from  a  settler  named  Port ; 
nevertheless,  there  is  abundance  of  evidence  that  the  new 
colonists  did  denominate  many  places  after  their  own 
names. 

Wright,  in  his  "History  of  Ludlow,"  says  :  "  Many  of  the 
names  of  places,  of  which  the  meaning  seems  most  difficult  to 
explain,  are  compounded  of  those  of  Anglo-Saxon  possessors 
or  cultivators,  and  the  original  forms  of  such  words  are 
readily  discovered  by  a  reference  to  Domesday  Book.  .  .  . 
Names  of  places  having  ing  in  the  middle  are  generally 
formed  from  patronymics,  which  in  Anglo-Saxon  had  this 
termination.  Thus,  a  son  of  Alfred  was  ^Elfreding ;  his 
descendants  in  general  were  ^Elfredings  or  yElfredingas. 
These  patronymics  are  generally  compounded  with  ham,  tun, 
etc.,  and  whenever  we  can  find  the  name  of  a  place  in  pure 
Saxon  documents,  we  have  the  patronymic  in  the  genitive 
case  plural.  Thus,  Birmingham  was  Beorm-inge-ham,  the 
home  or  residence  of  the  sons  and  descendants  of  Beorm. 
There  are  not  many  names  of  this  form  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Ludlow  ;  Berrington  (Beoringaton)  was  perhaps  the 
enclosure  of  the  sons  or  family  of  Beor,  and  Culmington 
that  of  the  family  of  Culm." 


PLACE-NAMES 

In  Northumbria  and  East  Anglia  the  Danes  had  begun  to 
settle  from  the  seventh  or  beginning  of  the  eighth  century. 
They  were  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Angles,  derived  their 
royal  race  from  the  same  ancestry,  and  spoke  pretty  much 
the  same  tongue.  The  Angles  came  from  the  modern 
Schleswig,  and  the  home  of  the  Danes  was  the  island  of 
Zealand,  with  the  hall  of  the  King  and  the  temple  of  the 
national  god  at  Leidre.  A  continual  stream  of  Danes  passed 
into  the  North  of  England.  The  Kings  of  Leidre  demanded, 
and  indeed  exacted,  scatt,  or  tribute,  from  the  Northumbrians. 
At  length,  in  878,  by  the  peace  of  Wedmore,  the  whole  of 
the  country  north  of  the  Watlingstreet — the  great  Roman 
road  that  ran  straight  as  an  arrow  from  London  to  Chester — 
was  ceded  to  the  Danes.  In  the  Saga  of  Egill  Skallagrimson 
we  are  told  that  at  the  time  when  he  was  in  Northumbria — 
i.e.y  in  the  tenth  century — nearly  all  the  inhabitants  were 
Scandinavians  on  the  father's  or  mother's  side,  and  a  very 
great  many  on  both  sides. 

The  place-names  in  Yorkshire  are  largely  Scandinavian. 
Baldersby,  Thukleby,  Grimsthorpe,  Ormskirk,  Greeta 
(Griot-a),  the  stony  river,  and  a  thousand  others,  point  to 
the  continuous  occupation  by  the  Danes  and  Northmen.  A 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  places  with  names  ending  in  by 
have  been  reckoned  in  Yorkshire.  In  the  same  county  are 
ninety-four  ending  in  thorpe;  twenty  end  in  with — i.e.,  wood; 
there  are  numerous  royds,  clearings  in  its  woods.  Lincoln- 
shire was  also  peopled  with  Danes.  The  conquest  of  the 
whole  of  England  by  Cnut,  or  Canute  the  Great,  tended 
still  further  to  introduce  Scandinavian  names  (personal)  into 
the  land,  but  the  grip  on  it  was  not  sufficiently  extended  to 
affect  place-names  seriously  beyond  Northumbria  and  East 
Anglia.  The  islands,  however,  about  the  coast — haunts  of 
the  Vikings — mostly  received  and  retained  the  names  given 
to  them  by  these  Scandinavian  pirates,  as  Lundy  (Puffin 
Isle),  Ramsey,  Mersea,  Anglesey,  Brightlingsea  (Brithelm's- 
ey),  once  all  but  an  island. 

Iceland  was  colonized  from  Norway  between  the  years 
872  and  890  by  bonders  of  ancient  pedigree  and  large  posses- 

156 


PLACE-NAMES 

sions,  who  had  hitherto  held  their  land  as  allodial  ground, 
and  King  Harald  Fairhair  insisted  on  converting  all  free- 
holds into  tenures  from  the  crown  in  feof.  Rather  than 
endure  this,  these  men  took  their  movable  goods  with  them, 
their  wives,  children,  and  serfs,  and  migrated  to  Iceland, 
which  was  then  uncolonized. 

Happily  we  have  preserved  a  Landnamabok,  or  record  of 
the  settlement  of  the  island,  with  the  names  and  genealogies 
of  all  the  emigrants,  and  what  concerns  us  now,  the  names 
they  gave  to  every  place  where  they  planted  themselves. 
As  the  same  procedure  took  place  in  England  when  Jutes, 
Angles,  Saxons,  Danes,  and  Northmen  came  into  our  island 
and  settled  there,  this  Landnamabok  is  to  us  very  instruc- 
tive, and  helps  us  to  elucidate  the  place-names  over  a  large 
portion  of  England,  and  through  the  place-names  the  sur- 
names derived  from  these  places. 

In  Iceland  there  has  been  scarcely  any  infiltration  of  foreign 
blood ;  consequently,  what  the  first  settlers  called  their  new 
homes  retain  the  names  unaltered  to  the  present  day.  This 
has  not  been  the  case  in  England,  and  among  us  names  have 
been  altered  and  degraded  almost  past  recognition. 

We  find  among  the  Icelanders  that  very  generally,  when 
a  colonist  planted  himself  on  the  soil  and  built  a  house,  he 
called  that  new  home  after  his  own  name.  It  was  to  record, 
to  the  end  of  time,  who  had  first  come  there  to  dwell.  But 
this  was  not  invariably  the  case  ;  sometimes  the  settler  was 
less  ambitious,  and  gave  to  his  new  quarters  a  descriptive 
appellation.  But,  whether  called  after  his  name  or  descrip- 
tive, the  name  is  double,  the  second  portion  signifying  a  by, 
or  farm,  a  holding,  a  tun,  town,  a  bjarg,  or  fortification. 

The  subject  of  place-names  is  too  wide  to  be  dealt  with 
here  except  generally,  and  would  not  be  touched  on  at  all 
were  it  not  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  our  surnames  are 
taken  from  places.  Nor  is  there  need  for  dealing  with  such 
with  anything  like  completeness,  as  Mr.  Isaac  Taylor  has 
investigated  the  subject,  and  his  books,  "  Words  and  Places  " 
and  "  Names  and  their  Histories,"  are  accessible  to  all.  In 
the  appendix  to  the  latter  is  a  treatise  on  "  English  Village 


PLACE-NAMES 

Names."  A  few  pages  may,  however,  be  devoted  to  place- 
names  as  affecting  surnames,  under  Mr.  Taylor's  guidance, 
that  those  persons  bearing  such  may  have  some  understanding 
as  to  their  significance. 

It  is  necessary  to  remember  that  place-names  were  in 
ancient  times  in  an  oblique  case,  usually  the  locative  or 
dative,  and  in  course  of  time  names  in  this  case  came  to  be 
regarded  as  undeclinable  nouns,  or  were  themselves  declined 
as  nominatives.  Thus  Newton  appears  in  Anglo-Saxon 
charters  as  Newantune,  which  is  the  dative  singular,  and 
the  n  has  been  retained  in  Newnton  in  Wiltshire.  Elsewhere 
it  lingers  on  in  Newington,  much  disguised.  Newanham  is 
now  Newnham.  Heah  (high)  makes  hean  in  the  dative 
singular,  and  remains  perceptible  as  such  in  Hampstead  for 
Heansted. 

The  dative  plural  ends  in  um.  Thus  hus,  a  house,  forms 
husum,  "  to  the  houses,"  and  this  we  have  corrupted  into 
Housham  in  Lincolnshire.  Newsham  is  really  New-husum, 
and  Moorsholm  is  More-husum.  Wothersome  is  Wode- 
husum,  "  to  or  at  the  Wooden  Houses." 

The  dative  plural  of  cot  is  cotum,  and  gives  its  name  to 
Coatham,  near  Redcar  in  Yorkshire,  and  Cottam  in  Derby- 
shire ;  whence  the  surname  Cotton. 

Botl  is  a  building  of  boards,  a  log-hut.  The  plural  is 
bodlum,  "  at  the  bottles  ":  hence  Beadlam.  H ilium,  "  at 
the  hills,"  becomes  Hillam ;  and  Wellum,  "at  the  wells," 
becomes  Welham. 

Consequently,  we  cannot  always  be  sure  that  a  place- 
termination  in  ham  has  the  significance  of  ham  (a  home)  or 
ham  (an  enclosure). 

The  Anglo-Saxon  burh  (a  fortified  place)  in  the  dative 
becomes  byrig.  Edinburgh  is  derived  from  the  nominative 
case,  but  Canterbury  from  the  dative;  so  also  Salisbury, 
Amesbury,  Shaftesbury. 

The  following  list  of  terminations  is  by  no  means  exhaus- 
tive, but  will  be  found  useful  i1 

1  A.S.  =  Anglo-Saxon  ;  C.  =  Celtic;  O.E.  =  Old  English;  Gk.  =  Greek  ; 
O.N.  =  Old  Norse  ;  G.  =  German;  D.  =  Danish  ;  Lat.  =  Latin. 

158 


PLACE-NAMES 

ACRE  always  meant  the  cornland,  ploughed  or  sown.  It 
enters  into  many  combinations  :  Goodacre,  Oldacre,  Longacre, 
Whitacre.  Whitaker  is  a  chalky  field,  or  else  one  in  which 
spar  is  turned  up.  In  Devonshire  such  spar  is  called  Whit- 
acre  stone. 

ANGLE,  a  corner.  Atten-Angle  has  given  us  N 'angle.  John 
de  Angulo,  1273  (Hundred  Roll§). 

BARROW  (A.S.  bearw),  a  wooded  hill  fit  for  pasturing  swine : 
Mapleborough,  Barrow-in-Furness.  The  dative  plural  is 
bearwe.  In  Devonshire  it  is  the  origin  of  many  Beres. 
But  "  barrow "  is  also  employed  as  a  cairn  or  mound  of 
stone,  as  Eylesbarrow,  the  Eagles'  Cairn  (A.S.  beorh,  a 
hill). 

BECK  (A.S.  bee),  a  brook;  the  German  bach.  "  Beck  "  is 
still  in  common  use  in  the  North  of  England,  as  Kirkbeck, 
Holbeck.  "  Beckett  "  is  a  small  beck.  Gilbert-a-Becket  took 
his  name  from  Bee  in  Normandy,  named  from  "  bee "  or 
brook  hard  by  the  monastery. 

BENT  is  an  Old  English  name  for  a  high  pasture  or 
shelving  piece  of  moorland ;  thence  the  names  Broadbent 
and  Bentley. 

"  Downward  on  an  hil  under  a  bent 
Ther  stood  the  tempul  of  Marz  armypotent." 

Canterbury  Pilgrims:  "  Knight's  Tale." 

BERE  or  BEARE.  See  above,  under  "  Barrow." 

BOLD,  a  built  house,  one  of  stone,  when  bothies  were  in 
general  use,  and  halls  of  timber  :  Newbold. 

BOCLE  (O.E.),  a  hill  swelling  out ;  hence  the  names 
Bickley,  Bickle,  Buckle  (G.  bilchel). 

BOTH  (A.S.),  a  booth  or  wooden  house.  Also  Celtic  bodd, 
a  settlement,  as  Bodmin,  the  monastic  settlement ;  Freelody, 
and  other  names  ending  in  bod  and  body. 

BOTTLE  (A.S.  boil),  a  diminutive  of  both.  In  the  High- 
lands a  bothie  is  so  used ;  in  German  we  have  W olfen-buttel. 
It  occurs  in  Harbottle  (the  highly-situated  bottle),  Newbottle. 
Bolton  is  the  tun  containing  a  bottle ;  Bothwell  and  Claypole, 
the  bottle  in  the  clay. 

BOTTOM  (A.S.  botri),  the  head  of  a  valley.     We  have  it  in 


PLACE-NAMES 

composition  as  Sidebottom,  Ramsbottom  (the  bottom  where 
ramson  or  garlic  grows),  Winterbottom  (the  winding  head  of 
the  valley).  In  Lancashire  "  hichin  "  is  the  mountain-ash, 
whence  the  name  Higginbottom ;  Shufflebotham  for  Sheep- 
pen-bottom.  Also  Bottome. 

BRIGG,  a  bridge :  Philbrick,  where  it  is  altered  into  brick  ; 
Trowbridge,  Bridgwater,  Bristol,  for  Brigg-Stowe. 

BURG  (A.S.  burh,  in  O.N.  bjorg,  D.  borg,  G.  burg),  a  forti- 
fied place ;  closely  akin  to  berg,  a  mountain.  It  enters  into 
many  combinations,  both  in  singular  and  dative,  as  Edinburgh, 
Newborough,  Canterbury,  Aldermanbury,  and  Carrisbrugh, 
corrupted  to  Carisbrooke. 

BERRY,  a  further  corruption  of  burh :  Roseberry ;  found  in 
the  West  of  England  at  Berry  Head,  Berry  Pomeroy  Castle, 
and  as  a  surname  Berry. 

BREND,  a  steep  declivity. 

BROOK,  originally  a  morass,  then  a  stream,  a  very  common 
name.  It  occurs  over  and  over  again  in  the  Hundred  Rolls, 
as  Alice  de  la  Broke,  Andrew  ate  Broke,  Peter  ad  le  Broke, 
Matilda  ad  Broke,  Sarra  de  Broke,  Reginald  behind  Broke, 
Richard  apud  Broke,  Reginald  del  Broke  (Bardsley).  It 
would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  all  these  Brooks  belonged 
to  one  family.  It  was  purely  a  designation  of  place  where 
some  humble  individuals  dwelt  who  had  no  surname  as  yet. 
Often  we  have  Brooks. 

BUTTS.  Near  every  town  and  village  were  the  butts, 
where  archery  was  practised.  He  who  lived  by  it  was 
"atten  Butts."  Some  butts  had  special  designation  ;  hence 
the  surname  Sowerbutt.  Dr.  Butts  was  physician  to 
Henry  VIII. 

BY  (O.N.  baer,  byr;  D.  by,  a  farm),  originally  a  single 
house,  then  came  to  be  employed  of  a  group  of  houses. 
Enters  into  numerous  combinations,  as  Maltby  (Malthouse), 
Enderby  (Andrew's  house) ;  sometimes  contracted  into  bee,  as 
Aislabee. 

CAR  (C.  caer),  a  camp :  Caer  Caradoc,  Carlisle,  Car- 
marthen, Carhayes. 

CAR  (O.N.),  moorland:  Redcar. 

160 


PLACE-NAMES 

CARN  (C.),  a  pile  of  stones,  sometimes  over  a  dead  man : 
Carnbrea,  Carnmarth,  Carnaby  (the  farm  by  the  Carn). 

CASTER,  CHESTER  (Lat.  castrum),  as  Lancaster,  Chester, 
Exeter  (Exanceaster),  Chester-le-Street  (the  castrum  on  the 
Roman  road). 

CLIFF,  CLEAVE  (A.S.  clif) :  Clifton,  Topcliff,  Rowcliff ;  in 
Devon,  Cleave,  as  Clovelly  (Cleave-ley),  and  Lustleigh  and 
Tavy  Cleaves.  Surnames  Cleave,  Clive,  Cliffe. 

CLOSE,  an  enclosure. 

CLOUGH,  a  glen,  used  in  the  North  ;  hence  Clowes. 

COMBE  (C.  cwm),  a  lateral  valley ;  very  general  in  the 
West  of  England,  Sussex,  and  Cumberland.  A  poet  of  the 
latter  county  says : 

"  There's  Cumwitten,  Cumwhinton,  Cumranton, 
Cumranger,  Cumrew,  Cumcatch, 
And  many  mair  Cums  in  the  County, 
But  nin  wi'  Gumdurock  can  match." 

Coombe  is  a  surname,  also  Westcoombe,  Sutcombe,  etc. 

COP  (G.  kopf),  a  head.  In  Wicklyffe's  version  of 
Luke  iv.  29  we  have  :  "  And  thei  .  .  .  ledden  him  to  the 
coppe  of  the  hill  on  which  their  cytee  was  bilded  to  cast  him 
down."  Hence  the  surnames  Cope,  Copps,  Copley,  Copeland, 
Cobbe,  Cobley,  etc. 

COT  (A.S.),  a  thatched  cottage,  with  mud  walls.  Draycott 
is  the  dry  cottage.  Woodmancott  explains  itself.  Coatham 
and  Cotton  are  from  the  dative  plural.  A  Cotterel  in  Domes- 
day signifies  a  small  cottage.  In  the  North  of  England  Cot 
assumes  the  form  of  Coate.  Cot  as  a  suffix  sometimes 
becomes  "  cock,"  just  as  "  apricot  "  becomes  "  apricox." 

CRAG  (C.  cryg),  a  rock,  lengthened  in  the  North  into 
Craig.  In  the  Old  Scottish  metrical  version  of  Ps.  cxxxvii., 
the  verse  "  Blessed  shall  he  be  that  taketh  thy  children  and 
throweth  them  against  the  stones  "  is  rendered  : 

"  How  blessed  shall  that  horseman  be, 

That,  riding  on  his  naggie, 
Shall  take  thy  bairns  within  his  airms, 
And  cast  them  'gainst  the  craggie." 

The  surnames  Craike,  Crayke,  derive  hence. 

161  L 


PLAGE-NAMES 

CRICK  (A.S.  eric),  a  creek ;  not  usual  as  a  suffix,  but 
found  as  Creech,  Evercreech,  Cricklade. 

CROFT  (A.S.),  a  small  enclosure ;  hence  the  surnames 
Croft,  Holcroft,  Crofton.  Bancroft  is  a  beancroft.  Haycroft, 
one  hedged  about.  In  the  West  of  England  corrupted  to 
Crap,  Lillicrap,  the  little  croft. 

DALE  (O.N.  dalr) :  Swaledale,  Nithsdale,  Borowdale.  But 
Dalton  does  not  signify  the  tun  in  the  dale,  but  the  tun 
divided  in  two  by  a  brook.  In  one  of  the  Robin  Hood 
ballads  we  have : 

" ( By  the  faith  of  my  body,'  then  said  the  young  man, 
'  My  name  it  is  Allan  a  Dale.'  " 

Dale  is  often  "  dall ";  Tindall  stands  for  Tyne-dale.  Udall  is 
the  yew-dale.  Sometimes  Dale  is  corrupted  into  "  dow  "  or 
"  daw,"  as  Lindow  or  Lindaw. 

DEN  or  DEANE  (A.S.  dene),  a  wooded  valley  in  which 
cattle  might  find  covert  and  pasture.  Hence  the  Forest  of 
Dean,  Ar-den,  Rottingdean,  Tenterden,  Surrenden,  Hazle- 
dene,  Hawarden,  Willesden,  Brogden  (the  badger's  den), 
Roden  (that  of  the  roe).  Hoxton  is  really  Hogsden.  We 
have  the  surnames  Deane,  Oxenden,  Sugden  (a  sow-den), 
Dearden,  Denman  (one  living  in  a  deane) ;  also  Denyer,  that 
has  the  same  significance. 

DINGLE,  a  depth  of  wood.  In  an  Old  English  homily  in  the 
I3th  century  it  is  used  of  the  sea-bottom.  Surname  Dingley. 

DUN  (C.),  a  fortress,  but  also  a  hill:  Dunmere,  Furze- 
don,  Hambledon.  Surname  Dunn. 

ECCLES  (Gr.),  a  church  :  Egloskerry,  Egloshayle,  Eccles 
in  Norfolk  and  Lancashire,  Ecclesfield  in  Yorkshire,  and 
Eccleston.  All  as  prefixes.  Eccles  was  the  name  of  a 
musical  composer  of  Purcell's  time,  and  only  second  to  him. 

EDGE,  the  brow  of  a  hill,  as  Edgehill,  Audley  Edge. 
In  names,  for  euphony,  an  I  is  sometimes  introduced,  as 
C^tmberledge,  Depledge ;  but  it  is  possible  enough  that 
"  ledge  "  may  have  been  used  as  shelf  on  a  hill. 

END.  "  A  certain  number  of  names  .  .  .  have  arisen 
from  a  somewhat  peculiar  colloquial  use  of  the  term  *  end ' 

162 


PLACE-NAMES 

in  vogue  with  our  Saxon  forefathers.  The  mode  of  its 
employment  is  still  common  in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire. 
The  poorer  classes  still  speak  of  a  neighbour  as  dwelling  at 
*  the  street  end ';  they  never  by  any  chance  use  the  fuller 
phrase,  '  the  end  of  the  street.'  Chaucer  uses  it  as  a 
familiar  mode  of  expression.  The  Friar,  in  the  preface  to 
his  story,  says  slightingly  : 

"  '  A  Sompnour  is  a  rener  up  and  down 
With  mandements  for  furnication, 
And  is  beaten  at  every  towne  end. ' 

Numerous  contributions  occur  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  as 
names:  John  ate  -  Bruge  -  end,  Walter  -  at -Townshende, 
Margaret  ate  Laneande,  Thomas  atte  Greavesende,  etc." 
(Bardsley). 

Much  dispute  has  occurred  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  rubric 
directing  the  Priest  at  the  Communion  Service  to  stand  "  at 
the  North  side  of  the  Table."  This  has  been  taken  as  a 
direction  that  he  should  be  like  Cheevy  Slyme,  "  Always 
round  the  corner,  sir."  Had  the  Reformers  meant  this, 
they  would  have  used  the  word  end.  An  altar  has  a  middle 
and  two  sides  as  well  as  two  ends.  We  have  the  surnames 
Townend,  Townshend,  Towmend,  etc. 

EY  (O.N.),  an  island,  sometimes  a  peninsula:  Bardsey, 
Ely,  Battersey,  Mersea,  Ramsey,  Lundy.  The  A.S.  ig  (in 
the  dative  ige),  a  watery  place,  has  the  same  signification. 
Sheppey  in  A.S.  is  Sheapig ;  Ramsey,  Ramsige ;  Hinksey  is 
Hingestesige  (Hengest's  island). 

FELL  (O.N.fjall),  a  mountain  :  Scarfell. 

FIELD  is  properly  a  clearing,  where  trees  have  been  felled. 
This  enters  into  numerous  compositions,  as  Somerfield,  the 
field  of  the  Somerlid,  or  Viking  ;  Suffield,  the  south  field ; 
Haverfield,  the  field  of  oats. 

FLEET  (O.N.fljot),  a  tidal  estuary.  The  Norse,  and  the 
A.S.  fliot,  signify  alike  a  place  where  ships  can  float. 
Swinefleet,  near  Goole,  and  Adlingfleet,  a  few  miles  lower 
down  at  the  old  mouth  of  the  Don,  are  inlets  which  sheltered 
the  ships  of  Sweyn  and  Edgar  Etheling  when  their  host 

163  L  2 


PLACE-NAMES 

marched  inland  and  took  York.  Fleetwood  is  a  surname ; 
Amphlet  is  "atten  Fleet." 

FORD  (C.  fordd;  A.S.  ford),  a  way;  only  in  a  secondary 
sense  signifies  a  ford  across  a  river.  The  numerous  places 
whose  names  end  in  "  ford  "  often  show  how  common  fords 
were,  and  how  scarce  were  bridges.  Several  fords  are  named 
after  the  river  through  which  the  ford  lay.  There  are  fifteen 
Stamfords,  Stanfords  or  Stainforths  where  were  stepping- 
stones.  Coggleford  was  paved  with  cobbles.  Staplefords 
were  protected  by  piles  driven  into  the  bed  of  the  stream. 
Twenty-two  Sandfords  or  Samfords  indicate  sandy  bottoms. 
Stratfords  point  to  fords  on  old  Roman  roads.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  lost  sight  of  that  a  good  many  places  ending  in 
"  ford  "  are  on  no  river  at  all,  or  on  tiny  brooks,  that  could 
be  stepped  across.  Such  places  take  their  names  from  the 
use  of  the  word  "ford"  as  a  highway.  In  the  West  of 
England  "ford"  is  often  altered  into  ver — Vitiver  is  the 
Whiteford,  or  white-paved  highway  leading  across  Dart- 
moor and  above  the  head  of  the  Webburn.  Rediver  is  the 
Redford,  also  where  is  no  stream. 

Ford  may  also  be  a  modernization  of  the  O.N.  varftr,  a 
place  of  protection  and  defence.  And  it  is  not  possible  in 
many  cases,  without  local  knowledge,  to  determine  whether 
"  ford  "  stands  for  road,  ford  over  a  river,  or  place  of  defence. 

FORTH  (O.N.  fjord),  an  arm  of  the  sea;  also  Firth. 

FYRTH  (A.S.),  a  forest,  a  retired  glen  where  is  to  be  found 
peace  (frid) ;  and  this  use  of  the  word  seems  to  have  ex- 
tended farther.  In  the  "  Noble  Art  of  Venerie  "  it  is  said  : 
"  There  is  difference  between  the  fryth  and  the  fell.  By 
fells  are  understood  the  mountain,  valleys  and  pastures,  with 
corne  and  such  like  ;  the  frythes  betoken  the  springs  and 
coppyses."  And  in  the  "  Boke  of  S.  Alban's  "  we  have — 

"  Wheresoever  ye  fall  by  frythe  or  by  fell, 
My  dere  chylde,  take  heed  how  Tristram  doth  you  tell." 

In  the  Craven  dialect  the  word  "  frith "  is  still  used  to 
describe  a  tract  enclosed  by  the  hills,  usually  for  a  plantation. 
Thus  we  have  the  place-names :  Chapel-le-Frith ;  Frith  in 

164 


PLACE-NAMES 

the  parish  of  Forest,  Durham;  Fritham  in  the  New  Forest; 
and  Frithelstock  (a  stockade  in  a  frith)  in  Devonshire.  Frith 
is  still  employed  as  a  surname. 

GARTH  (A.S.),  an  enclosed  place ;  hence  garden,  yard. 

GATE  may  mean  a  road,  as  Bishopsgate ;  but  also  a  barrier. 
Sometimes  corrupted  to  yat:  Ramsgate,  Margate,  Westgate; 
surnames  Gates  and  Yates,  Yeatman  (the  gatekeeper). 

GILL  (O.N.),  a  ravine:  Pickersgill,  Fothergill. 

GLYN  (C.),  a  glen,  also  Lynn :  Glyncotty,  Lynmouth. 
Used  also  as  a  surname. 

GOOLE,  a  canal. 

GORE,  a  ravine  or  narrow  strip  of  land,  usually  three- 
cornered:  Gorell  (dim.),  Gorham. 

GOTT,  a  watercourse — equivalent  to  Goyt  and  Gut. 

GRANGE  is  given  elsewhere  ;  hence  Granger  and  Grange. 

GRAVE  (A.S.  graef),  a  ditch;  also  a  pit  for  catching  wild 
beasts  :  Stonegrave,  Palgrave  (a  wood-lined  pit).  Falsgrave 
is  the  A.S.  Wallesgrave.  Waldegrave  is  a  pitfall  in  a  wood, 
or  a  woodsreeve.  We  have  the  surnames  Greaves  and  Graves. 

GROVE  (A.S.  graf)  :  Broomsgrove,  Boxgrove,  Nutgrove. 
As  a  surname,  Groves. 

HATCH  and  RACKET,  a  gate  or  bar  thrown  across  a  gap. 
A  gate  turned,  but  a  hatch  consisted  of  bars  that  had  to  be 
removed.  Many  indications  of  hatches  remain  in  Cornwall 
and  Devon — notched  blocks  of  stone,  in  which  the  bars 
rested.  The  name  Balhatchet  signifies  the  hatchet  giving 
access  to  a  bal,  or  mine.  The  surnames  of  Hatch,  Hatcher, 
Hatchman,  are  still  here.  Hatchard  in  another  form.  Hatch 
was  originally  "  atte  Hatch."  In  the  Hundred  Rolls  we  have 
De  la  Hatche. 

HAL  and  HALE  signify  a  corner. 

HALL  and  HEAL  (A.S.),  a  slope.  Tichenhall  is  Ticen- 
healh,  the  slope  of  the  goat.  Holton  in  Somerset  is  Healhton 
— in  A.S.,  the  tun  on  a  slope.  Heale  is  a  name  of  a  place  and 
a  surname  in  Devon.  Rushall  in  Yorkshire  is  the  rushy 
slope.  Willenhall  is  the  slope  of  Willan.  Hales  signifies 
the  slopes.  Willingale  Spain  was  Uulingehala,  a  hill-slope 
on  which  a  soldier  of  fortune  from  Spain  named  Henry  de 

165 


PLACE-NAMES 

Ispania  settled.  But  it  had  an  earlier  settler  called  Willa, 
whose  family  was  that  of  the  Willings.  Hall,  however,  is 
the  aula  of  a  manor  as  well,  and  has  given  its  name  to 
families,  but  probably  not  so  often  as  the  slope;  for  the 
family  in  the  aula  would  be  well  known  as  manorial  owners, 
and  have  their  names,  whereas  the  humble  cotter  on  the  hill- 
side would  be  a  William  on  Healh  or  Richard  Hall. 

HAM  (A.S.)  has  two  significations — with  the  a  long  it 
signifies  home ;  with  the  a  short  it  signifies  a  field  enclosed. 
Burnham  is  the  enclosure  by  the  brook.  Birmingham,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  the  home  of  the  Beormings.  Farnham  is 
the  field  of  ferns.  Cheltenham  is  the  enclosure  on  the  Chelt. 
When  ham  is  associated  with  a  personal  name,  then  it  signi- 
fies the  "  home  of."  As  we  have  already  seen,  it  sometimes 
disguises  the  dative  plural  in  um.  Singularly  enough,  the 
Americans  have  reverted  to  the  ending.  Thus  they  have 
Barnum  for  Barnham.  Ham  is  a  common  surname  in 
Devon,  and  the  rich,  fertile  land  below  Dartmoor  to  the  sea 
is  called  the  "South  Hams."  Hampshire  is  the  shire  of 
enclosures. 

HANGER  is  a  hill-slope  in  the  West  of  England,  but  the 
A.S.  is  hangra,  a  meadow :  Halshanger  in  Devon,  Birchanger 
in  Essex,  Clayhanger  in  three  counties,  Ostenhanger  in 
Kent,  Goldhanger  in  Essex ;  also  Ongar  in  Essex,  called 
Angra  in  Domesday. 

HAUGH,  pronounced  Haff,  is  low-lying  level  ground  by  the 
side  of  a  river. 

HAY,  a  hedge  to  an  enclosure ;  often  a  small  park. 
Chaucer  in  "  Troilus  "  has — 

"  But  right  so  as  these  holtes  and  these  hayes, 
That  have  in  winter  dead  beene  and  dry, 
Revesten  them  in  greene  when  May  is ; 
When  every  lusty  beast  lusteth  to  pley." 

From  this  simple  root  we  have  the  surnames  Hay,  Hayes, 
Haigh,  and  Hawis  and  Hawes,  and  in  combination  Haywood, 
Haworth,  Plaughton.  As  a  termination  it  gets  reduced  to 
ay,  sometimes  ey — Fotheringay ;  H alley,  the  enclosure  on  the 
hillside. 

1 66 


PLACE-NAMES 

HEAD,  the  upper  end,  becomes  sometimes  ett :  Aikinhead, 
Birkenhead,  Blackett  for  Blackhead,  and  Beckett,  either  the 
brook-head  or  the  little  brook. 

HEATH  explains  itself.  In  Hebburn  we  have  it  in  com- 
bination— a  heath-burn. 

HERNE,  any  nook  or  corner  that  has  been  taken  possession 
of  by  a  squatter.  Chaucer  speaks  of 

"  Lurking  in  hearnes  and  in  lanes  blind." 

HEUGH,  pronounced  Heuhh,  is  a  crag,  a  cliff.  This  word 
or  "  haugh  "  is  liable  to  attract  to  it  the  s  from  the  end  of 
the  foregoing  word.  Thus  Earnshaw  is  Ernsheugh,  the 
Eagles'  Cliff. 

HOE  (A.S.  hoh),  high  ground  :  Langenhoe,  Wyvenhoe,  the 
Hoe,  Plymouth.  But  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  haugr,  a 
cairn,  may  not  have  originated  some  of  the  heughs  and 
hoes ;  sometimes  changed  to  "  enough,"  as  Goodenough  is 
Goodenheugh. 

HYTHE  (A.S.  hyd),  a  haven,  a  wharf;  hence  the  surname 
Hyde. 

HOLM  (O.K.),  a  flat  island.  Duels  were  called  "  holm- 
gongir,"  because  fought  on  islands.  Flat  Holme  and  Steep 
Holme  in  the  Bristol  Channel ;  Holmes  as  surname. 

HOLT  is  the  same  as  the  German  Holz,  a  wood  or  copse : 
Bergholt  in  Essex.  Holt  is  a  surname  in  Yorkshire.  Becomes 
"  shot"  in  composition  occasionally,  as  Aldershot,  Sparshot. 

HOPE  (O.N.  hop),  an  opening,  a  small  bay ;  also  a  gap  in 
the  hills  or  in  a  forest.  "  In  Yarrow,  almost  every  farmhouse 
is  sheltered  in  a  recess  or  hollow  of  the  hills,  and  the  names 
in  '  hope '  are  correspondingly  numerous — as,  for  instance, 
Kirkhope,  Dryhope,  Whitehope,  etc. — more  than  twenty  in 
all.  In  Upper  Weardale,  Durham,  we  find  another  cluster 
of  these  names,  such  as  Stanhope,  Burnhope,  Westenhope, 
Wellhope,  Harthope,  Swinehope,  Rockhope,  and  Rollehope, 
the  meaning  of  which  is  most  transparent."  Also  Glossop 
and  Heslop  in  Derbyshire,  Worksop  in  Notts,  and  to  the  same 
source  may  be  attributed  Hopton.  Hartopp  is  a  surname,  as 
is  Hope.  So  also  Blenkinsop  and  Widdop.  It  is  also 

167 


PLACE-NAMES 

corrupted    into    ship.     Nettleship    is    the    nettle-overgrown 
opening  in  the  woods. 

HOUSE  (A.S.  and  O.N.),  often  contracted  into  us,  as  Aldus 
(the  old  house),  Malthus  (the  malt-house),  Loftus  (the  house 
with  a  loft).  The  tavern  sign  Bear  and  Bachus  is  a 
corruption  of  Beer  and  Bakehouse.  Surnames  Woodhouse, 
House,  etc. 

HUISH  (A.S.  hiwise),  a  hide  of  land. 

HURST  (A.S.),  a  wood,  very  common  in  Sussex :  Brockle- 
hurst,  a  badger's  wood  ;  Hazelhurst,  one  of  hazel-trees ; 
Dewhurst,  one  of  deer ;  Lindhurst,  one  of  linden-trees,  all 
used  as  surnames.  Stony  hurst,  Hurstpierpoint,  are  place- 
names.  Hurst,  alone,  exists  as  a  surname. 

INCH  or  INGE  (C.  ynys),  an  island.  In  Cornwall  occurs 
the  surname  Enys.  Hence  also  the  surname  Ince. 

ING  (O.N.  eng),  a  meadow  by  a  river.  It  is  difficult 
always  to  say  whether  the  ending  refers  to  a  personal  name 
or  to  a  field.  But  in  such  cases  as  Ermington,  Dartington, 
there  can  exist  no  doubt  that  these  were  tuns  on  the  ings  of 
the  Rivers  Erm  and  Dart. 

KELD  (A.S.  celd),  a  source  of  water.  Hallkeld  in  Yorkshire 
is  the  Holy  Spring ;  Bapchild,  near  Sittingbourne,  occurs 
in  A.S.  as  Baccancilde,  the  source  of  a  beck.  Kildwick 
in  Yorkshire  is  the  village  by  the  source :  this  has  been 
corrupted  into  the  surname  Killick.  The  Anglo-Saxon  is 
cognate  with  the  German  quelle,  and  Weldale,  in  Yorkshire, 
in  Domesday  appears  as  Queldale. 

KNAPP  (A.S.  cnaep),  a  hill-top  ;  hence  our  names  Knap- 
man,  Knopps,  Knapton. 

KNOLL  (A.S.  cnoll),  a  small  round  hill ;  hence  Knowles, 
Knowlers,  Knowlman,  and  Knollys,  when  not  from  Oliver. 

LADE  (O.N.),  a  barn,  but  in  A.S.  a  path  :  Ladbrook,  Lade, 
Lathe,  Laight. 

LANE.  On  the  Hundred  Rolls  are  numerous  entries  such 
as  these :  Cecilia  in  the  Lane,  Emma  a  la  Lane,  John  de  la 
Lane,  Philippa  atte  Lane,  Thomas  super  Lane ;  so  that, 
although  a  Norman  family  of  L'Ane  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror,  we  cannot  set  down  all  the  Lanes  as  his 
descendants. 

168 


PLACE-NAMES 

The  author  of  a  favourite  hymn,  "  There's  a  Friend  for 
little  children  above  the  bright  blue  sky,"  was  a  Mr. 
Midlane. 

LAUND,  a  grassy  sward  in  a  forest.  From  the  O.N.  lund, 
that  signified  a  sacred  grove.  Chaucer  says  of  Theseus  : 

"To  the  Launde  he  rideth  ful  right ; 
There  was  the  harte  wont  to  have  his  flight." 

Hence  our  surnames  Laund,  Lands,  Lowndes ;  also  the  name 
Lund. 

LAW  (A.S.  hlewe),  a  hill :  Bassetlaw  in  the  North,  Harlow 
in  Essex,  Oswaldslaw  in  Worcestershire,  Cotteslow  in  Bucks, 
Bucklaw  in  Cheshire.  But  low  is  also  employed  of  a  grave- 
mound. 

LEET,  LAKE  (A.S.),  a  lead  or  channel  for  water  made 
artificially;  hence  the  surname  Lake. 

LEE,  LEGH,  LEIGH,  LEY,  LEA  (A.S.  leak,  m.),  a  fallow 
pasturage,  but  leah,  f.,  signifies  a  rough  woodland  pasture. 
Local  names  being  usually  in  the  dative,  lea  for  leak  (m.)  is 
nominally  the  source  of  the  suffix  ley.  This  word  enters 
into  endless  compositions,  as  Stanley,  Calverley,  Wesley, 
Hadleigh,  Berkley,  Leyton,  etc.  It  is  found  as  a  surname  in 
all  forms.  There  is  a  saying  in  reference  to  the  extension 
of  the  name : 

"  As  many  Lees 
As  there  be  fleas." 

Low.  See  above  under  Law. 

LYNCH  (A.S.  Mine,  a  hill,  a  boundary) ;  perhaps  the  same 
origin  as  the  Northern  links. 

MERE  (A.S.),  a  sheet  of  water:  Wittleseamere,  Dosmare 
in  Cornwall.  Merton  is  a  tun  by  a  mere.  Mere  is,  however, 
also  employed  as  a  boundary,  so  that  Merton  might  also 
mean  the  tun  on  a  boundary. 

MOOR,  a  name  that  explains  itself,  and  gives  surnames  as 
Moore  and  More,  Muir,  Blackmore,  Delamore,  Morton,  Morley, 
Moorhayes.  Paramore  is  an  enclosure  on  the  moor  (O.K. 
parren,  to  enclose). 

MOUNTAIN  is  found  as  a  surname,  probably  brought  in  by 
the  French  emigrants.  Also  Mount. 

169 


PLACE-NAMES 

ORE  (A.S.  ofer  and  ora),  the  shore  of  the  sea  or  the  bank 
of  a  river  (the  German  ufer) :  Pershore,  Edensore.  Esher 
is  Ase-ore,  the  ash-tree  bank.  Wardour,  that  gives  a  title  to 
Lord  Arimdel,  is  Weard-ora.  The  same  word  enters  into 
the  formation  of  Windsor. 

OVER  (A.S.  cfer),  as  above.  An  old  poem,  quoted  by 
Halliwell,  says  : 

"  She  comes  out  of  Sexlonde, 
And  'rived  here  at  Dovere 
That  stands  upon  the  see's  overe." 

It  denotes  the  flat  lands  that  lie  along  low  coasts.  Over, 
Overman,  as  surnames. 

NANT  (C.),  a  valley  :  Pennant,  the  head  of  the  valley ; 
Nankivel,  the  valley  of  the  horse. 

PEN  (C.),  the  head  :  Pendennis,  the  castle  on  the  head- 
land; Penycomebequick,  the  village  at  the  head  of  the 
combe  ;  Penigent,  the  white  head. 

PITT,  a  sawpit,  coalpit,  or  pitfall.  Woolpit  in  Suffolk  is 
the  wolfpit.  Fallapit  in  Devon,  the  ancient  seat  of  the 
Fortescues,  derives  its  names  from  a  falling-into  pit — i.e., 
a  pitfall  for  wild  beasts.  Mr.  Lower  tells  the  following 
story  of  a  foundling  christened  Moses,  and  surnamed  Pitt 
because  found  in  a  marl-pit.  "  Nobody  likes  you,"  said  this 
crabbed  piece  of  humanity  to  a  neighbour  with  whom  he 
was  at  strife.  "  Nor  you,"  replied  the  other.  "  Not  even 
your  mother,  who  abandoned  you." 

PLATT,  low-lying  ground.  Now  we  speak  of  a  garden 
plot — actually  plat.  This  word  remains  in  surnames. 

POL  (A.S.pol;  C.pwll),  a  pool. 

"  Pol,  Tre  and  Pen 
Are  the  names  of  Cornishmen." 

Polwheel,  Poldue  (black  pool). 

RAYNE,  a  boundary  :  Raine,  Raynes — i.e.,  one  living  at  the 
bounds. 

RIDGE  or  RIGG  (A.S.),  generally  applied  to  an  old  Roman 
road  :  Ridgeway  ;  A  Idyidge,  A  Idrich — the  name  At  Ridg  or  At 
Rigg  has  become  Trigg  or  Triggs  ;  Beveridge,  Kimmeridge, 
A  shridge. 

170 


PLACE-NAMES 

Ros  (C.  rhos),  a  heath  :  Roskelly,  Penrose,  Rosedue. 

ROYD  (O.N.),  a  clearing  in  a  wood  ;  German  rode,  as 
Gernerode,  or  Rente.  Much  used  in  Yorkshire:  Kebroyd, 
Holroyd,  Akenoyd  (oak  clearing),  Ormrod  (the  clearing  made 
by  Orme) ;  the  Yorkshire  family  of  Rhodes.1 

RYE  (A.S.,  hrycg),  a  ridge  or  bank  of  sand  and  pebbles. 

RYE  (A.S.  rith),  a  mountain  stream.  Shottery,  Leather- 
head,  is  A.S.  Chilla-rith,  the  stream  from  the  source. 

RUPELL,  a  coppice  :  Philip  atte  Ruple,  in  Somersetshire, 
temp.  Edward  I. 

SEALE,  SEL,  SELE  (O.N.  sel ;  A.S.  seale),  a  residence  or 
hall  :  Seal  in  Worcestershire,  Zeal  in  Devon,  Seale  in 
Surrey,  Selworthy ;  surnames  Selborne,  Selby,  Seale,  perhaps 
Seeley ;  Ingersoll,  Plimsoll.  Inger  is  the  Norse  Ingvar,  a 
settler  who  called  the  seal  or  sel  after  himself. 

SCALE  (O.N.  skali),  a  wooden  house :  Winterscales  in 
Yorkshire.  Surname  Scales. 

SHELF  (A.S.  scylfe),  a  ridge  of  land,  a  shelf :  Raskelf  in 
Yorkshire,  a  raw  shelf  above  a  morass.  The  saying  is  : 

"  Raskelf  without  a  steeple, 
Rascally  church  and  rascally  people." 

Bashall  in  Yorkshire  is  Bascelf  in  Domesday. 

SHAW  (O.N.  skog)  is — (i)  A  small  wood  or  coppice;  (2)  a 
flat  at  the  foot  of  a  hill;  (3)  a  boggy  place  by  a  river: 
Ellershaw,  Painshaw ;  but  see  what  is  said  under  Heugh, 
corrupted  into  shot,  as  Aldershot. 

1  The  following  passage  from  the  Icelandic  Kjalnessinga  Saga 
illustrates  what  took  place  in  the  North  of  England,  where  the  woods 
covered  hill  and  dale  :  "  All  the  Kjalness  was  overgrown  with  wood,  so 
that  it  had  to  be  cleared  [royded],  and  men  cleared  [royded]  for  farms 
and  ways.  Soon  much  was  cleared  [royded]  to  the  hills  from  Hof. 
There  Helgi  and  Andrith  cleared  [royded]  in  spring.  And  when  they 
came  to  the  holt,  then  said  Helgi  :  '  Here,  Arnoth,  will  I  give  you  land, 
and  you  shall  erect  a  farmhouse  [boer]." — "  Islendinga  Sogur,"  1847,  ii., 
p.  400.  The  surname  Ruddiman  may  not  be  descriptive  of  a  florid 
countenance,  but  indicate  a  man  who  royded  woodland,  cutting  down 
trees  and  stubbing  up  their  roots.  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling  takes  his  first 
name  from  a  garth  that  has  been  so  cleared.  The  Yorkshire  Ridings 
designate  the  clearings  effected. 

171 


PLAGE-NAM 

SIDE,  employed  for  a  mountain,  as  Great  Wernside, 
Akenside,  Garside. 

SLADE  (A.S.  slad),  a  steep  of  greensward  between  two 
woods  or  between  two  breadths  of  townland  :  Waterslade  in 
Somersetshire,  Slaidburn,  Slaithwait,  and  Sledmere.  Slade 
is  a  not  uncommon  Northern  surname ;  also  Greenslade, 
Whiteslade. 

SKROGG,  brushwood.  The  word  occurs  in  the  "  Morte 
d'Arthur."  Hence  the  surname  Scroggs.  A  village  in  Dum- 
fries is  so  called. 

SLEIGH  or  SLEY  (O.N.  slethr),  level  land.  The  surname 
Slee  may  come  from  it.  Sleeman  is  the  occupant  of  a  hold- 
ing on  the  Sley. 

STAPLE,  a  market :  Barnstaple,  Huxtable. 

SHORE  and  SANDS  have  furnished  names  to  those  dwelling 
by  the  sea. 

SOLE,  a  pond,  a  Kentish  term  :  Peter  atte  Sole,  Co. 
Kent,  1273  (Hundred  Rolls).  Surname  Soley. 

STEAD  (A.S.),  a  home :  Hampstead,  Ringstead,  Green- 
stead,  Felsted,  Wellstead.  Stedman  is  a  farmer  ;  Westhead  is 
the  western  stead. 

STREET,  the  paved  highway. 

SYKE,  a  stagnant  piece  of  water  that  soaks  away  and  has 
no  flow  in  it.  Sykes  is  a  surname. 

STOKE,  STOWE  (A.S.),  a  stockade  :  Tavistock,  Basing- 
stoke,  Stokesley,  Stocton,  Felixstowe,  Bristowe  (now  Bristol) 
— the  stockade  at  the  bridge. 

THORPE  (A.S. ;  D.  torp ;  G.  dorf),  a  hamlet :  Sibthorpe 
is  Sigbert's  village ;  Langthorpe,  Kettlethorpe.  Thorpe 
is  a  common  surname  in  the  Danish  districts  of  York- 
shire and  Lincolnshire.  In  "  The  Clerke's  Tale "  we 
are  told  : 

"  Naught  far  fro  thir  palace  honourable, 
There  stood  a  thorpe  of  sight  delitable, 
In  which  the  poor  folk  of  the  village 
Hadden  their  bestes  and  their  harborage." 

Hence    the    surnames    Thrupp,    Winthrop    or    Winterthorp, 
Gawthorp,  Calthrop,  etc.     Kirkup  stands  for  Kirkthorp. 

172 


PLACE-NAMES 

THWAITE,  the  O.N.  thveit,  signifies  an  outlying  paddock. 
Thwaites  are  mostly  found  in  Cumberland,  mainly  on  high 
ground,  and  seem  to  denote  clearings.  The  compounds 
are  numerous:  Brathwaite  (the  broad  thwaite),  ThwaiUs, 
Applethwaite,  Crossthwaite,  Micklethwaite,  Longthwaite,  etc. 
Lily  white  is  probably  a  corruption  of  Littlethwaite. 

TOFT  (D.),  an  enclosed  field  near  a  farmhouse.  The  name 
is  found  in  Iceland — Toptavellir,  the  fields  in  the  plains. 
As  an  ending  corrupted  to  toe,  as  Shillitoe  or  Sillitoe. 

TOWN.    See  Tun. 

TRAVERSE,  a  cross-roads ;  hence  Travers  and  Travis.1 

TREE  (A.S.  treow).  Places  are  called  after  some  peculiarly 
old  and  perhaps  sacred  tree.  Thus  we  have  Tiptree,  Heavi- 
tree,  Wavertree,  Pichtree,  Harptree,  Plymtree.  Till  within 
the  memory  of  old  men  in  many  places  in  Devon,  there  were 
"  dancing  trees  "  in  villages,  peculiarly  cut  at  the  head,  on 
the  top  of  which  a  platform  was  erected,  upon  which,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  village  revel,  dancing  took  place,  and 
about  which  the  elders  of  the  parish  assembled  to  converse. 
This  was  a  survival  of  religious  homage  paid  to  the  sacred 
tree.  In  some  names  the  treow  has  gone  through  corruption. 
Austey  in  Warwickshire  was  in  Anglo-Saxon  A  dulfstreow , 
Eadulf  s  tree.  Tree  in  an  abraded  form  is  found  in  Coventry, 
Oswestry  perhaps — but  in  this  probably  the  Welsh  tref  is  to 
be  found.  Sometimes  "  tree  "  becomes  der,  as  in  Mappowder, 
the  maple-tree ;  Langtree  is  the  long  tree.  In  Ireland,  Kil- 
dare  is  the  church  of  the  oak.  The  Celtic  tre  or  tref,  "  the 
homestead  of,"  precedes  the  name  of  the  owner,  and  rarely 
occurs  as  a  suffix,  as  Trelawney,  Trefry. 

TUN  (O.N.),  the  enclosure  about  a  farm,  enters  into  many 
combinations,  as  ton  and  town.  Brighton  is  Brighthelms- 
ton,  Wolverhampton  is  Wolfardes-home-field.  Chaucer 
says : 

"  Then  saw  I  but  a  large  field, 
As  farre  as  ever  I  might  see, 
Without  toune,  house  or  tree." 

1  But  there  is  a  TreVieres  in  Normandy. 
173 


PLAGE-NAMES 

And  Wyckliffe  in  his  Bible,  for  "  one  went  to  his  farm, 
another  to  his  merchandise,"  has  "  one  into  his  toune,"  and 
in  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son  the  citizen  "  sente  him 
into  his  toun  to  feed  swyn."  In  Iceland  the  tun  is  the  field 
about  the  house,  enclosed  and  manured.  In  Scotland  it 
still  has  this  meaning,  and  it  had  the  same  in  Devonshire. 

TYE  is  a  piece  of  common  pasture.  Surnames  Tye,  Tighe. 
Hugh  de  la  Tye  and  Peter  at  Tye  are  met  with ;  hence 
Attye. 

WADE  or  WATH,  a  ford. 

WELL,  a  spring  or  source,  enters  into  many  combinations : 
Cholwell;  Pinwell,  from  the  custom  of  dropping  pins  into 
it;  Halwell,  the  Holy  Well;  Loddiswell,  Our  Lady's  Well; 
Greenwell ;  Kettlewell,  and  its  equivalent,  Wherwell  (A.S. 
hvor,  a  ewer) ;  Cromwell,  the  crooked  well ;  Gulwell,  St. 
Wolvella's  well.  In  Devonshire  a  well  is  in  the  vernacular 
a  willis. 

WICK,  WYKE,  WEEK  (Lat.  vicus),  a  settlement :  War- 
wick, Greenwich,  Berwick,  Germansweek,  Week  St.  Mary, 
Hardwick,  Norwich,  and  many  others.  The  surnames 
Weeks,  Wykes,  Quick,  are  from  this. 

WHISTLE  (O.N.  kvisl),  a  small  side-stream  joining  another : 
Birdwhistle,  Entwhistle. 

WITH  (O.N.  vtti),  a  wood  :  Beckwith,  Skipwith. 

WOLD,  high  open  ground ;  but  WEALD,  cognate  with  the 
German  wald,  is  forest-land :  Cotswold,  Easingwold,  The 
Weald  of  Sussex. 

WOOD  becomes  sometimes  in  combination  Hood,  some- 
times Good,  as  Thoroughgood  is  Thorolf  s-wood. 

WORTH,  WORTHY  (O.N.  varftr),  a  fortified  enclosure  or  a 
small  estate,  as  Beaworthy,  Wolfardisworthy  ;  also  Hepworth, 
Wigglesworth,  Tarn  worth.  Charlesworth  is  the  churl's  worth  ; 
it  was  looked  upon  as  something  insolent  and  out  of  place 
that  a  churl  should  fortify  his  hovel.  Wordsworth  is  a 
reduplication — a  worth  within  a  worth. 

WRAY,  a  corner  set  apart,  as  Thackeray,  the  place  apart 
for  storing  thatch  ;  also  Wroe. 

WYCH  and  WYKE  (O.N.  vik),  a  bay  of  the  sea,  or  even  a 


PLACE-NAMES 

tidal  river.    Thus  Sandwich,  Ipswich,  and  Droitwich  (because 
of  its  salt  springs). 

YAT,  for  Gate,  a  still  common  pronunciation ;  hence  the 
surname  Yates.  Byatt  stands  for  By-yat,  and  Woodyat  for 
Wood-gate. 

In  "  The  Clerke's  Tale  "  we  are  told  that  Griselda  went 
"With  glad  chere  to  iheyate." 

And  Piers  Plowman   says  that   our   Lord   came   into   the 
upper  chamber  through 

"  Both  dore  and  yates 
To  Peter  and  to  the  Apostles." 

In  the  "  Townley  Mysteries  "  we  have  both  forms.     Jacob  in 
his  vision  is  represented  as  saying : 

"  And  now  is  there  none  other  gate, 
But  Codes  howse  and  heven's  yate." 

Those  persons  who  took  their  names  from  places,  prefixed 
to  the  place-name  at,  by,  or  of,  that  in  documents  are 
rendered  in  Latin  or  French  ad,  de,  or  apud,  a  la,  de  la,  del. 

In  the  "  Coventry  Mysteries  "  we  hear  mention  made  of 

"  Tom  Tynker  and  Bettys  Belle, 
Peyrs  Potter  and  Watt  at  the  Well:' 

And  Piers  Plowman  represents  Covetousness  as  saying : 

"  For  some  Tyme  I  served 
Symme  atte  Style 
And  was  his  prentice." 

Atten,  really  the  plural  form,  got  attached  to  the  sub- 
stantive, as  A  ttenborough ;  and  then  the  A  tie  drops  away,  but 
leaves  the  n  attached  to  the  thing  or  place  which  is  described. 
Thus  Nokes  is  Atten-oaks,  Atten-ey  becomes  Nye,  and  Atten- 
ash  Nash.  But  more  common  is  the  retention  of  At.  This 
gives  us  such  names  as  Atwell,  Atwood,  Athill,  Ethridge  for 
At-ridge,  Atterbury,  Alley  for  At-lea,  Atworth;  sometimes 
reduced  to  t,  and  Atwell  becomes  Twells,  and  Atwyche  is 
reduced  to  Twigge.1 

1  Some  of  the  many  surnames  formed  with  the  prefix  Atten  or  At  are 
Abdey,  at  the  Abbey  ;  Agate,  at  the  Gate  ;  Amphlet,  at  the  Tidal  Fleet,  or 

175 


PLACE-NAMES 

By  remains  as  Bygrove,  By  wood,  By  field,  By  den.1 

O/was  once  common.  Clim  of  the  Clough  was  a  famous 
archer  ;  he  soon  became  Clim  Clough.  Or  else  Of  slid  into  A. 

The  site  of  a  man's  cot  was  indicated  by  Under  or  Over,  or 
Upper,  Middle,  and  Lower  or  Nether.  Thus  we  get  the  names 
Underhill,  Underwood,  Overbury,  Overton,  Uppcott,  Upton, 
Upwood,  Middleton,  Medlicott,  Middlemas,  Netherton.  Lower- 
moor  changed  to  Levermore. 

But  I  shall  have  more  to  say  on  this  subject  in  another 
chapter. 

The  colour  of  wood,  moor,  lea,  and  well,  etc.,  has  given  us 
the  names  Blackwood,  Blackmore,  Blakely,  Blackwell,  Black- 
burn, Blackall,  Blackstone  ;  also  Whitwood,  Whitmore,  Whitby, 
Whitwell,  Whitburn,  Whitstone ;  also  Redcliff,  Redhill,  Rugby, 
Radmore,  Greenhill  and  Greenwell,  Greenwood  and  Greendon, 
contracted  to  Grindon. 

Size  comparative  is  also  marked,  as  Micklethwaite  and 
Littleton;  also  relative  age,  as  Aldborough  and  Oldcastle, 
Newton  and  Newcastle. 

The  points  of  the  compass  also  enter  into  composition  of 
place-names.  But  of  these,  also,  something  shall  be  said 
farther  on.  As  England  has  been  a  place  of  refuge  for  all 
sorts  of  people,  good  and  bad,  who  could  not  get  on  happily 
in  their  own  country ;  or  else  of  peoples  who  came  to  oust 
the  natives  and  take  the  land  to  themselves ;  or,  again,  of 
mercenaries  who  arrived  to  serve  our  great  Barons  and 
Earls,  and  settled  down  on  the  land ;  or  else  of  merchants 
from  abroad,  who  planted  themselves  to  make  money  among 

River  ;  Afford,  Achurch,  and  Atkirkj  Atock,  at  the  Oak  ;  At/end,  at  the 
Fen ;  Attfield,  Attwood,  Attivater,  Attivell,  Atwick,  Atworth,  Attley, 
Atthill,  Attridge,  Attmore;  Armitage,  at  the  Hermitage.  Besides  these, 
At  is  to  be  understood  in  many  names,  as  Ackroyd,  at  the  Oak-clearing; 
Ackland,  Appleyard,  Ashe,  Barnes,  Barr;  Birkett,  at  the  Birch woodhead ; 
Browse,  at  the  Brewhouse ;  Backhouse,  at  the  Bakehouse  ;  Hatch,  at  the 
Wicket ;  Haives,  at  the  Hawe ;  and  many  more. 

1  By  remains  as  well  in  Byford;  Bidlake,  by  the  Lake  or  Leet ;  Byatt,  by 
the  Gate  ;  By  ass,  by  the  House — i.e.,  the  Great  House  ;  Barkiss,  at  or  by 
the  Barkhouse  ;  Bythesea,  Bywater;  Biffen,  by  the  Fen  ;  and  it  remains 
understood  in  many  names  as  does  At. 

176 


PLACE-NAMES 

us,  such  persons  came  to  be  designated  by  their  nationality, 
probably  as  having  no  surnames  of  their  own,  or  as  having 
them  unpronounceable  by  English  mouths.  Foreign  mer- 
chants arrived  in  large  numbers,  and  opened  their  shops  in 
nearly  every  town.  French,  Flemings,  Germans,  English, 
jostled  each  other  in  the  streets  and  knelt  together  in  the 
same  churches.  It  was  not  as  at  an  earlier  period,  when,  as 
in  Exeter  and  at  Colchester,  there  were  two  towns  side  by 
side,  the  one  occupied  by  the  native  population,  the  other  by 
the  conquerors.  The  French  especially  began  to  form  a  per- 
manent element  in  the  population  of  the  town,  and  the 
fusion  of  races  began  to  take  effect  at  an  early  time,  becoming 
more  rapid  and  thorough  during  the  reign  of  the  Plantagenet 
Kings. 

Throughout  the  country  the  haggling  at  market  and  fair 
must  have  been  carried  on  in  English  that  was  rapidly 
becoming  spiced  with  foreign  words.  In  the  country  places 
as  well  the  French  and  Brabant  soldiery  mingled  with  the 
people,  flirted  with  the  pretty  fair-haired,  fresh-complexioned 
English  girls,  necessarily  in  broken  English.  Every 
Christmas,  with  its  message  of  peace  and  goodwill,  the  Yule 
festival,  with  boar's  head  bedecked  with  holly  and  rosemary, 
the  mummers  and  rapier-dancers,  tended  to  bring  together 
the  native  and  the  foreigner,  and  to  make  the  latter  forget 
much  of  his  French  tongue,  and  the  former  to  acquire 
many  foreign  words.  And  with  this  the  outlandish  soldier 
and  merchant  came  to  feel  very  much  at  home  in  England, 
and,  settling  there,  their  children  retained  no  smack  of  their 
alien  origin,  save  the  permanent  surname  only,  indicative  of 
whence  they  came. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  principal  surnames,  more  of 
these  will  be  given  in  another  chapter  : 

ALMAIN,  ALMAYNE,  DALMAIN,  from  Allemagne  (Germany). 
We  have  also  as  surnames  from  this  source  Lalleman, 
perhaps  Dolman. 

BEAMISH  is  Boemish,  Bohemian. 

BRIDGES,  often  from   Bruges.     Briggs  occasionally ;  also 


Burgess. 


177 


PLACE-NAMES 

BULLEN,  from  Boulogne. 

BRABANT,  BRABAZON,  from  Brabant. 

BRAME,  from  Bremen. 

BRETT,  BRETON,  BRITTON,  from  Brittany. 

BURGOYNE,  BURGAN,  from  Burgundy. 

CANDY,  from  Crete  or  Candia. 

CHAMPNEY,  from  Champagne. 

CHILDERS  may  perhaps  come  from  Gueldres. 

CORNISH,  CORNWALLIS,  from  Cornweales,  Cornwall; 
acquired  after  the  West  Welsh  were  suffered  to  creep  back 
over  the  Tamar,  beyond  which  Athelstan  had  banned  them. 

CULLEN,  from  Cologne. 

DANES,  DENMAN,  DENNIS,  from  Denmark.  In  deeds 
and  Hundred  Rolls  we  have  So-and-so  described  as  Le 
Danois. 

DOUGH,  for  Dutch.  Skelton,  in  his  "  Parrot,"  says  that 
besides  "  French,  Lattyn,  Ebrew, 

"  With  Douch,  with  Spanysh,  my  tong  can  agree." 

Hence  the  surnames  Dowch,  and  perhaps  also  Douce,  when 
not  from  the  French. 

EASTERLING,  corrupted  into  Stradling,  a  native  of  one  of 
the  Hanseatic  towns.  The  pure  coinage  introduced  by  these 
in  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  gave  rise  to  the  expression  Easter- 
ling  or  Sterling  money.  Hence  our  names  Easterman,  Oyster- 
man,  and  Easte. 

ESPAGNOL  has  become  Aspinall. 

ENGLISH,  in  Scotch  Inglis,  a  designation  acquired,  as 
already  explained,  in  Shewsbury  and  on  the  Welsh  border, 
also  in  Scotland. 

FLEMING.  In  Cornwall  the  French  pronunciation  of  Fla- 
mand  has  produced  Flamank  as  a  surname. 

FRENCH  needs  no  explanation. 

GALE  is  Gael,  an  Irish  Scott. 

GANT,  GAUNT,  GENT,  a  man  of  Ghent. 

GASCOIGNE  and  GASKIN,  from  Gascony. 

GERMAINE,  from  Germany,  corrupted  to  Jarman;  but  some 
Germains  may  derive  from  the  name  of  the  saint. 

178 


PLACE-NAMES 

GOTT,  a  native  of  Gothland,  when  not  from  a  watercourse, 
or  from  Gautr. 

HANSARD,  from  one  of  the  Hanseatic  towns. 

HANWAY,  HANNAH,  from  Hainault. 

HOLLAND  explains  itself. 

HOLSTEINER  became  Stayner  and  Hoist. 

JANWAY,  from  Genoa.  An  old  poem,  alluding  to  Brabant 
as  a  general  mart,  says  : 

"  Englysshe  and  French,  Lumbardes,  Jannoyes, 
Cathalones,  theder  they  take  their  wayes." 

The  Genoese  coin  was  called  a  "jane,"  and  hence  may  per- 
haps come  our  surnames  Jayne  and  Jane,  but  also  from  Jean, 
John.  Hall,  in  his  Chronicles,  speaking  of  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  ravaging  the  French  coast  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV., 
says  :  "  In  his  retournying  he  encountred  with  two  great 
Carickes  of  Jeane  laden  with  rych  merchandise." 

LEGGE,  a  merchant  from  Lie"ge. 

LOREYN,  LORING,  from  Loraine. 

LUBBARD,  a  Lombard. 

LUBBOCK,  a  merchant  of  Lubeck. 

MAYNE,  from  the  province  of  Maine. 

NORMAN  and  NORREYS,  a  Northman ;  but  N orris  is  some- 
times la  nourrice,  the  nurse. 

PAVEY,  from  Pavia. 

PICKARD,  from  Pickardy. 

POITEVIN,  changed  to  Portwine  and  Peto,  from  Poitou. 

POLAND,  POLLOCK,  a  native  of  Poland. 

•'  He  smote  the  sledded  Polack  on  the  ice." 

Hamlet. 

POINTZ  is  from  Pontoise. 
PROVINCE,  from  Provence. 
PRUSS,  from  Prussia  ;  now  Prust,  also  Prosser. 
Russ,  a  Russian,  possibly  in  some  cases  has  become  Rush 
and  Rouse. 

SARSON,  a  Saracen.     Skelton  addresses  one  thus  : 
"  I  say,  ye  solem  Sarson,  all  blake  is  your  ble." 

But  the  surname  may  come  from  the  sign  of  the  Saracen's 
Head.  It  is  probable  enough  that  some  Saracen  captives 

179  M  2 


PLAGE-NAMES 

may  have  been  brought  to  England,  but  I  am  much  more 
disposed  to  consider  the  surname  as  derived  from  the  tavern 
sign. 

VENESS,  a  Venetian.  There  is  a  pretty  English  folk-song 
found  on  broadsides,  but  still  sung  by  our  peasantry,  that 
plays  on  the  interchangeableness  of  Venus  and  Veness.1 

Such  names  as  Scott,  Spain,  Welsh,  Wallis,  Wight,  need 
no  elucidation.  I  have  not  included  in  the  above  list  the 
Norman  place-names,  or  many  that  are  French,  because 
these  will  be  dealt  with  later  on. 

In  the  heart  of  Dartmoor  lives,  and  has  lived  since  the 
earliest  records  of  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall  allow  us  to  trace 
the  family,  one  of  the  name  of  French.  There  can  exist  but 
little  doubt  that  the  founder  of  that  family  was  a  French- 
man. How  came  he  into  those  inhospitable,  treeless  wilds  ? 
Probably  he  was  brought  there  by  one  of  the  Earls  of  Corn- 
wall to  act  as  inspector  of  the  tin-smelting  at  King's  Oven, 
where  the  tin  was  run  out  of  the  ore  and  stamped,  and  the 
blocks  counted  for  the  revenue  of  the  Earls,  afterwards 
Dukes,  of  Cornwall.  And  it  is  near  the  King's  Oven  that 
the  French  family  is  still  to  be  found,  hale  and  vigorous, 
though  the  oven  itself  has  been  destroyed. 

I  can  remember  a  long-established  firm  of  drapers  named 
Flamank,  an  instance,  probably,  of  the  continuation  in  one 
family  of  the  trade  of  the  first  Fleming  who  settled  as  a 
clothier  in  Cornwall. 

There  are  names  that  strike  one  as  peculiarly  grotesque, 
which  are  reducible  to  place-names.  Such  is  that  of  Toplady, 
the  author  of  the  hymn  "  Rock  of  Ages."  It  is  a  com- 
pound name,  made  up  of  "  toft "  and  "  lade,"  and  signifies 
the  barnfield.  Our  Wagstaffe  and  Bickerstaffe  have  had 
nothing  to  do  with  staves,  so  far  as  to  give  them  their 

1  "  She  was  named  the  Virgin  Dove, 

With  a  lading  all  of  love, 

And  she  signall'd  that  for  Venus  [Venice]  she  was  bound. 
But  a  pilot  who  should  steer, 
She  required — for  sore  her  fear, 
Lest  without  one  she  should  chance  to  run  aground.' 
1 80 


PLACE-NAMES 

names.  Staff  is  a  corruption  of  steth,  or  stead,  a  farm,  and 
these1  are  Cumberland  place-names. 

Goodbody  and  Truebody  derive  from  a  bothy,  a  wooden 
house  or  shanty.  Sealy,  Silly,  Silliman,  imply  no  idiocy. 
The  names  come  either  from  the  Scilly  Isles,  or  from  a 
"  sell,"  or  hall. 

Surnames  ending  in  love  have  nothing  amatory  in  their 
origin,  but  derive  from  some  "  lowe,"  hill  or  tumulus.  It  is 
very  unjust  to  hold  that  all  Lemans  derive  from  a  light  wench, 
when  the  true  derivation  is  from  Le  Mans  in  Normandy. 

Tothill  has  been  derived  from  a  totiller,  a  whisperer  of 
secrets,  but  it  is  obviously  a  place-name ;  and  Drinkwater 
does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  man  who  gave  that  name 
to  his  descendants  was  conspicuously  temperate,  but  that  he 
lived  by  a  place  where  the  river  or  stream  was  contracted 
to  a  dring.2  The  surname  of  Welcome  is  not  descriptive  of 
hospitality,  but  derives  from  the  village  of  Well-combe  in 
Devon,  where  the  holy  well  that  gives  its  water  to  flow 
down  the  combe  is  still  the  main  supply  of  the  village. 

There  are  names  of  counties  borne  by  families  that  have 
migrated  from  one  to  another,  as  Essex,  Devonshire,  Yorkshire, 
etc.,  and  very  often  a  surname  is  none  other  than  the  name 
of  the  township,  village,  or  hamlet,  where  a  family  resided  or 
from  which  it  had  moved  away  to  some  other  locality. 

Some  place-names  get  corrupted  when  they  become  sur- 
names, as  Adnam  for  Addingham,  Swetnam  for  Swettenham, 
Debnam  for  Debenham,  Putnam  for  Puttenham.  But, 
indeed,  such  contractions  are  common  everywhere  where 
a  place-name  is  long;  as  Lanson  for  Launceston,  Daintry 
for  Daventry,  Brumigem  for  Birmingham,  Brighton  for 
Brightelmston,  Kirton  for  Crediton,  and  even  Lunnon  for 
London. 

The  name  Affleck  is  really  Auchinleck.  Sir  Edmund 
Affleck,  created  Baronet  in  1782,  was  sixth  in  descent  from 
Sir  John  Auchinleck. 

1  Falstaff,  however,  is  an  alteration  of  Fastolf. 

2  So  we  have  the  name  Dringwell  and  the  surname   Thring.     The 
German  is  dringen,  and  we  have  "  to  throng." 

181 


PLACE-NAMES 

Vowels  get  altered  or  permuted.  Thus  Annesley,  a  place 
in  Nottinghamshire,  as  a  surname  has  become  Ainsley. 
Beaumont  has  been  changed  to  Beeman  and  Beamont. 
Alchorne  in  Sussex  gave  its  name  to  a  family  that  has 
modified  it  to  Oldcorn.  Consonants  get  altered  and  aspirates 
dropped  out  or  added.  Ampthill  has  become  Antill.  Names 
whose  suffix  is  cliff  are  liable  to  lose  the  c,  as  Antliffe  for 
Arncliff,  Cudliffe  for  Cutcliff.  Broomhall  has  become  Bram- 
mel,  and  then  has  degenerated  to  Bramble.  Broomhill,  an 
estate  near  Bude,  has  given  a  name  to  Brimmel,  a  photo- 
grapher in  Launceston.  Sometimes  a  letter  is  intruded,  as 
Broadripp,  from  Bawdrip,  near  Bridgwater.  One  of  the 
most  curious  alterations  is  Bon-enfant,  that  has  become 
Bullivant.  It  is  a  change  that  we  might  well  question  had 
we  not  documentary  evidence  to  prove  it.  This  is  not,  how- 
ever, a  place-name,  but  it  illustrates  the  manner  in  which 
/  and  n  get  permuted. 

In  1619  Sir  Robert  Mansell  erected  some  glassworks  at 
Newcastle,  and  brought  to  them  foreign  workmen.  Among 
these  was  one  named  Teswicke.  The  surname  has  spread 
with  surprising  rapidity,  and  has  assumed  the  form  of 
Tyzack. 

Burghill  in  Herefordshire  gives  as  a  surname  Berrill  and 
BerylL  There  can  be  little  doubt  about  it,  as  Robert  de 
Berhulle  appears  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  Godalming  has 
become  Godliman. 

In  dealing  with  surnames  we  must  be  careful  to  look 
through  the  old  rolls  and  lists  and  registers,  and  note  what 
was  the  prefix  to  a  name  at  the  period  when  surnames  were 
in  the  process  of  formation.  Where  we  find  a  de  before 
a  name,  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  that  name  belongs  to 
a  place,  although  we  may  not  be  able  at  once  to  find  the 
locality  on  the  map,  not  knowing  in  which  county  to  look 
for  it.  But  when  the  name  is  preceded  by  le,  then  we  know 
for  certain  that  it  indicates  a  trade  or  profession,  or  is 
descriptive. 

When  we  find  in  the  Court  Rolls  of  Edward  III.  Henry 
del  Mosse,  and  in  a  Yorkshire  poll-tax  of  1379  Robert  de 

182 


PLACE-NAMES 

Mos,  we  know  that  these  men  took  their  surnames  from  some 
moss  or  moor ;  but  otherwise  we  may  assume  that  Moss  is 
a  contraction  for  Moses,  adopted  by  those  of  Jewish  lineage.1 
If  we  find  a  Thomas  de  Motlawe  in  1379,  we  know  that 
there  must  be  somewhere,  though  we  cannot  put  our  finger 
on  the  spot,  a  place  called  Motlawe  or  Motley ;  but  if  we 
come  across  a  Gilbert  le  Motley,  we  know  that  he  was  a 
jester.  In  the  first  year  of  Edward  III.  we  notice  an  entry 
of  Robert  de  Mutone  among  the  Post-Mortem  Inquisitions, 
and  we  know  that  there  was  a  place  called  Muton,  whence 
Robert  came  ;  but  when  in  the  same  Inquisitions  we  light  on 
Philip  le  Mutton,  we  know  that  he  was  called  after  a  sheep. 
We  might  have  confidently  assumed  that  the  Allansons 
were  descended  from  an  Allan,  but  in  some  cases  the  name 
stands  for  Alengon.  We  meet  with  a  John  de  Alen9on  in 
the  reign  of  Richard  I.,  a  Robert  de  Alenson  in  1220,  and 
Hubert  de  Alezon  was  Sheriff  of  Norfolk  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III. 

1  Mosse  fil.  Jacobi,  the  Jew  (Hundred  Rolls,  1273). 


183 


CHAPTER   IX 

ANGLO-SAXON    NAMES  :    DOMESDAY 

A  SENSE  of  sadness  steals  over  the  mind  as  we  note  the 
disappearance  of  the  spring  flowers,  and  the  appearance  in 
their  room  of  the  monotonous  summer  blooms,  mostly 
yellow,  and  none  with  the  charm  of  those  that  gladdened 
heart  and  eye  in  May.  There  is  a  banality  in  their  forms 
and  colours.  And  it  is  with  some  feeling  akin  to  this  that 
we  observe  how  after  the  Conquest  the  rich  and  varied 
crop  of  Anglo-Saxon  names  disappears,  and  makes  way  for 
Toms  and  Dicks  and  Harrys  in  wearisome  iteration.  I  have 
already  quoted  Mr.  Freeman  on  this  theme ;  I  will  now 
quote  Mr.  Bardsley  : 

"  Throughout  all  the  records  and  rolls  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries  we  find,  with  but  the  rarest  exceptions, 
all  our  personal  names  are  Norman.  The  Saxon  seems  to 
have  become  wellnigh  extinct.  There  might  have  been  a 
war  of  extermination  against  them.  In  an  unbroken 
succession  we  meet  with  such  names  as  John  or  Richard, 
Robert  and  Henry,  Thomas  and  Ralph,  Geoffrey  and 
Jordan,  Stephen  and  Martin,  Joscelyn  and  Almaric,  Benedict 
and  Laurence,  Reginald  and  Gilbert,  Roger  and  Walter, 
Eustace  and  Baldwin,  Francis  and  Maurice — no  Harold  even, 
saving  in  very  isolated  cases.  It  is  the  same  with  female 
names.  While  Mabel  and  Matilda,  Mirabella  and  Avelina, 
Amabilla  and  Idonia,  Sibilla  and  Ida,  Letitia  and  Agnes, 
Petronilla  or  Parnel  and  Lucy,  Alicia  and  Avice,  Alienara 
and  Anora,  Dowsabelle,  Clarice  and  Muriel,  Martha  and 
Rosamund,  Felicia  and  Adelina,  Julia  and  Blanche,  Isolda 

184 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

and  Amelia  or  Emelia,  Beatrix  and  Euphemia,  Annabel  and 
Theophania,  Constance  and  Joanna  abound,  Ethelreda,  Edith, 
and  Ermentrude  are  of  the  rarest  occurrence,  and  are  the 
only  names  which  may  breathe  to  us  of  purely  Saxon  times. 
In  the  case  of  several,  however,  a  special  effort  was  made 
later  on,  when  the  policy  of  allaying  the  jealous  feeling  of 
the  popular  class  was  resorted  to.  For  a  considerable  time 
the  royal  and  baronial  families  had,  in  their  pride,  sought 
names  for  their  children  from  the  Norman  category  mainly. 
After  the  lapse  of  a  century,  however,  rinding  the  Saxon 
spirit  still  chafed  and  uneasy  under  a  foreign  thrall,  several 
names  of  a  popular  character  were  introduced  into  the  royal 
nursery.  Thus  it  was  with  Edward  and  Edmund.  The 
former  of  these  appellations  was  represented  by  Edward  I., 
the  latter  by  his  brother  Edmund,  Earl  of  Lancaster."1 

It  was  not  all  at  once  throughout  Europe  that  the  old 
names  were  abandoned  and  a  fresh  series  adopted,  either 
from  the  calendar  or  from  those  employed  by  the  ruling 
caste. 

In  991,  at  Rheims,  assembled  Bishops  and  Archbishops  in 
council :  Guido  de  Soissons,  Adalbero  of  Laon,  Herveius 
of  Beauvais,  Godesmann  of  Amiens,  Radbod  of  Noyon,  Odo 
of  Senlis,  Archbishop  Adalbert  of  Bourges,  Walter  of  Autun, 
Bruno  of  Langres,  Milo  of  Macon,  Archbishop  Siguin  of 
Sens,  with  his  suffragans,  Arnulf  of  Orleans  and  Hubert  of 
Auxerre.  Among  these  thirteen  Bishops  there  is  not  to  be 
found  one  who  does  not  bear  a  Teutonic  name.  Guido  is 
Wido  and  Herveius  is  Heriwig,  both  latinized — that  is  all. 

But  now  mark  the  difference.  At  Christmas,  1171,  Henry 
Courthose,  son  of  Henry  II.,  held  his  Court  at  Bayeux. 
It  occurred  to  two  Williams,  the  Seneschal  of  Brittany  and 
the  Governor  of  Normandy,  to  exclude  from  the  outer  hall 
every  guest  who  was  not  named  William,  and  they  were 
able  to  admit  117  knights  of  that  name,  and  this  was  in 
addition  to  the  Williams  who  sat  at  table  with  the  young 
King.  This  showed  how  popular  a  single  name  had  become, 

1  "English  Surnames,"  pp.  18,  19. 
185 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

and  how  men  had  got  to  follow  a  cut-and-dried  system  and 
abandon  the  creative  name  period. 

To  give  anything  like  a  complete  list  of  Anglo-Saxon 
names  would  take  up  too  much  space,1  but  I  will  give  in  the 
Appendix  a  list  of  the  tenants  in  the  time  of  Edward  the 
Confessor — not,  indeed,  complete,  for  some  have  to  be 
omitted  in  order  to  keep  it  within  reasonable  limits — but 
sufficient  to  afford  an  idea  of  what  Anglo-Saxon  nomenclature 
was  ;  and  it  is  of  interest  to  us,  as  in  it  we  are  able  to  trace 
the  germs  of  a  good  many  of  our  modern  surnames. 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  in  examining  the  list,  that 
the  scribes  were  not  English,  but  were  Normans,  following  a 
phonetic  and  arbitrary,  and  by  no  means  an  etymological, 
rule.  The  Sbern  repeatedly  entered  shows  that  they  did  not 
catch  the  letter  o  with  which  the  name  began,  as  Osbern, 
because  lightly  sounded.  Biga  occurring  as  a  name  several 
times  is  not  a  name  at  all,  but  signifies  a  cart,  and  describes 
the  man  as  a  carrier.  The  Cocus  is  a  cook ;  a  Croc  indicates 
the  man  as  a  hunchback.  Among  the  Normans  we  have 
a  Radulf  de  Curva  Spina. 

Some  other  entries  as  names  are  not  personal  names  at 
all,  as  the  numerous  Bonds,  but  descriptive  of  their  tenure  of 
land  as  freeholders.  Gamel  and  Gamelcarle  describe  old  men 
as  such,  without  giving  any  personal  name.  The  numerous 
Blacks  and  Whites  are  descriptive  of  appearance. 

Felaga,  found  in  Essex,  signifies  a  companion,  a  fellow, 
and  the  numerous  Dons  are  Domini  (Masters).  So-and-so 
was  known  to  those  who  appeared  before  the  Commissioners 
as  Masters  ;  they  were  spoken  of  as  Masters.  If  they  had  any 
personal  names,  such  were  not  known  to  those  who  gave 
evidence.  Certain  of  the  names  that  will  be  noticed  in  the 
list  are  recognizable  at  the  present  day  as  surnames.  But, 
as  already  said,  it  is  hard  to  account  for  this,  as  such  an 
interval  exists  between  Domesday  and  the  taking  of  hereditary 
surnames  by  the  middle — and  still  more  by  the  lower — classes 
of  the  English  people,  unless  we  accept  the  theory  that 

1  A  complete  list  is  given  by  Dr.  Barber  in  "British  Surnames"; 
another  list  is  in  W.  De  Gray  Birch's  "  Domesday  Book,"  S.P.C.K.,  1887. 

1 86 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

these  came  from  place-names,  with  the  termination  allowed 
to  slip  out,  such  as  denoted  residence  at  the  place,  as 
Thorlogaboe  would  give  Thorlogsby  and  then  Thurlock.  In 
Cornwall,  at  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  was  an 
under-tenant  named  Jaul,  and  Joll  is  a  family  name  in  the 
county  to  this  day.  Aluric  may  possibly  remain,  altered 
into  Aldrich,  though  this  latter  more  probably  derives  from 
residence  beside  an  old  ridgeway,  or  road.  Alward  continues 
among  us  as  Aylward.  Ardgrip  is  found  several  centuries 
later  in  Parliamentary  writs  as  Hardgripe.  Aseloc  is  a 
mistake  for  Havelock.  Baco  we  have  in  many  Bacons1,  and 
Bar  as  Bear,  variously  spelt :  perhaps  it  stood  for  Beere. 
Bill  is  still  present,  and  Boda  as  Body,  and  Bou  as  Bow, 
Brodo  as  Brodie,  Cava  as  Cave.  Celcott  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  Chilcotts,  Clac  of  the  Clacks,  Couta  of  the  Courts, 
Doda  of  the  Dodds,  Don  of  the  Donnes  maybe.  Epy  may 
have  given  his  surname  to  Uriah  Heep ;  Felaga  certainly 
has  to  Fellowes.  Gamel  is  still  represented  in  Yorkshire. 
Gos  was  the  name  now  Goss.  Gribol  had  his  representa- 
tives in  my  time  in  a  grocer  at  Tavistock  named  Gribble. 
Jalf  was  the  forbear  of  the  Jelfs.  Juin  or  Juing,  which 
was  the  Norman  scribe's  rendering  of  the  reverse  of 
Gamel,  was  the  Young  of  his  day.  Kee  is  now  Kaye. 
Lewin  carries  his  name  unaltered  from  the  time  of  Edward 
the  Confessor  to  that  of  Edward  VII.  It  is  the  French 
way  of  writing  Leofwin.  Finns  and  Phinns  are  here  still, 
so  are  the  Rocks,  and  the  Salmons,  from  Salomon,  and  the 
Osborns  and  the  Seawards,  for  Syward.  Snellinc  in 
Domesday  was  the  nominal  ancestor  of  the  Snellings  of 
to-day,  Ster  or  Stere  of  the  Steeres,  Thorlog  of  the 
Thurlows,  Wadelo  of  the  Waddiloves,  Whelp  of  the  Helps. 
Tor,  who  was  in  Yorkshire  before  the  days  of  the  Conquest, 
is  there  still  as  Torre.  Tovi,  found  in  Hampshire,  has  his 
representative  now  in  Toovy,  also  in  Dovey.  Col  and  Cole 
have  supplied  us  with  plenty  of  Coles.  Ulward  gives  us 
Willard,  and  Cruk  is  the  ancestor  of  many  Crookes. 

1  But  this  is  a  Norman,  not  a  Saxon,  name.     Edward  the  Confessor 
drew  many  Normans  to  his  Court,  and  gave  them  land  in  England. 

187 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

Among  those  whose  names  are  given  in  Domesday  is  a 
Brand  among  under-tenants,  and  a  Brand  now  furnishes  us 
with  his  extract  of  beef.  A  Radmore  was  in  Devon  before 
William  showed  his  face  in  England,  and  I  knew  a  coach- 
man of  that  name  in  Devon  a  couple  of  years  ago.  The 
Bolle  found  in  Hampshire  is  the  father  of  the  name  of  the 
present  family  of  Bowles,  and  Dolfin  of  Derbyshire  of  the 
modern  Dolphins. 

Now,  it  is  quite  true,  as  Mr.  Bardsley  says,  that  Christian 
names  after  the  Conquest  were  no  longer  Saxon,  but 
Norman.  Yet  there  must  have  been  a  clinging  by  men  of 
English  blood  to  the  old  names  borne  by  their  forefathers, 
and,  although  they  might  no  longer  give  them  at  the  font  to 
their  little  ones,  and  they  no  more  appear  in  registers  and 
deeds,  yet  possibly  they  were  preserved  as  pet  names  or  used  as 
Christian  names,  treasured  as  family  relics,  some  to  come  forth 
and  be  assumed  when  the  time  arrived  when  the  assumption 
of  hereditary  family  names  became  customary.  With  what 
tenacity  Northern  people  held  to  a  nomenclature  to  which 
they  were  familiar  may  be  gathered  from  the  Dane  Guth- 
rum,  who  was  baptized  in  England  in  878  by  the  name  of 
Athelstan.  He  received  that  name  at  the  font,  and  speedily 
shed  it ;  he  was  never  after  known  by  other  than  his  old  pagan 
designation  of  the  Divine  Serpent.  Another  instance  may 
be  taken  from  the  occasion  of  a  revolt  of  the  Swedes  against 
their  King  Eric,  in  1018,  when  they  elected  his  son  Jacob 
to  be  their  King  in  his  father's  room,  but  absolutely  refused 
to  allow  him  to  bear  his  baptismal  name,  and  insisted  on  his 
calling  himself,  and  being  called,  Oenund.  That  the 
English  people  were  quite  as  unwilling  to  abandon  wholly  a 
class  of  names  endeared  to  them  by  tradition,  and  to  adopt 
others  that  pertained  to  the  Latin  races  and  to  the  Hebrews, 
we  can  well  believe.  They  had  their  children  baptized  with 
a  Norman  or  ecclesiastical  name,  but  in  the  depths  of  their 
hearts,  in  the  treasure-house  of  their  memories,  lay  the  old 
name  of  the  dear  ancestor  who  was  evicted  from  his  hall, 
and  robbed  of  his  acres,  and  degraded  from  being  a  Thegn 
or  a  Hauld  to  being  a  tenant-farmer.  I  remember  once  a 

1 88 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

small  lodging-house  keeper  in  Shepherd's  Bush  showing  me 
a  miniature  of  her  grandfather,  who  had  been  a  naval  Lieu- 
tenant. He  was  a  gentleman,  she  said,  and  had  married  a  real 
lady.  But  misfortune  had  fallen  on  their  offspring,  and  now 
his  descendant  had  her  meals  in  the  kitchen  with  the  servant 
down  the  area ;  but  every  day  she  looked  at  the  miniature  of 
the  grandfather  "  who  was  a  gentleman,"  and  showed  it  to 
every  visitor  with  a  flutter  of  colour  in  her  cheek.  And  so 
with  the  dispossessed  Anglo-Saxons.  They  stored  in  their 
memories  the  names  of  the  freeholders  who  were  driven  out, 
but  whose  ancestors  for  many  generations  had  been  free- 
holders before  them.  And  by  degrees,  as  time  went  on,  the 
name  was  produced,  and  when  the  Anglo-Norman  lord  flour- 
ished his  name,  taken  from  a  poky  little  castle  in  Normandy, 
where  now  he  owned  not  a  chair  to  sit  on,  the  tenant-farmer 
held  up  his  head,  and  said :  "  And  I,  too,  have  a  name — and 
a  name  to  be  proud  of — the  name  of  the  last  Childe,  or 
Wake,  or  Hauld,  or  Bonder,  or  Thegn,  who  had  none  above 
him  but  the  King." 

And  I  suppose  that  this  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact 
that  a  certain  number  of  Saxon  names  do  remain  amidst  us 
as  hereditary  surnames ;  and  prouder  should  those  be  who 
bear  them  than  such  as  flourish  the  names  of  the  Norman 
conquerors,  for  these  last  are  representatives  of  a  violated 
right,  and  the  former  represent  the  victims  of  outrage  and 
robbery.  But,  in  addition  to  personal  names  adopted  as 
family  names,  we  have  among  us  such  as  represent  condi- 
tions of  life  and  tenure  of  land  among  the  Anglo-Saxons 
that  came  to  an  end  with  the  Conquest. 

An  honoured  name  among  us  is  that  of  Childe — that  of  the 
great  banker. 

The  title  of  Childe  was  held  by  the  eldest  sons  of  Thegns, 
and  represented  them  as  heirs  to  their  father's  honours  and 
possessions.  Then  came  the  Conquest,  and  the  Childes  of 
1066  were  smitten  out  of  their  rights,  and  lost  all  their 
expectations — glad,  indeed,  if  suffered  to  build  a  cottage  on 
some  untilled  portion  of  what  was  once  their  ancestral 
domain.  The  old  Thegn  had  died,  either  on  the  field  of 

189 


ANGLO-SAXON  NAMES 

Senlac  or  of  a  broken  heart  at  seeing  the  ruin  of  his  family. 
Generation  followed  generation,  and  his  descendants  looked 
on  the  hall  that  had  been  theirs,  on  the  lands  that  had 
belonged  to  them,  on  the  serfs  that  had  once  done  their 
bidding,  and  they  called  themselves  either  after  the  dis- 
possessed Thegn  or  the  Childe  who  had  reared  the  new 
habitation,  and  begun  to  break  up  the  moorland  accorded  to 
him  by  the  Norman  intruder.  Thus  we  have  our  Thynnes1 
and  Childes ;  thus  also  our  Bonds.  The  Haulds,  also  free- 
holders, have  given  us  Olds  and  Holds  ;  and  the  Lagman,  who 
of  old  sat  in  the  Witenagemot,  has  left  his  titular  name  to 
the  Layman  of  to-day.2  There  is,  I  take  it,  something 
pathetic  in  this  picture  of  a  family  looking  back  to,  and 
clinging  to,  the  memory  of  its  ancient  dignities,  of  which  it 
had  been  despoiled. 

1  The  Thynnes  of  Longleat  have,  however,  a  different  origin,  accord- 
ing to  the  story,  true  or  false — probably  the  latter. 

2  The  Lagman  was  one  with  a  knowledge  of  the  laws,  but  in  the  reign 
of  Swerrir  of  Norway  (1182-1202)  Lagman  became  a  title  equivalent  to 
Judge,  Justiciary. 


190 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  "  Book  of  Life  "  of  Durham  Minster  is  of  exceptional 
value  for  the  study  of  the  development  of  surnames.  It  is  a 
catalogue  that  was  kept  from  the  ninth  century,  of  benefac- 
tors to  the  Church  of  Durham,  ending  only  with  the 
Reformation  and  Dissolution. 

A  writer  in  1672  on  "  The  Ancient  Rites  and  Monuments 
of  the  Monastical  and  Cathedral  Church  of  Durham  "  thus 
describes  the  book :  "  There  did  lie  on  the  High  Altar  an 
excellent  fine  book,  very  richly  covered  with  gold  and  silver, 
containing  the  names  of  all  the  benefactors  towards  St.  Cuth- 
bert's  Church,  from  the  very  original  foundation  thereof, 
the  very  letters  of  the  book  being,  for  the  most  part,  all 
gilt ;  as  is  apparent  in  the  said  book  to  this  day.  The  laying 
that  book  on  the  High  Altar  did  show  how  highly  they 
esteemed  their  founders  and  benefactors,  and  the  quotidian 
remembrance  thus  had  of  them  in  the  time  of  Mass  and 
divine  service.  And  thus  did  appear,  not  only  their  gratitude, 
but  also  a  most  divine  and  charitable  affection  to  the  souls 
of  their  benefactors,  as  well  dead  as  living ;  which  book 
is  still  extant,  declaring  the  said  use  in  the  inscriptions 
thereof." 

The  volume  is  described  on  the  title  as  the  "  Liber  Vitse  " 
of  the  Church  of  Durham.  The  fact  of  the  benefactors' 
names  being  recorded  in  the  book  was  coupled  with  the 
hope  and  the  prayer  that  the  same  might  at  the  last  find 

191 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

a  place  in  the  "  Book  of  Life,"  in  which  are  recorded  those 
who  shall  be  entitled  to  eternal  salvation.1 

The  manuscript  itsalf  is  one  of  peculiar  interest,  from  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  written.  From  the  commencement, 
at  folio  12  to  folio  42  it  is  executed  in  alternate  lines  of  gold 
and  silver,  written  in  a  handwriting  of  peculiar  elegance,  the 
precise  age  of  which  it  is  not  easy  to  decide,  but  which  may 
probably  be  referred  to  the  ninth  century.  From  that 
period  downwards  to  the  Dissolution  it  is  continued  in 
various  hands,  each  less  elegant  than  that  which  pre- 
ceded it.  When  the  volume  was  commenced,  it  was  so 
prepared  as  to  admit  the  names  of  benefactors  being  arranged 
according  to  rank  ;  but  at  a  subsequent  period,  as  un- 
occupied parchment  grew  scarcer  in  the  volume,  the  scribes 
from  time  to  time  took  advantage  of  any  blank  spaces  that 
might  occur,  and  entered  there  the  names  of  those  bene- 
factors who  were  far  more  recent.  Hence  the  list  is  not 
chronologically  sequent,  and  to  read  it  aright  demands 
that  these  additions  should  be  distinguished  from  the  text  of 
the  earlier  writer.  This,  however,  can  be  done,  because  the 
style  of  writing  in  the  different  centuries  varied  considerably. 

The  earlier  names  are  almost  all  either  Angle  or  Scandi- 
navian, with  a  sprinkling  of  Celtic.  A  recent  student  has 
examined  the  list,  and  has  sought  to  discriminate  between 
those  that  are  Anglo-Saxon,  those  that  are  Danish,  and  such 
as  are  Norwegian.  Those  which  are  Celtic  can  at  once  be 
detected,  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  it  is  possible  so 
nicely  to  separate  such  as  are  Norse  from  such  as  are 
Danish. 

After  the  Norman  Conquest  occur  occasional  Norman 
names,  and  these  become  more  frequent  as  time  goes  on. 
These  latter  are  the  sole  that  can  be  called  surnames  till  a 
much  later  period.  In  the  earlier  centuries  the  names  are  single 
and  simple,  and  with  great  rarity  does  a  man  bear  a  Biblical 
name  or  one  derived  from  the  calendar  of  the  Church. 
Even  monks  and  clergy  clung  to  the  old  names,  so  easily 

1  "Liber  Vita  Ecclesiae  Dunelmensis "  (Surtees  Society  publication), 
1841. 

192 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

and  so  richly  formed  out  of  the  native  tongue,  and  shrank 
from  the  banality  of  turning  to  the  calendar  for  the  nomen- 
clature of  their  children.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the  list  of 
the  anchorites  in  priest's  orders : 

(Edillwald,  Vermund,  Baldhelm,  Peligeld,  Wigbert,  Haemgils,  Eadwald, 
Herebert,  Boisil,  Herefrid,  ^Ethwin,  Eadhelm,  Balthere,  Tilwin,  Fronka, 
Aldbert,  Echha,  Tilfrith,  Alhaeth,  Augustinus,  Bilfrith,  Hadured,  Wil- 
thegn,  Garwulf  (/.*.,  Werewolf),  Cuthred,  Wulfsig,  Hadumund,  Wigbert. 
But  a  single  saintly  name  amongst  them — Augustinus.1 

Among  the  Abbots  in  priest's  orders  are  given  sixty-seven 
names  ;  one  alone  among  them  is  Scriptural — Elias  ;  none 
from  the  calendar. 

If  this  were  so  among  monks  and  clergy,  it  may  well  be 
supposed  that  the  laity  clung  to  their  traditional  vernacular 
names. 

On  folio  246  we  have  sixty-three  pure  Angle  or  Scan- 
dinavian names,  and  then  come  these  :  Osbert  son  of 
William,  Matthild,  Robert  and  Hugo,  Isabel,  Thomas, 
Emma,  John,  Ulard,  Cecilia,  John,  Richard,  Alice,  Walter, 
Robert,  Nicolas,  Thomas.  We  know  at  once  that  these 
belong  to  a  later  period ;  in  fact,  they  are  an  insertion  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

Observe  that  among  all  these  even  then  there  is  no  trace 
of  a  surname. 

When  in  the  list  of  benefactors  of  the  twelfth  century  we 
find  that  Biblical  and  French  Christian  names  are  creeping 
in  and  displacing  those  that  are  more  ancient  and  vernacular, 
then  also  we  see  that  the  germs  of  surnames  appear. 
Here  is  the  list  of  assistant  monks  (fol.  52) : 

Wido,  Robert,  three  Williams,  Henry  of  Addington,  Galfrid,  William 
Benignus  and  Eva  his  wife  (this  a  monk  !),  Edward,  John,  Adam,  Henry, 
Robert,  Richard,  Margaret  (how  comes  she  en  cette  gattre .?),  Sweyn,  Olaf, 
Hedbald,  William  de  Grenville,  Walter  Carvi,  Patric  of  Paxton  and 
Patric  of  Hoveden,  Richard,  Gamel  (priest  of  Coldingham),  Walter  of 
Querendon,  Robert  the  Provost,  Brother  yElward,  Thomas  of  Bishopton, 
Albert  of  Mandeviile,  Robert  of  Bollesdon,  Ulkill,  Colban,  Hyun,  Henry 
the  Sewer,  Adam,  Alfin,  Richard  Gur',  Gilebert  Halsard,  William  the 
Pistor,  Augustine,  Hugh,  Roger,  David,  Stephen  the  Medicine  Man,  etc. 

1  I  have  slightly  modernized  the  spelling  of  the  names. 
193  N 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

We  have  three  Williams,  entered  one  after  the  other, 
without  any  distinction.  We  have  also  several  Roberts. 
Clearly,  it  was  expedient  to  give  them  distinguishing  names, 
either  nicknames  or  surnames. 

On  folio  53  are  193  names,  and  the  writing  is  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  with  some  exceptions,  to  be  noted 
presently,  that  are  of  the  fifteenth.  Among  all  these  there 
are  forty-three  described  as  "of"  such  and  such  a  place, 
but  some  of  these  are  only  "  Priors  of,"  and  two  are 
"  de  Brus  " — i.e.,  de  Breos  or  Bruce.  There  are  some 
entered  as  sons  of  So-and-so,  but  there  is  no  indication  that 
such  was  a  surname.  But  there  are  a  few  surnames — Roger 
Muref,  William  Walais  (i.e.,  Wallace),  Roger  Pauper  (Poor), 
Hugh  Bard,  Robert  Watkynson,  Bartholomew  Peck,  Master 
John  Abegeis,  William,  Earl  Marshall,  and  Alexander  and 
Gilbert  Marshall,  Roger  Gernet  of  Hawton  and  Roger 
Kernet  of  Burch,  William  Tredweuge,  Alan,  Matilda,  Henry 
and  John  Colstan,  William  Faber  (the  smith),  William 
Halywell,  and  William  Warcworth.  In  this  same  list  in 
which  the  family  of  Colstan  appears,  with  a  distinct  sur- 
name attaching  to  each  member,  occur  three  Johns  without 
anything  to  particularize  them,  one  after  the  other.  Four- 
teen genuine  surnames  among  193  individuals  without. 

Let  us  next  take  folio  56,  which  is  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries.  Here  we  progress  somewhat.  We 
get  these  :  Thomas  Henknoll,  Hugh  Muchante  (is  this  a 
misprint  for  "  merchante  "  ?),  William  Rodum,  Robert  Butt, 
Thomas  the  Ditcher  ("  fossor  "),  Thomas  Keylgarn,  Thomas 
Launcel,  Henry  Lovechild  (i.e.,  bastard),  Thomas  Daylle, 
Robert  Johnson,  Richard  Atkynson,  Robert  Hughalt, 
Gilbert  Hansard,  Osbert  Giffard,  William  Deu,  Ulkill  the 
Fuller,  Geoffrey  Picot,  John  Cutler,  John  Billerby,  and 
John  Thirlwath.  These  three  last  are  additions  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Now  here  we  have  Johnson  and  Atkynson 
become  surnames,  distinct  from  the  entries  of  "  films."  In 
this  series  the  number  of  references  to  places  whence  the 
benefactors  came  is  largely  increased,  but  there  still  remains 
a  residue  of  Johns  and  Henries,  of  Nicolases  and  Williams, 

without  individualization. 

194 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

When,  however,  we  arrive  at  the  fifteenth  century,  the 
number  of  surnames  has  vastly  increased.  Here  is  a  scrap 
of  that  period  in  the  register :  John  Blyet  and  his  wife, 
William  and  his  wife  Margaret  Blyet,  Francis  Foster,  John 
Blythe,  Robert  Bluett,  Robert  Rousse,  Bryan  Teller,  Thomas 
Fenwyke,  Robert  Ballard. 

In  a  hand  of  the  thirteenth  or,  more  probably,  the  four- 
teenth century  appears  the  entry  :  "  William  Chepe,  cocus  de 
Coldingham;"  a  wise  cook,  to  enter  the  kitchen  already  pro- 
vided with  a  surname,  and  so  escape  being  called  Wilcox. 

Here  are  more  entries  of  the  fifteenth  century:  "John 
Palfreyman,  Arstulf  Hillerby,  Thomas  Westmoreland, 
William  Parlour,  William  Smith  and  Alice  his  wife, 
Thomas  Elwyke,  John  Euke,  Thomas  Warwick,  Thomas 
Schele,  Joanna  Brown  and  Master  William  Browne  and 
Antony  Browne,  Bernard  Bailey."  Surnames  were  becoming 
common  in  the  fifteenth  century,  at  least  among  persons  of 
some  substance,  so  as  to  be  regarded  as  liberal  benefactors 
to  the  Church  of  Durham. 

And  now  let  us  turn  to  the  end  of  the  book,  to  the  list  of 
names  that  preceded  the  Dissolution,  and  we  shall  find  that 
everyone  has  a  surname.  I  will  not  give  this  list  here, 
because  too  lengthy. 

What  took  place  in  Durham  took  place  all  over  England, 
but  the  Durham  practice  was  somewhat  behind  that  of  the 
South  and  the  Midlands,  and  York  was  probably  not  much 
more  in  advance  than  Durham. 

What  the  "  Liber  Vitae "  teaches  us  is  that  men  were 
specialized  by  the  place  whence  they  came,  irrespective  of 
the  fact  that  they  were  not  landholders  there,  or  else  they 
were  distinguished  by  being  described  as  being  the  sons  of 
such  and  such  fathers.  The  adhesion  of  a  place-name  did 
not  take  place  so  as  to  constitute  a  family  name  till  the 
fifteenth  century,  except  among  the  Barons  and  families  of 
Norman  descent.  Patronymics  such  as  Johnson,  Thomson, 
A  tkinson,  came  in  very  sporadically  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  became  permanent  only  in  the  fifteenth.  Not  till  this 
latter  century  does  Smith  appear  as  a  family  name ;  for 

195  N  2 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

although  we  have  seen  Faber  given  earlier,  this  is  descriptive 
of  the  trade  pursued  by  the  bearer,  and  was  not  a  surname. 
In  the  fourteenth  century  the  de  and  of  before  the  place- 
name  had  not  fallen  away.  When  it  did,  then  the  name  of 
the  locality  attached  itself  permanently  to  the  man  and  his 
posterity. 

One  feature  of  the  lists  in  the  "  Liber  Vitae  "  must  not  be 
overlooked — the  extreme  scarcity  of  names  descriptive  of 
personal  appearance  and  indicative  of  natural  defects,  and 
of  vulgar  nicknames.  This  leads  one  to  suspect  that,  when 
such  names  occur  in  the  secular  lists,  as  the  Hundred  Rolls, 
Feet  of  Fines,  etc.,  they  were  inscribed  without  the  consent 
of  those  so  designated,  for  the  convenience  of  identification 
and  without  regard  to  the  feelings  of  the  men  so  described. 
But  also  it  leads  to  the  conviction  that,  where  such  designa- 
tions were  accepted,  they  bore  a  very  different  signification 
to  what  they  bear  on  the  surface.  If  this  were  not  the  case, 
such  names  would  have  been  repudiated  as  an  outrage. 

Some  domestic  officials  are  entered  in  the  book  as  donors, 
a  "  butelair,"  a  sewe*,  and  a  dapifer,  but  singularly  few 
tradesmen — a  merchant,  a  smith,  a  taverner,  a  fuller,  and 
that  is  about  all.  The  tradesmen  of  Durham  seem  to  have 
buttoned  up  their  pockets,  or  else  the  smallness  of  their 
donations  did  not  entitle  them  to  commendation  in  the 
Book  of  Life. 

On  the  flyleaf  of  a  tenth-century  manuscript  book  of  the 
Gospels  in  the  library  of  York  Minster  is  a  list  of  the 
"  festermen  "  at  the  election  of  Archbishop  ^Elfric  of  York, 
1023.  It  has  been  published  by  Dr.  Jon  Stefanson  ("  Saga- 
book  of  the  Viking  Club,"  1908).  The  names  are  mostly 
Norse  and  Danish. 

I  give  in  the  Appendix  a  list  of  Scandinavian  names 
that  may  be  recognized  as  surnames  at  the  present  day. 
Those  that  have  come  to  us  in  a  circuitous  way  through  the 
Normans  have  been  excluded.  Some  surnames  may  come 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  from  the  Norse  and  Danish,  and,  as 
happens  in  other  cases,  some  names  now  not  uncommon 
among  us  may  have  a  double  derivation — in  Northumbria 

196 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

from  a  Norse  origin,  in  other  parts  of  England  from  another 
quite  different.  Thus,  Eagle  may  be  derived  from  a  tavern 
sign,  or,  when  encountered  in  East  Anglia,  from  Egill. 
Atlay  when  met  with  in  the  North  of  England  may  derive 
from  Atli,  elsewhere  from  Atte-legh. 

A  name  that  occurs  still,  and  which  has  a  romantic  or 
mythical  origin,  is  that  of  Wayland,  sometimes  reduced  to 
Wetland.  Wayland  Smith's  Cave,  a  dolmen  near  Lam- 
bourne,  has  been  utilized  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his  "Wood- 
stock " ;  but  he  made  a  mistake  in  treating  of  Wayland  the 
Smith  as  a  man  living  in  this  dolmen  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  story  of  Wayland,  or  Viglund,  is  found  in  the 
Elder  Edda,  and  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  monuments  of 
Scandinavian  poetry.  The  Edda  was  put  together  in  the 
eleventh  century  by  Sremund  to  preserve  these  ancient 
poems  from  loss,  as,  being  redolent  with  paganism,  they 
were  falling  into  disrepute  and  oblivion. 

There  was  a  King  in  Sweden  named  Nidud,  who  had  two 
sons,  and  a  daughter  whose  name  was  Bodvild.  There  was 
at  the  time  a  famous  smith  named  Velund,  who  excelled  all 
other  smiths.  King  Nidud  ordered  him  to  be  seized  and 
hamstrung,  and  a  gold  ring  that  Velund  had  fashioned  to  be 
given  to  his  daughter.  Then  he  placed  Velund  on  a  small 
island,  and  set  him  to  make  all  kinds  of  precious  things.  No 
one  was  suffered  to  go  near  the  island  save  the  King  alone. 

Velund  knew  that  Bodvild  wore  the  gold  ring  stolen  from 
him,  and  both  on  this  account  and  on  that  of  his  being 
lamed  he  resolved  on  revenge. 

One  day  the  two  Princes  secretly  visited  the  isle  and  asked 
to  be  shown  the  gold  necklaces  and  rings  that  Velund  made. 
The  smith  took  the  occasion  to  kill  both.  He  cut  off  their 
heads,  cleared  the  skulls  of  flesh  and  set  them  in  silver  as 
drinking-bowls,  and  sent  them  to  Nidud,  who  received  them 
without  the  least  suspicion  that  they  were  the  heads  of 
his  sons. 

Some  time  after  Bodvild  broke  her  ring,  and,  without  tell- 
ing her  father  or  mother,  privily  went  to  the  smithy  to  have 
it  mended.  Velund  seized  on  the  occasion  to  outrage  her. 

197 


SCANDINAVIAN  NAMES 

After  that  he  laboured  to  fashion  for  himself  a  pair  of  wings, 
and  when  these  were  perfected  he  flew  away ;  but  before 
quitting  the  place  for  ever  he  flew  to  where  he  could  com- 
municate with  the  King  and  Queen,  and  to  them  he  shouted 
how  he  had  avenged  himself. 

The  story  was  well  known  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  a 
fragment  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  poem  exists  containing  the 
lamentations  of  Bodvild.  The  old  poem  of  Beowulf  also 
alludes  to  Velund.  Higelac  boasts  that  the  best  of  his 
armour  had  been  fashioned  by  Weland.  King  Alfred  also 
mentions  the  famous  smith  in  his  paraphrase  of  Boetius  : 
"  Where  are  now  the  bones  of  Weland,  that  was  the  most 
famous  of  goldsmiths  ?"  In  the  metrical  romance  of  King 
Horn  is  another  allusion.  Of  swords  brought  to  Horn  is  one 
"  the  make  of  Miming :  of  all  swordes  it  is  king,  and  Weland 
it  wrought."  Even  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  in  a  poem  of  the 
twelfth  century,  mentions  the  smith  Guieland,  who  made 
cups  richly  sculptured. 

Wayland  or  Welland  was,  accordingly,  one  well  remem- 
bered in  England  in  early  days,  and  we  cannot  be  surprised 
that  he  gave  his  name  to  two  villages  and  to  a  river.  It  is 
from  one  or  other  of  these  villages  that  the  families  of 
Welland  and  Wayland  take  their  name. 

Thomas  de  Weylaund  appears  in  Suffolk  in  1273,  and 
William  de  Welond  in  Gloucestershire  in  the  same  year. 

That  these  villages  should  derive  from  some  well  I  think 
improbable,  for  no  village  was  without  a  well  of  some  kind. 
More  likely  each  was  a  stead  or  tun  of  a  Velund. 


198 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

ON  the  morrow  of  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  William,  Duke  of 
Normandy,  summoned  to  him  a  clerk  who  had  enrolled  the 
names  of  all  those  who  had  accompanied  him  to  England, 
and  bade  him  read  it  aloud,  that  he  might  learn  who  had 
fallen  and  who  were  still  alive.  After  that  he  bade  Odo, 
Bishop  of  Bayeux,  sing  Mass  for  the  souls  of  such  as 
were  dead. 

Later,  William  founded  Battle  Abbey  on  the  site,  not  only 
as  a  memorial  of  his  victory,  but  to  serve  as  a  chantry  for 
the  slain,  and  the  names  of  his  companions-in-arms  enshrined 
in  this  bede-roll  were  to  be  read  out  in  church  on  special 
occasions,  and  notably  on  the  day  of  commemoration  of  the 
battle— the  Feast  of  St.  Calixtus. 

This  roll  was  accordingly  preserved  in  the  abbey.  It  was 
on  parchment,  and  bore  a  Latin  superscription  that  may  be 
thus  translated  :  "  This  place  is  named  Battle,  on  account  of 
a  battle  fought  here,  in  which  the  English  were  defeated  and 
left  dead  upon  the  field.  They  fell  on  the  festival  of  Calixtus, 
Christ's  martyr.  In  the  year  1066  the  English  fell,  when  a 
comet  appeared." 

In  1538  the  abbey  was  dissolved,  and  it,  with  its  lands, 
was  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  to  Sir  Anthony  Browne,  Master 
of  Horse  to  the  King.  He  commenced  building  a  manor- 
house  there  out  of  the  stones  of  the  abbey,  which  was  com- 
pleted by  his  son,  Viscount  Montague,  but  was  seldom 
occupied  by  his  descendants,  who  preferred  to  it  their  noble 
residence  at  Cowdray,  in  the  same  county. 

199 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

The  story  goes  that,  as  Sir  Anthony  Browne  was  pulling 
down  the  abbey  for  the  erection  of  his  mansion,  one  of  the 
dispossessed  monks  approached,  and  pronounced  a  solemn 
curse  on  him  and  his  family,  that  it  should  perish  by  water 
and  by  fire. 

The  eighth  Viscount  Montague  was  drowned  in  the  Rhine 
in  September,  1793,  when  only  twenty-four  years  of  age.  He 
was  on  a  boating  expedition  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Sedley 
Burdett,  and  made  a  foolhardy  attempt  to  shoot  the  rapids 
at  Laufenburg.  They  had  been  cautioned  of  the  danger  of 
the  venture,  and  entreated  not  to  risk  it,  but  in  vain.  At  the 
last  moment,  as  they  were  stepping  into  the  boat,  Lord 
Montague's  servant  clutched  his  collar,  saying :  "  My  lord, 
the  curse  of  water !"  But  he  wrenched  himself  away  and 
sprang  out  of  his  reach.  The  boat  capsized  in  the  rapids, 
and  the  two  gentlemen,  with  their  dog,  were  seen  swimming 
gallantly  through  the  surges,  till  all  disappeared. 

At  that  same  time,  on  the  night  of  September  24,  1793, 
Cowdray  House,  with  its  magnificent  collection  of  paintings, 
tapestry,  carvings,  and  furniture,  was  burnt  to  the  ground. 

By  flood  and  fire  the  family  of  Sir  Anthony,  in  the  male 
line,  had  come  to  an  end,  and  Cowdray  and  Battle  passed  to 
the  sister  of  the  last  Viscount,  who  married  Stephen  Poyntz, 
of  Midgeham  in  Berkshire,  in  1794,  and  by  him  had  two 
sons  and  three  daughters.  In  the  summer  of  1813  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Poyntz  were  staying  with  the  children  at  Bognor,  and 
two  Misses  Parry  were  on  a  visit  to  them.  One  fine  day 
Mr.  Poyntz  took  out  his  sons  and  the  Misses  Parry  on  a 
boating  expedition,  but  Mrs.  Poyntz,  who  had  a  superstitious 
dread  of  the  water,  refused  to  be  one  of  the  party. 

As  evening  drew  on  Mrs.  Poyntz  seated  herself  at  a 
window  to  watch  their  return.  They  were  close  to  shore, 
when  a  sudden  squall  struck  the  sail  and  upset  the  boat,  and 
the  wretched  mother  saw  her  two  sons  drowned  before  her 
eyes.  For  some  time  they  clung  to  their  father's  coat,  who 
had  managed  to  lay  hold  of  the  capsized  boat ;  but  their 
strength  failed  them,  and  they  dropped  back  into  the  sea. 
This  took  place  on  July  7,  1815.  Mr.  Poyntz  was  saved, 
but  the  two  Misses  Parry  were  drowned. 

200 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

It  is  not  known  for  certain  what  became  of  the  Battle 
Abbey  Roll,  but  in  all  probability  it  was  taken  by  Sir  Anthony 
Browne  to  Cowdray,  and  perished  by  fire  when  that  house 
was  burnt.  Consequently  we  have  not  the  original  roll  to 
refer  to  for  the  list  of  those  who  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror. 

But,  before  the  Dissolution,  Leland  the  antiquary  visited 
Battle,  and  made  a  very  careful  copy  of  the  roll.  So  careful 
was  he  that  he  noted  the  gaps  left  in  it,  and  the  dots  that 
were  marked  between  the  lines  in  the  gaps.  The  names 
were  not  arranged  alphabetically,  but  were  strung  together 
in  rude  rhymes,  and  were  495  in  257  lines,  each  line  contain- 
ing two  names,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  one  that  con- 
tains three,  and  those  on  each  line  begin  with  the  same 
initial  letter.  Some  names  are  duplicated. 

The  list  as  given  by  Leland  is  unquestionably  the  best,  if 
not  the  only  authentic,  copy  that  exists  of  the  famous  Battle 
Abbey  Roll.  It  is  published  in  his  "  Collectanea,"  vol.  i., 
p.  206. 

Holinshed,  in  his  "  Chronicle,"  1577,  gives  another,  but  this 
does  not  pretend  to  be  an  exact  transcript,  as  he  arranges 
the  names  alphabetically.  Moreover,  he  gives  as  many  as 
629  names,  134  more  than  were  transcribed  by  Leland,  so 
that  he  cannot  have  copied  from  the  original  roll,  but  from 
some  faked  copy  of  it. 

But  the  original  roll  that  Leland  transcribed  was  not 
faultless.  It  also  had  been  "  faked,"  and  the  gaps  left  in  the 
roll  were  left  so  as  to  be  filled  in  with  the  names  of  such 
families  as  were  disposed  to  pay  a  price  for  insertion.  Had 
we  the  original  roll,  we  should  be  able  to  detect  the  inser- 
tions by  the  handwriting;  but  as  it  is,  we  can  do  so  only  by 
what  we  know  of  families  that  rose  to  the  surface  at  a  later 
period,  and  by  striking  out  such  as  are  not  named  in  Domes- 
day or  in  the  "  Roman  de  Rou,"  by  Wace. 

Dugdale  detected  the  interpolations.  He  wrote  :  "  Such 
hath  been  the  subtilty  of  some  Monks  of  old,  that  finding  it 
acceptable  unto  most  to  be  reputed  descendants  to  those  who 
were  Companions  with  Duke  William  in  that  memorable 

201 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Expedition,  whereby  he  became  Conqueror  of  this  Realm,  as 
that,  to  gratify  them  (but  not  without  their  own  advantage), 
they  inserted  their  Names  into  that  ancient  Catalogue." 

Camden  also  speaks  of  these  interpolations  :  "  Whosoever 
considers  well  shall  find  them  always  to  be  forged,  and  those 
names  inserted  which  the  time  in  every  age  favoured,  and 
were  never  mentioned  in  that  authenticated  record." 

Sir  Egerton  Brydges  stigmatizes  the  roll  as  an  imposture, 
because  of  "  the  insertion  of  families  who  did  not  come  to 
England  till  a  subsequent  period,  and  of  surnames  which 
were  not  adopted  for  some  ages  after  the  Conquest,  of  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  list  is  composed.  If  the  Roll  of 
Battle  Abbey  had  been  genuine,  it  must  have  received  con- 
firmation from  that  authentic  record  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.,  the  *  Liber  Niger  Sacarii,'  but  no  two  registers 
can  less  agree."  This,  however,  is  an  overstatement. 

Freeman  speaks  of  the  roll  as  "  a  source  of  falsehood  " 
and  "  a  transparent  fiction."  Mr.  Ferguson  endeavoured  to 
restore  the  credit  in  a  measure  in  his  "  Surnames  as  a 
Science,"  but  with  little  success.  The  author  of  "  The 
Norman  People"  conjectured  from  the  spelling  of  the  names 
that  it  had  been  compiled  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  but 
some  of  the  spelling  is  of  a  still  later  date. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  there  was  such  a  roll  at  Battle, 
but  at  first  it  was  a  roll  containing  only  the  names  of  the 
dead,  whose  obits  had  to  be  observed,  and  who  had  to  be 
prayed  for  by  name.  But  in  process  of  time  other  names 
were  added,  successively,  as  paid  for. 

It  contains  such  obvious  interpolations  as  Audley,  Gray, 
Hastings,  Hawley,  Howard,  Gower,  and  Berry. 

There  are  in  the  lists  of  Leland  and  of  Holinshed  several 
duplications — Blundel,  Avenell,  Barry,  Bernevile,  De  la 
Laund,  FitzAleyn,  FitzRobert,  Filiot,  Morley,  Peverel, 
Pikard,  Vernon  ;  but  these  may  be  explained  and  justified 
when  two  of  the  same  family  came  with  the  Conqueror,  or, 
in  the  cases  of  FitzAleyne  and  FitzRobert,  there  may  have 
been  two  quite  unrelated  personages,  sons  of  Robert  and 
Aleyne.  Filiot  is  a  nickname,  and  means  the  same  as 
"  sonny,"  that  might  be  applied  to  any  youngster. 

202 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

In  some  cases  the  interpolations  are  very  obvious,  as  in 
the  line  "  Soucheville,  Coudray  et  Colleville."  It  is  the 
sole  line  in  which  are  three  names.  Moreover,  almost 
invariably  the  purpose  was  to  tack  together  in  pairs  names 
beginning  with  the  same  letter.  There  had  been  gaps  left  to 
be  filled  in  as  folk  paid  for  insertion,  as  before  mentioned, 
and  these  had  to  be  thrust  in  anywhere. 

The  list  is  remarkable  for  omissions.  If  we  compare  it 
with  that  of  Wace  we  notice  this.  Leland,  moreover,  does 
not  give  us  Arundell,  Bagott,  Berners,  Lutterel,  Marmion, 
Montgomery,  Mainwaring,  Marny,  and  many  others. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  names  were  in  a  condition 
of  flux.  Thus,  Roger  de  Montgomerie,  who  came  over  with 
the  Conqueror,  had  five  sons — Robert  de  Belesmes,  Hugh 
le  Preux  (Earl  of  Shrewsbury),  Roger  de  Poitou,  Philip  le 
Clerk,  and  Arnulph  Carew,  the  holder  of  Carew  Castle  in 
Pembrokeshire,  and  supposed  ancestor  of  the  Carews.  A 
son  was  not  justified  in  assuming  the  place-name  borne  by 
his  father  during  his  father's  life,  and  whilst  his  father  lived 
he  was  called  after  some  other  castle  or  manor  belonging  to 
his  parent.  Moreover,  only  the  eldest  son  succeeded  to  the 
parental  territorial  name.  This  has,  of  course,  led  to  con- 
siderable confusion. 

Then,  again,  the  spelling  of  names  was  not  fixed  ;  it  was 
very  arbitrary  till  several  centuries  later,  and  the  Battle 
Abbey  Roll,  from  which  copies  were  made,  was  certainly 
not  that  originally  drawn  up,  but  a  transcript  with  additions, 
and  the  copyist  made  blunders.  In  the  original,  two  names 
beginning  with  the  same  letter  were  inscribed  in  the  same 
line  ;  but  the  transcriber  copied  "  Constable  et  Tally  "  for 
"  Constable  et  Cally,"  "  Graunson  et  Tracy  "  for  "  Graun- 
son  et  Gracy." 

The  letter  u  is  often  interchanged  with  nt  and  w  with  m, 
and  the  long  s  with  /,  and  the  short  s  with  r.  The  copyist 
has  occasionally  inverted  the  order  of  the  letters. 

To  the  errors  of  the  copyist  we  must  also  add  those  of 
the  printer.  And  consequently  the  identification  of  those 
named  is  not  always  easy,  and  is  occasionally  conjectural. 

203 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Properly,  the  study  of  the  families  that  are  represented  in 
the  roll  and  in  Domesday  and  in  Wace  demand  a  much 
more  profound  and  searching  investigation  than  has  been 
given  to  the  subject,  and  much  apocryphal  matter  has  to 
be  winnowed  out.  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  done  more  in 
the  following  list  than  give  the  result  of  such  researches  as 
have  been  already  made. 

Still  there  remains  this  objection — that  Leland  did  not 
specify  the  list  he  gives  as  having  been  transcribed  by  him 
from  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey.  It  is,  however,  certain  that 
he  visited  Battle  Abbey  previous  to  its  sequestration,  for  he 
gives  a  catalogue  of  the  books  contained  in  the  library.  He 
was,  moreover,  so  accurate  and  painstaking  a  student  that 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  that  he  should  have  omitted 
to  transcribe  so  valuable  a  record  as  the  roll. 

Leland  also  gives  another  list,  "  Un  role  de  ceux  queux 
veignent  en  Angleterre  avesque  roy  William  le  Conquerour," 
containing  eighty  names,  but  this  is  simply  a  transcript 
from  the  list  in  the  "  Roman  de  Rou." 

There  were  other  lists  of  those  who  accompanied  the 
Conqueror,  but  none  are  to  be  trusted.  In  itself  the  Roll 
of  Battle  Abbey  is  discredited,  and  we  must  go  to  genuine 
documents  for  the  list  of  those  who  really  came  over  with 
William,  and  were  enfeofTed  by  him  in  England  in  reward  for 
their  services.  We  do  not  lack  these.  There  is,  above  all, 
the  Domesday  Book,  and  then  Wace's  metrical  chronicle, 
the  "  Roman  de  Rou." 

That  after  the  Conquest  many  needy  adventurers  trooped 
over  to  England,  tendering  their  services  to  William,  to 
Rums,  and  to  Henry  Beauclerk,  we  need  not  doubt,  and  the 
"Liber  Niger  Sacarii"  gives  us  a  trustworthy  list  of  all 
the  Normans  and  French  settled  in  England  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II. 

But  as  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey  is  so  often  appealed  to  as 
an  authority  for  the  antiquity  of  a  family,  it  will  be  well  to 
look  at  the  names  that  occur  in  it. 

The  Duchess  of  Cleveland  in  1889  published  in  three 
volumes  *'  The  Battle  Abbey  Roll ;  with  Some  Account  of 

204 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

the  Norman  Lineages."  The  book  must  have  had 
considerable  labour  expended  on  it.  But  it  is  not  critical. 
The  Duchess  takes  Holinshed's  list  as  a  basis  for  work, 
one  of  the  most  adulterated  of  all  copies,  and  she  lays 
some  stress  on  the  almost  worthless  "  Dives  Roll,"  as  she 
calls  it — a  list  drawn  up  by  M.  Leopold  Delisle  for  the  pur- 
pose of  glorifying  the  French  Norman  gentry,  and  of  no 
authority  whatever. 

The  roll  has  been  illustrated  by  Planche*,1  by  the  author 
of  "  The  Norman  People,"  and  by  Sir  Bernard  Burke. 

Wace  was  born  in  Jersey  about  the  year  noo.  "  His 
traditions  of  the  Conquest,  though  not  put  into  writing  till 
after  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  practically  date  from 
his  early  years — the  years  of  his  boyhood  at  Caen.  He 
indulges  in  no  rhetorical  embellishments;  in  the  historical 
parts  of  his  greatest  work  he  refuses  to  set  down  anything 
for  which  he  has  not  authority ;  and  when  his  authorities 
differ,  he  frequently  gives  two  alternative  versions  "  (D.N.B.). 

Wace  names  about  115  nobles,  but,  curiously  enough, 
omits  Richard  d'Evreux  and  his  son  William,  and  he  makes 
a  few  slips  in  the  Christian  names. 

He  does  not  profess  to  have  recorded  all  who  attended 
William  to  Hastings.  He  says : 

"  Ne  sai  nomer  toz  les  barons, 
Ne  de  tos  dire  les  sornoms, 
De  Normandie  e  de  Bretagne, 
Que  li  due  ont  en  sa  campagne." 

The  best  edition  of  Wace's  "  Roman  de  Rou  "  is  that  by 
Andreson,  Heilbronn,  1879.  The  list  begins  about  the  line 
8,440,  and  ends  8,728. 

Wace's  list  can  be  in  part  substantiated  by  Ordericus 
Vitalis  and  William  of  Poitiers — who  was  chaplain  to  the 
Conqueror  on  his  expedition  to  England,  by  William  de 
Jumieges,  in  whose  work  lib.  vii.  is  by  Robert  de  Torignie, 
and  by  others. 

1  "Companions  of  the  Conqueror,"  London,  1874;  "The  Norman 
People,"  London,  1874  ;  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  "The  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey,' 
London,  1848. 

205 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

It  is  worth  observing  how  loosely  territorial  surnames 
hung  on  the  bearers. 

Stephen  d'Aumale  was  the  son  of  Odo  de  Champagne 
and  Adelaide,  sister  of  the  Conqueror. 

Roger  de  Beaumont  is  the  same  as  Roger  de  Vielles.  He 
was  the  son  of  Humphrey  de  Vielles. 

Richard  de  Bienfaite  is  the  same  as  Richard  d'Orbec. 
His  brother  was  Baldwin  de  Meulles,  and  they  were  the 
sons  of  Gislbert  de  Brionne. 

Walter  Giffard  de  Longueville  was  the  son  of  Osbert 
de  Bolbec. 

Again,  Nicolas  de  Bacqueville  married  a  niece  of  the 
Duchess  Gunnor,  and  their  son  is  held  to  have  been  that 
William  Malet  who  appears  prominently  in  the  history  of 
the  Conqueror.  Baldwin  le  Sap  and  Baldwin  de  Meulles  is 
one  and  the  same  person. 

Robert  de  Mortain  and  Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  were 
sons  of  Herluin  de  Couteville,  who  married  Arietta,  the 
cast-off  mistress  of  Duke  Robert,  and  therefore  half-brothers 
of  the  Conqueror. 

Roger  de  Mortemer  was  the  son  of  Hugh  Aimeric  de 
Thouars. 

All  this  shows  how  very  unformed  was  the  nomencla- 
ture in  Normandy  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  It  was 
beginning  to  be  fixed,  but  beginning  only. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  names  in  Leland's  copy  of  the 
roll,  with  a  few  included  that  pertained  to  representatives 
who  were  at  Hastings  unquestionably,  but  who  were  not 
included  in  the  roll,  possibly  enough,  because  the  fee  was 
not  forthcoming,  as  later  in  the  case  of  Heralds'  Visitations, 
from  which  families  of  undoubted  antiquity  and  with  right 
to  bear  arms  were  excluded,  because  they  did  not  care  to 
pay  for  insertion. 

ADRYELLE,  not  identifiable. 

AIGUILLON  —  in  Leland,  Aungeloun  ;  an  interpolation. 
From  Aguilon  in  Guienne.  The  name  came  in  with  the 
Hundred  Years'  War. 

206 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

AIMERIS,   a    personal    name,   Amauri,   now    Emery   and 
Amory  and  Amery. 

AINCOURT — in  Leland,  Deyncourt ;  from  a  fief  in  the 
Norman  Vezin.  Walter  d'Aincourt  held  sixty  manors, 
mainly  in  Lincolnshire  (Domesday).  In  1835  a  Lincoln- 
shire gentleman  named  Tennyson  assumed  the  arms  and 
name  of  D'Eyncourt,  as  descended  in  a  zigzag  fashion 
through  a  succession  of  spindles  from  Lady  Anne  Leke, 
daughter  of  the  first  Earl  of  Scarsdale,  Baron  D'Eyncourt. 
AMAY — in  Leland,  Damay.  Not  in  Domesday,  nor  found 
before  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century.  An  interpolation. 
Now  Dames. 

ANGEVIN.  Two  brothers  appear  in  Domesday  as  estated 
in  Essex  and  Norfolk.  But  the  name  is  not  a  surname ;  it 
is  descriptive  of  the  province  whence  they  came.  The 
descendants  of  the  second  brother  called  themselves  Thorpe. 
AQUINEY — in  Leland,  Dakeny.  From  Acquigny,  near 
Louviers.  Not  in  Domesday ;  does  not  occur  in  England 
earlier  than  the  thirteenth  century.  The  origin  of  the 
names  Dakins,  Dakeyne.  But  Dakin  may  be  Davidkin. 

ARCY  —  in  Leland,  Darcy.  From  Arci  in  Normandy. 
Norman  d'Arci  held  thirty-three  manors  in  Lincoln  from 
the  Conqueror  (Domesday).  The  name  remained  as  Darcy. 
ARGENTAN  —  in  Leland,  Argenteyn.  From  a  castle  in 
Berry.  David  d'Argentun  held  lands  in  Cambridgeshire 
and  Bedfordshire  (Domesday).  Modern  surname,  Argent. 

ARUNDELL,  not  in  Leland.  In  Domesday,  Roger  Arun- 
dell  held  a  barony  of  twenty-eight  manors.  Name  not  taken 
from  Arundel  in  Sussex. 

AUBIGNY  or  DE  ALBINI,  appears  in  ^Domesday  as  holding 
a  great  barony  in  the  counties  of  Buckingham,  Leicester, 
Bedford,  and  Warwick.  Now  Albany  and  Daubeny.  Aubigny 
is  near  Periers,  in  the  Cotentin. 

AUDEL — an  interpolation.  It  is  Audley,  the  name  of  a 
manor  in  Staffordshire.  In  Domesday,  Aldidelege. 

AUMALE — in  Leland,  Aumerill.  This  became  in  England 
Albemarle.  From  Aumale,  on  the  River  Bresle,  at  the  point 
where  it  divides  Normandy  from  Picardy.  The  Sire  d'Aumale 

207 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

fought  at  the  Conqueror's  side.   He  married  William's  sister, 
Adeliza. 

AUNAY,  not  in  Leland  —  which  is  strange,  as  the  Sire 
d'Alneto  was  certainly  at  Hastings.  He  was  one  of  the 
five  knights  who  challenged  Harold  to  come  forth.  The 
name  is  from  Aunou-le-Faucon,  near  Argenton.  The  name 
Dawnay  is  that  of  Viscount  Downe. 

AVENEL,  occurs  twice  in  Leland.  The  name  is  also  in 
Wace.  The  Avenels  were  Lords  of  Les  Biards,  in  the 
arrondissement  of  Mortain. 

AVESNES — in  Leland,  Aveneries.  From  a  place  of  that 
name  in  Normandy. 

AVRANCHES — in  Leland,  Davrenches.  The  family  bore 
the  surname  of  Le  Gotz,  Goes,  or  Goz.  Richard  Le  Gotz 
married  Emma,  daughter  of  Arietta  the  washerwoman, 
mother  of  the  Conqueror.  His  son  Lupus  went  over  with 
William,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Chester. 

BALADON — in  Leland,  Bealun.  From  a  place  of  the  name 
in  Normandy.  Three  of  the  Baladons  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror.  One  was  given  large  estates  in  Cornwall  and 
Wales.  The  name  survives  as  Bayldon. 

BALDWIN,  twice  in  Leland  —  as  Baudewyn  and  Baudyn. 
Baldwin  the  Sheriff  was  largely  rewarded  by  the  Conqueror 
for  his  assistance.  The  name  is  personal. 

BALIOL — in  Leland,  Bailoff.  Perhaps  from  Bailleul,  near 
Argenton. 

BANISTER,  from  Banastree — now  Beneter,  near  Estampes. 
Robert  Banastre,  who  came  over  with  William,  held 
Prestatyn  in  Flintshire  under  Robert  de  Ruelent. 

BARBE  D'OR,  probably  the  Hugo  Barbatus  of  Domesday. 
A  descriptive  name  and  not  a  surname. 

BARDOLF,  a  personal  name. 

BARNEVALE,  from  a  castle  near  Carteret.  The  family 
settled  in  the  Scottish  Lowlands  and  in  Ireland. 

BARRY,  in  Leland  as  Barry  and  Barray.  From  de  Barre, 
in  the  Cotentin,  possibly.  But  probably  an  interpolation, 
named  later  from  Barrey  Isle,  near  Cardiff.  But  perhaps  a 
mistake  for  Barrett,  which  is  a  name  found  in  Domesday. 

208 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

BASSET,  an  interpolation.  Ordericus  Vitalis  says  of  Ralph 
Basset,  Justiciary  under  Henry  I. :  "  He  was  issued  from 
an  ignoble  stock,  and  was  accorded  great  power  over  both 
nobles  and  citizens."  The  Justiciary,  in  fact,  made  the 
family,  and  the  insertion  in  the  Battle  Roll  was  paid  for. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Bassets  of  Cornwall  derive 
from  the  Justiciary,  but  that  there  was  such  descent  is  most 
probable. 

BAVENT,  from  a  place  of  that  name  on  the  Dive,  near 
Varaville.  Bavent  held  a  knight's  fee,  under  William  d'Albini, 
in  Norfolk. 

BASKERVILLE.  Martels  de  Basqueville  was  in  the  Battle 
of  Hastings,  yet  the  name  does  not  occur  in  Domesday. 
Possibly  he  may  have  fallen  in  the  battle.  "At  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  there  were  Baskervilles  in  Here- 
fordshire, Nottinghamshire,  and  Shropshire;  in  Warwick- 
shire, Norfolk,  Buckinghamshire,  Wiltshire,  and  possibly 
other  counties"  (Eyton,  "Shropshire.").  The  most  eminent 
branch  was  that  of  Eardesley.  One  single  branch  is  now 
represented  in  the  male  line,  and  that  has  changed  its  name 
to  Glegg.  There  are  two  others,  but  through  the  spindle, 
who  have  assumed  the  name  of  Baskerville.  It  is  not 
uncommon  among  the  peasantry  of  Devon. 

BASTARD,  not  in  Leland.  Robert  the  Bastard  was  an 
illegitimate  son  of  the  Conqueror,  and  received  from  his 
father  a  barony  in  Devonshire.  The  family  is  still  repre- 
sented there. 

BAYEUX,  in  Leland,  Baius.  Backwell  -  Bayouse  in 
Somerset  takes  the  name  from  this  family.  The  name  has 
been  corrupted  into  Beyouse,  Bayes>  and  Bewes,  if  not  for  Bevis. 

BEACHAMP.  In  Domesday,  Belchamp  held  a  large  barony 
in  Hertfordshire,  Buckinghamshire,  and  Bedfordshire.  Not 
a  single  male  representative  remains  of  this  historic  house. 
Earl  Beauchamp's  family  name  is  now  Lygon,  but  that  is 
an  assumption  for  Pyndar. 

BEAUFORD,  de  Bello  Fago.  The  name  comes  from 
Beaufer,  near  Pont  1'Eveque.  In  Leland,  corrupted  to 
Bifford.  Robert  le  Sire  de  Belfore  is  in  Wace's  list. 

209  o 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

William  de  Beaufoi  held  many  manors  in  Norfolk  (Domes- 
day). But  Byford  may  stand  for  By-the-Ford. 

BEAUMONT.  Roger  de  Vielles  was  also  called  de  Beaumont. 
He  was  lord  of  Belmont-le-Rogier.  He  furnished  the  Con- 
queror with  sixty  vessels,  and  fought  at  Hastings,  as  did  also 
his  son.  He  received  a  great  barony  of  ninety  manors  in 
Warwickshire,  Leicestershire,  Wiltshire,  and  Northampton- 
shire. 

BECARD,  not  found  earlier  than  1202 ;  probably  an 
interpolation. 

BELLEW,  from  Belleau  or  Bella  Aqua  in  Normandy. 
Not  in  Domesday  or  in  Wace.  First  heard  of  in  the 
twelfth  century.  An  interpolation.  Fellow  and  Pellew  are 
corruptions. 

BELVILLE,  from  a  place  of  that  name,  near  Dieppe. 
Jean  de  Belleville  took  part  in  the  Third  Crusade.  This  old 
Norman  house  is  now  represented  by  the  Marquis  de 
Belleville.  Nicholas  de  Belville  held  lands  in  Devon  (Testa 
de  Nevill),  and  the  family  is  still  represented  there  as 
Belfield. 

BERNEVILLE,  in  Domesday,  Berneville;  a  Baron.  It  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  distinguish  Berneville  from 
Barneville.  Some  Barnfields  derive  hence. 

BENNY,  from  Beaunai,  a  fief  in  Normandy. 

BERTIN,  not  in  Domesday  or  Wace.  Not  heard  of  till 
the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  An  interpolation. 

BERTRAM,  the  Hunchback,  is  mentioned  by  Wace.  "A 
younger  branch,  from  whom  came  the  Mitfords,  formed 
establishments,  though  not  of  much  account,  in  England, 
and  it  is  probably  descended  from  William  (younger  brother 
of  the  Crookback),  or  from  another  William  who  stands  in 
Domesday  as  a  small  holder  in  Hampshire"  (I.Taylor). 
Nothing  can  really  be  concluded  as  to  the  connection  of  the 
Mitfords  with  the  Bertram  of  the  Conquest,  as  Bertram  is  a 
personal  name  and  not  a  surname. 

BEYERS.  Hugh  de  Beverde  was  an  under-tenant  in  Suffolk 
(Domesday),  but  the  name  meant  is  almost  certainly 
Bouvery,  from  La  Beuviere,  near  Bethune.  Drogo  de  la 
Boveres  was  married  to  a  cousin  of  the  Conqueror,  and 

210 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

received  the  whole  of  Holderness,  eighty-seven  manors,  and 
twenty-four  in  Lincolnshire. 

BIARD,  a  seigneurie  of  the  Avenells. 

BIGOT  or  WIGOT.  "  He  served  the  Duke  in  his  house  as 
one  of  his  Seneschals,  which  office  he  held  in  fee.  He  had 
with  him  a  large  troop,  and  was  a  noble  vassal.  He  was 
small  of  body,  but  very  brave  and  bold,  and  assailed 
the  English  with  great  gallantry."  Robert  Bigot  was 
apparently  the  first  of  his  name ;  his  father  was  Roger.  But 
Wace  says:  "L'anceste  Hue  le  Bigot  qui  avait  terre  a 
Maletot."  It  has  been  said  that  he  took  his  nickname  from 
the  oath  he  had  frequently  in  his  mouth,  "By  God!"  but 
it  is  possible  that  he  was  a  Bigaud,  of  the  neighbourhood  of 
Quimper.  He  held  117  manors  in  Suffolk,  besides  other 
lands  in  Norfolk  and  Essex  (Domesday). 

BIRON,  from  Beuron,  near  Mantes.  Erneis  de  Buron 
appears  in  Domesday  as  a  great  landholder  in  Yorkshire. 
Ancestor  of  the  Byrons. 

BLUETT.  This  family  gave  its  name  to  Brineville-la- 
Bluette  in  Normandy.  The  Bluetts  long  resided  in 
Devonshire. 

BLEYN,  or  DE  BLOIN,  held  five  manors  in  Cornwall 
(Domesday).  Name  now,  Elaine  and  Bloyne. 

BLOUNT  or  BLUNT,  descriptive,  le  Blond,  the  fair-haired. 
Two  named  in  Domesday,  sons  of  the  Sieur  de  Guisnes. 

BLONDELL  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror.  The 
name  is  descriptive  and  diminutive — "the  little  fair-haired 
fellow."  The  family  was  long  estated  in  Lancashire,  but, 
being  Roman  Catholic,  was  cruelly  oppressed  and  robbed  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Blundell,  a  merchant,  founded  a 
school  at  Tiverton. 

BODIN,  in  Leland,  Biden  ;  held  a  large  estate  in  York- 
shire (Domesday). 

BOHUN,  in  Leland,  Boown.  Two  villages  near  Carentan  are 
St.  Georges  and  St.  Andre-de-Bohun.  Humphrey  de  Bohun 
received  the  Manor  of  Talesford  in  Norfolk  (Domesday). 
The  Bohuns  acquired  the  earldoms  of  Hereford,  Essex,  and 
Northampton.  The  name  is  still  extant  as  Bone  and  Boone. 

211  o  2 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Bois  or  Du  Bois.  There  were  five  families  that  bore  the 
name.  Boys  is  still  found  as  a  surname. 

BENETT,  a  personal  name. 

BONVILLE,  from  the  castle  of  Bonneville  in  Normandy. 
Leland  gives  Bondeville.  The  family  became  great.  Sir 
William  was  created  Lord  Bonville  in  1466.  "  He  and  his 
house  perished  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  Within  the  space 
of  less  that  two  months  the  last  male  heirs  were  swept 
away.  His  son  and  grandson  were  killed  in  the  Battle  of 
Wakefield,  1460,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  and  his  own 
grey  head  fell  on  the  scaffold  in  the  ensuing  February.  One 
little  great-granddaughter,  a  child  of  two  years  old,  remained 
as  representative  of  the  family.  She  married  Thomas  Grey, 
Marquess  of  Dorset,  and  was  the  great-grandmother  of  Lady 
Jane  Grey." 

BOSKERVILLE,  from  Boscherville,  between  Pont-Audemer 
and  Honfleur.  Not  in  Domesday  or  Wace,  but  probably 
came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  as  the  name  occurs  early  in 
the  twelfth  century. 

BOTELER.  The  name  is  entered  thrice  in  Domesday.  It 
by  no  means  follows  that  every  Butler  is  a  descendant  of  Hugo 
Pincernus,  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  as  every 
nobleman,  as  well  as  William  I.,  kept  his  butler. 

BOURNAVILLE,  in  Leland,  Bromevile.  William  de  Bourna- 
ville  held  lands  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  (Domesday). 

BOUTEVILAIN.  He  was  at  Hastings.    He  is  named  by  Wace. 

BOYVILLE,  from  Beuville,  near  Caen.  Two  of  the  nameoccur 
in  Domesday,  in  Herefordshire  and  Suffolk.  Hence  Bevill. 

BRABAZON,  in  Leland,  Brabasoun ;  a  Brabant  family 
Jacques  Brabancon  followed  the  Conqueror,  and  was  given 
lands  at  Betchworth,  in  Surrey ;  but  the  family  reached 
distinction  in  Ireland,  where  it  is  still  represented. 

BRACY.  William  de  Braceio  appears  in  a  charter  of  1080 
as  holding  Wistaton  in  Cheshire.  The  name  became  Brescie. 
Lord  Brassey  might  suppose  that  he  derives  from  the  Sieur 
de  Bra$y.  Possibly  Samson  and  Sally  Brass  may  have  done 
the  same. 

BRAUND.  William  Brant  was  an  under-tenant  in  Norfolk 

212 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

(Domesday).  No  evidence  that  Brand  or  Braund  was  not  a 
Saxon. 

BRAY  does  not  occur  in  Domesday,  but  the  men  of  Bray 
marched  with  the  Conqueror.  They  came  from  Bray,  near 
Evreux.  No  Sieur  de  Bray  is  mentioned.  Bray  is  not 
uncommon  as  a  surname  in  Cornwall,  possibly  descendants 
of  some  of  these  "  men  of  Bray." 

BRETTEVILLE  is  given  twice  by  Leland.  It  stands  for 
Breteville,  a  barony  near  Caen.  Gilbert  de  Bretteville  was 
a  Domesday  Baron,  holding  lands  in  Hampshire,  Wiltshire, 
Oxfordshire,  and  Berkshire. 

BREBCEUF,  in  Leland,  Baybot ;  appears  in  Domesday  as 
holding  Watringbury,  in  Kent. 

BRETON.  No  less  than  nine  Bretons  appear  in  Domesday. 
Not  a  surname,  but  a  designation  of  sundry  Breton  adven- 
turers who  followed  Alan  Fergeant.  The  name  is  still  found, 
also  as  Brett. 

BRIANCON — in  Leland,  Briansoun.  None  from  Brian9on 
in  Dauphiny  can  have  been  with  William  at  the  Conquest, 
and  the  name  does  not  occur  in  England  till  1189.  Possibly 
the  roll  may  have  meant  the  son  of  de  Brionne. 

BRICOURT  or  BRIENCOURT.  The  name  does  not  occur  in 
England  till  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  Wace  mentions  "those 
of  Briencourt." 

BRIONNE,  in  Leland,  Brian.  Baldum  de  Brionne  was 
Viscount  of  Devon  in  the  Conqueror's  time,  and  Wido  de 
Brionne  acquired  a  seigneury  in  Wales.  Hence  the  Bryans 
and  Briants  in  England. 

BROWNE,  in  Leland,  Boroun ;  in  interpolation. 

BROY.  From  Broyes,  in  the  Pays  de  Brie.  Apparently 
the  same  as  Bardolf,  who  is  said  to  have  been  grandson  of 
Renart,  Sieur  de  Broyes. 

BRUYS.  Leland  gives  his  name  twice — once,  as  we  suppose, 
for  Braosse,  and  the  other  for  Brix.  William  de  Braosse 
was  one  of  the  most  powerful  Barons  following  the  Con- 
queror, and  was  by  him  richly  rewarded. 

BRUYS  for  Brix  or  Bruce.  Named  from  the  castle  of 
Bruys,  now  Brix,  near  Cherbourg.  Robert  de  Bruys  held  a 

213 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

barony  of  ninety-four  manors  in  Yorkshire  (Domesday). 
He  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Scottish  Bruces. 

BURDON,  a  name  found  shortly  after  the  Conquest,  in 
Durham.  But  "burdon  "  signifies  a  pilgrim's  staff,  and  there 
may  have  been  many  Burdens  throughout  the  county. 

BURGH.  Serlo  de  Burgh  came  over  with  the  Conqueror, 
but  left  no  issue.  His  nephew  succeeded.  An  apocryphal 
pedigree  of  the  de  Burghs  appeared  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  giving  the  family  an  imperial  Carlovingian  descent. 
It  has  not  a  shadow  of  foundation.  The  family  has  become 
Burke  in  Ireland. 

Some  surprising  omissions — as  Bee,  Belvoir,  and  Bagott; 
but  these  two  last  come  in  under  Todeni,  as  we  shall  see 
later  on.  There  are  some — not  many,  and  perhaps  not  of 
much  importance — named  by  Wace  that  do  not  occur  in 
Leland's  copy  of  the  roll. 

CAILLEY.  This  is  printed  in  the  old  edition  of  Leland 
"  Constable  et  Tally,"  where  the  second  name  should  begin 
with  C.  We  may,  I  think,  equate  this  with  Quilly  or 
Cuilly,  near  Falaise,  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  the  Burdetts. 
In  fact,  Robert  Bordett,  or  Burdett,  who  came  to  England 
at  the  Conquest,  was  Sieur  de  Cailly.  The  surname  in  time 
degenerated  into  Cully. 

CAMEVILLE  or  CAMPVILLE.  From  a  place  near  Coutance. 
Richard  de  Camville,  surnamed  Poignant  (the  fighter),  had 
a  barony  in  Oxfordshire,  and  his  brother  William  held 
Godington  under  the  King  (Domesday). 

CAMOYS,  not  known  anything  of  before  the  reign  of  King 
John ;  an  interpolation. 

CANTELOUP,  in  Leland,  Canntilow :  from  Chanteloup, 
near  Cherbourg.  Not  mentioned  in  Domesday  or  by  Wace. 
But  the  name  occurs  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  when  one  Ralph 
de  Canteloup  held  two  knights^fees  under  William  de  Romara. 

CHALLONS,  not  in  Wace  or  Domesday,  but  it  may  stand 
for  Calna  or  Chawn,  a  name  that  occurs,  not  at  the  time  of 
the  Conquest,  but  in  1200. 

CHALLYS,  for  Schalliers  or  Escaliers ;  an  interpolation. 
The  name  is  not  found  in  Normandy  till  the  reign  of  Philip 
Augustus.  However,  as  Scales  it  became  important  in 

214 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

England,  but  can  have  been  introduced  only  during  the 
English  occupation  of  Guienne.  Besides  the  form  Scales, 
the  name  remains  as  Challys  and  Challis.  A  professor  of 
astronomy  at  Cambridge  bore  that  name  ;  so  did  a  gardener 
of  mine.1 

CHAMBERLAIN.  An  official  title  and  not  at  the  time  a 
surname. 

CHAMPERNOWN.  De  Campo  Arnulphi.  A  knightly  family 
of  great  possessions  in  Devonshire.  The  present  Champer- 
nownes  are  really  Harringtons. 

CHAMPNEY.  From  Champigny,  in  Normandy.  Not  found 
in  Domesday  or  in  Wace ;  nor  is  the  name  found  earlier 
than  1165. 

CHANCEUX.  Perhaps  from  St.  Quesney,  near  St.  Saens. 
In  Wace  we  have  Cahagnes ;  either  a  place  of  that  name 
in  the  arrondissement  of  Vire,  or  another  of  the  same  name 
in  that  of  the  Andelys.  The  name  has  gone  through  many 
changes,  as  Keynes,  Chesney,  Cheyney. 

CHANDUIT.  Ralph  de  Chenduit  or  Chanuit  held  lands 
afterwards  included  in  the  barony  of  Chenduit. 

CHANDOS — in  Leland,  Chaundoys.  Robert  de  Candos 
was  a  companion-in-arms  of  the  Conqueror,  and  he  won 
with  his  sword  a  large  domain  in  Wales. 

CHAMBERAY — in  Leland,  Combrai  or  Coubrai.  Combrai 
is  near  Falaise.  The  Sire  de  Combrai,  according  to  Wace, 
was  one  of  the  knights  who  challenged  King  Harold  to 
come  forth.  Godfrey  de  Combrai  held  lands  in  capite  in 
Leicestershire  (Domesday). 

CHAPES,  from  Chappes,  in  Normandy.  Osbern  de  Capis 
is  mentioned  in  1079  by  Ordericus,  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  was  in  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  Hence  Capes. 

CHARTRES.  Ralph  Carnotensis,  or  de  Chartres,  held 
estates  in  Leicestershire  (Domesday).  The  name  is  found 
in  Scotland  as  Charteris.  It  is  found  also  as  Chayter. 

CHAUMONT,  not  in  Wace  or  Domesday,  but  early  seated 
in  Cornwall.  The  name  became  diamond. 

CHAUNEY,  from  Canci,  near  Amiens ;  not  in  Domesday. 
Now  Chownes  and  Chowen,  the  name  of  my  land  agent. 

1  Challis  may  also  come  from  Calais,  and  also  from  a  chalice-maker. 

215 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

CHAVENT,  not  identified.  First  comes  into  notice  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  I. 

CHAWORTH  is  supposed  to  come  from  Cadurcis  (Cahors), 
in  the  South  of  France.  Peter  de  Cadurcis  was  seated  in 
Gloucestershire  towards  the  end  of  the  Conqueror's  reign. 
He  must  have  been  a  soldier  of  fortune.  Leland  gives  the 
name  Chaward. 

CHENIL,  from  Quesnel  in  Normandy.  Not  met  with 
in  England  before  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  Probably  an 
interpolation. 

CHERCOURT  or  CHEVRCOURT.  Thorold  of  Chavercourt  was 
enfeoffed  of  Wyforaby  in  Leicester,  and  Carleton  in  Notts, 
in  1085. 

CLARELL,  not  found  till  the  thirteenth  century ;  probably 
an  interpolation. 

CLAIRVALS,  from  a  castle  in  Anjou.  Hamon  de  Clairvaux 
is  said  to  have  come  over  to  England  in  the  train  of  Alan  of 
Brittany,  but  evidence  for  the  assertion  lacks.  Croft,  near 
Darlington,  was  the  seat  of  the  family  for  about  350  years. 
"  A  humble  race  of  cadets  occurs  at  Darlington  long  after 
the  broad  lands  of  their  parent  tree  passed  into  another  name, 
and  they  seem  to  have  gradually  sunk  into  utter  pauperism. 
The  pedigree  will  show  these  to  have  been  nearly  related  to 
the  main  branch,  as  the  Chayters  had  to  buy  out  any  claim 
they  had  on  Clerveaux  Castle  "  (Longstaffe,  "  Darlington  "). 
COIGNIERS,  the  ancestor  of  the  Conyers  family,  long 
seated  in  Yorkshire.  Wace  mentions  the  Sire  de  Coignieres 
as  one  of  those  who  attended  the  Conqueror  in  the  invasion 
of  England. 

COLEVILLE.  William  de  Colville  held  lands  in  Yorkshire 
(Domesday).  A  descendant  of  that  most  furious  knight  and 
valorous  enemy,  "Sir  John  Coleville  of  the  Dale,"  is  intro- 
duced by  Shakespeare  as  taken  prisoner  by  Falstaff 
(Henry  IV.,  Part  II.,  IV.  HI.). 

COLOMBIERS,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Bayeux. 
William  de  Colombiers  is  mentioned  by  Wace.  Ralph  de 
Colombiers,  or  Colombers,  in  Domesday,  held  lands  in  Kent 
and  elsewhere  in  capite.  The  name  remains  as  Columbell 
and  Columb. 

216 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

COMINES,  from  Comines  in  Flanders.  Robert  de  Comines 
was  created  Earl  of  Northumberland  by  the  Conqueror,  but 
on  account  of  his  insolence  and  violence,  was  killed  by  the 
people  of  Durham  in  1069.  He  must,  however,  have  left 
kinsmen  in  the  North,  for  the  name  was  continued  as 
historical  in  Scotland;  but  forms  of  it  are  found  in  all 
parts  of  England,  as  Comings,  Cummins,  Cooming,  Comyns. 

CORBETT,  spoken  of  by  Ordericus  as  "  the  faithful  and 
very  valiant  men,"  i.e.,  Corbett  and  his  two  sons,  who  were 
employed  by  Roger  de  Montgomerie  in  the  government  of 
his  new  earldom  of  Shrewsbury. 

CORBYN— in  Leland's  list,  "  Corby  et  Corbet."  Four  of 
the  names  are  entered  in  Domesday,  all  of  them  under- 
tenants. 

COUBRAY.  Coubray  is  near  Thury  Harcourt.  Wace 
mentions  the  Sire  de  Coubrai. 

COURSON,  a  branch  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  (Domesday). 
Now  Cur z on. 

COURTENAY,  an  interpolation.  Reginald  de  Courtenay 
did  not  come  to  England  till  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  in 
consequence  of  his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Robert 
d'Avranches,  Viscount  of  Devon. 

COURTEVILLE. 

CREVECCEUR,  from  a  place  near  Lisieux.  The  Sire  de 
Crevecoeur  is  mentioned  in  the  "  Roman  de  Rou." 

CRESSY — in  Leland,  Crescy;  a  seigneury  between  Dieppe 
and  Rouen.  No  trace  of  the  family  till  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century.  Now  Creasy. 

CRIQUET — in  Leland  as  Griketot.  Ansgar  de  Criquetot 
held  lands  in  Suffolk  from  Mandeville  in  1086.  Criquetot 
has  become  Cricket  and  Crytoft. 

DABERNON.  From  Abernon,  near  Lisieux.  A  subtenant 
of  Richard  de  Clare  in  Suffolk  and  Surrey  ;  he  received  the 
Manor  of  Stoke  in  the  latter  county. 

DAMOT,  actually  D'Amiot.  The  name  of  Damote  occurs 
in  Oxfordshire  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 

DAUBENY.  The  descendants  of  Robert  de  Toeni  bore 
this  name.  The  son  of  Robert  assumed  the  name  of 

217 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

De  Albini,  and  was  styled  "  Brito  "  to  distinguish  him  from 
the  Albini,  the  pincerna,  Earl  of  Arundel. 

DARELL,  from  Arel,  on  the  River  Vire ;  obtained  lands  in 
Yorkshire. 

DAUTRE,  as  abbreviation  of  De  Haute  Rive  or  De  Alta 
Ripa ;  from  Haute  Rive  in  Normandy.  Very  doubtful  if  a 
De  Haute  Rive  attended  the  Conqueror.  Not  named  in 
Domesday.  Now  Dawtrey. 

DE  LA  HAY,  named  by  Wace.  Niel,  son  of  Humphry  de 
la  Haye,  is  named  in  a  deed  of  1060.  From  La  Haye-du- 
Puits,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Coutance.  Hence  the  family 
name  of  Hay  and  Haye. 

DE  LA  HUSEE,  from  Le  Houssel,  north  of  Rouen.  In 
Domesday  William  Husee  or  Hisatus  held  Charecomb  in 
Somersetshire  ;  of  Bath  Abbey,  as  well  as  other  manors  in 
the  county.  Hence  Hussey. 

DE  LA  LANDE.  William  Patric  is  twice  mentioned  by 
Wace.  La  Lande  Patric  is  in  the  arrondissement  of  Dom- 
front.  Leland  gives  the  name  twice.  Leland's  name  is 
derived  from  this  family. 

DE  LA  MARCHE.  The  name  first  appears  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

DE  LA  MARE,  from  the  fief  of  La  Mare,  in  Autretot, 
Normandy.  The  lake  is  still  called  Grande-mare.  Four  of 
the  sons  of  Norman  de  la  Mare  came  to  England.  William 
FitzNorman  held  of  the  King  in  chief  in  Gloucester  and 
Hereford.  The  name  has  become  Delaware,  Delamore,  and 
Delmar. 

DE  LA  POLE,  an  interpolation.  The  first  of  the  name 
known  was  William  de  la  Pole,  a  merchant  of  Hull  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.,  whose  son  Nicholas  also  was  a 
merchant,  and  was  the  father  of  Michael,  created  Earl  of 
Suffolk  by  Richard  II. 

DE  LA  VALET,  from  Lanvalle,  opposite  Dinan.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  William  de  Lanvallee 
held  a  barony  in  Essex. 

DE  LA  WARDE,  or  LAVARDE.  Ingelram  de  Warde  is  men- 
tioned in  Northamptonshire  in  1130  ;  but  Ward  or  Guard 

218 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

are   names   descriptive  of  office.     Leland  gives   the  name 
again  as  Warde. 

DE  L'ISLE,  from  Lisle  in  Normandy.  Humphry  de  Pile 
held  twenty-seven  manors  in  Wiltshire  (Domesday).  Hence 
the  name  Lisle,  Lesley,  and  Lilly. 

DENNIS  or  DACUS  (the  Dane).  Not  certain,  not  even 
probable,  that  one  came  over  with  the  Conqueror.  An 
interpolation. 

D'EVREUX — in  Leland,  Deveroys.  Richard,  Count  of 
Evreux  and  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  son  of  Richard  I.  of 
Normandy  and  his  mistress,  the  washerwoman  Arietta,  had 
by  a  concubine  three  sons — Richard,  Count  of  Evreux : 
Ralph,  Sieur  de  Gaci,  whose  son  Robert  died  without  issue ; 
and  William  d'Evreux.  The  eldest  of  these  brothers, 
Richard,  and  his  son  William  fought  by  the  Conqueror's 
side  at  Hastings.  He  died  the  following  year,  and  William 
appears  in  Domesday  as  holding  a  great  barony  in  Hamp- 
shire, Berkshire,  and  Oxfordshire.  The  name  remains  as 
Devereux. 

DE  LA  VACHE — in  Leland,  De  Wake ;  not  encountered 
earlier  than  1272.  An  interpolation. 

DE  VAUX,  de  Vallibus.  Two  brothers,  Robert  and  Aitard 
de  Vaux,  appear  in  Domesday  as  holding  lands  in  Norfolk. 
The  name  remains  as  Vaux.  The  title  of  Lord  Vaux  is  held 
by  a  Mostyn. 

DAVERANGES  is  a  duplicate  for  D'Avranches. 

DAYVILLE,  repeated  as  Deville ;  from  Daiville  in  Nor- 
mandy. Walter  de  Daiville  accompanied  the  Conqueror, 
and  had  grants  from  Roger  de  Musbray,  in  Yorkshire,  with 
the  title  of  Seneschal.  The  name  remains,  but  as  Deville 
has  an  unpleasing  signification  ;  it  has  been  altered  to 
Eville. 

DEVERELL,  for  D'Evrolles.  Name  found  in  Sussex  in 
1165.  The  Deverells  became  a  Wiltshire  family. 

DISART.  The  name  we  meet  with  as  Izzard.  No  earlier 
settler  ot  the  name  is  met  with  than  the  time  of  Henry  I. 
(1114-15).  The  Scottish  Dysart  is  from  a  different  origin. 

DISNEY  or  D'ISENEY,  from  Isigny,  near  Bayeux.  The 
name  is  still  extant. 

219 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

DISPENSER,  a  title  of  office  as  a  steward,  whence  Spenser, 
Spencer. 

DORENY,  perhaps  for  D'Orenge. 

DOYNELL,  not  in  Domesday,  but  found  in  Essex  forty  or 
fifty  years  after  the  Conquest. 

DRUELL  or  DE  RUELLES,  from  Ruelles,  near  Vernon,  in 
Normandy.  Does  not  occur  in  England  before  1130. 

DUYLY  or  D'OYLEY,  from  Ouilly-le-Basset,  in  the  arron- 
dissement  of  Falaise.  They  were  a  branch  of  the  Bassets. 
Robert  D'Oily  became  through  the  Conqueror's  favour  one 
of  the  most  potent  Barons  in  the  country.  He  was  made 
Baron  of  Oxford,  where  he  built  the  castle.  A  John  D'Oyley 
was  created  a  baronet  in  1821,  but  left  no  issue  male.  Hence 
the  name  Doyle. 

DURANT,  not  a  surname,  but  a  personal  name,  that  occurs 
frequently  in  Domesday. 

ESTOTEVILLE.  This  is  given  twice  in  Leland — in  the 
second  place  as  Soucheville.  Wace  mentions  the  name  as 
Esteville.  The  man  who  accompanied  the  Conqueror  was 
Front-de-Boeuf,  who  was  Sire  d'Estoville  according  to  some 
authorities.  There  are  two  places  in  Normandy  that  bear 
the  name.  The  name  does  not  appear  in  Domesday. 

ESTRANGER,  probably  of  Breton  origin.  The  name 
occurs  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The  name  is  still  in 
England  as  L' Estrange,  also  as  Stranger,  which  is  that  of  a 
draper  in  Tavistock. 

ESTOURNAY.  Richard   and   Ralph    came   over   with   the 
Conqueror,  and  were  given  lands  in  Hampshire,  Wilts,  and 
Surrey.     The  name  became  Stormey,  Sturmer,  and  Sturmyn. 
EUSTACE  stands  for  Eustace,  a  personal  name  ;  and  Fitz 
Eustace  also  occurs  ;  now  Stacy. 

FANCOURT,  printed  Fovecourt,  from  a  place  near  Beauvais. 
Not  in  Domesday,  but  occurs  early.  Spelt  also  Vancort 
and  Pencourt. 

FERRERS,  from  Ferrieres  St.  Hilaire,  near  Bernai. 
William  and  Henry,  sons  of  Walkelin  de  Ferrieres,  were 
with  William  ;  also  another  of  the  name  Hermerus. 
William  and  Hermerus  are  among  the  Domesday  Barons. 

220 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

FINERE — in  Leland,  Feniers.  Not  mentioned  in  Domes- 
day or  by  Wace,  and  first  comes  into  notice  much  later 
than  the  Conquest.  Hence  the  Finmore,  Filmer,  and 
Phillimore  names. 

FERMBAUD,  not  named  elsewhere  till  much  later,  in  Bed- 
fordshire. 

FICHENT  for  Fecamp.  Remigius,  chaplain  of  Fecamp,  "  a 
man  of  small  stature,  but  of  lofty  soul,"  was  the  first 
Norman  ever  appointed  to  an  English  see,  and  became 
Bishop  of  Dorchester  in  1067.  He  translated  the  see  to 
Lincoln.  Some  of  his  needy  relatives  probably  came  over, 
for  we  find  the  name  among  landowners  later  ;  or,  what  is  as 
likely,  there  were  other  natives  of  Fecamp  settled  here,  who 
were  called  after  the  place  whence  they  came. 

FIENNES — in  Leland,  Fenes;  a  baronial  family  from 
Fiennes,  in  the  county  of  Guines.  The  family  was  seated 
in  Kent  at  an  early  date,  and  held  the  office  of  hereditary 
castellans  of  Dover. 

FILLIOL.  Ralph  de  Filliol  was  one  of  the  benefactors  of 
Battle  Abbey.  The  name  signifies  "little  son"  or  "god- 
son," but  whose  godson  he  was  is  not  known. 

FITZALAN,  FixzBRiAN,  etc.  As  these  names  are  patro- 
nymic, and  did  not  necessarily  pass  into  surnames,  we  may 
pass  them  over. 

FOLLEVILLE,  from  the  name  of  a  place  in  Picardy.  The 
family  was  seated  in  Leicestershire  in  the  reign  of  King 
Stephen.  Probably  Folev  and  Folly  come  from  that  name. 
The  ancestor  of  Lord  Foley  was  but  a  common  workman, 
yet  he  may  have  been  descended  from  the  Sieur  de  Folleville. 

FRESSEL,  a  family  of  Touraine.  Simon  Fressel  came  to 
England  with  the  Conqueror,  He  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Scottish  Frazer  family. 

FREYVILLE,  held  land  in  Cambridgeshire.  Sir  Anselm  de 
Fraeville,  son  of  the  De  Freyville  who  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror,  was  a  benefactor  to  Battle  Abbey.  His  son 
Roger  took  a  fancy  to  a  dog,  and  the  father  gave  him  the  dog 
on  condition  that  he  agreed  to  surrender  an  acre  of  meadow- 
land  to  the  abbey. 

221 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

FRISSON.  This  name  implies  no  more  than  that  a  Frisian 
adventurer  shared  in  the  exploit  of  the  Conqueror.  From  it 
comes  the  name  Prize,  the  name  of  a  shoemaker  and  post- 
man at  Lew  Down. 

FURNEAUX,  from  a  place  of  the  name  near  Coutance. 
Odo  de  Furnell  held  lands  in  Somerset  (Domesday). 

FURNIVEL,  an  interpolation.  The  first  of  the  name  in 
England  was  Gerard  de  Furnival,  who  went  to  the  Holy 
Land  with  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion. 

GALOFER.  William  Gulafre  had  great  estates  in  Suffolk 
(Domesday).  Hence  Guliver. 

GARRE.    Probably  the  same  as  De  la  War. 

GAUSY,  from  Gau9y,  near  L'Aigle,  in  Normandy.  The 
Gausy  barony  was  created  in  Northumberland.  The  name 
has  become  Gaze. 

GAUNT,  from  Ghent,  but  perhaps  a  misprint  for  Graunt. 

GERNOUN.  Robert  Guernon  held  a  great  barony  in  Essex 
(Domesday). 

GIFFARD.  Three  brothers  of  this  name  are  entered  as 
holding  baronies  in  England  after  the  Conquest.  They 
were  the  sons  of  Osbern,  Baron  of  Bolbec. 

GLANCOURT,  not  in  Wace  or  Domesday.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, Grancourt,  which  does  appear  in  the  Survey. 

GOBAUD,  not  in  Domesday,  but  the  name  occurs  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  I.,  in  which  a  Robert  FitzGubold  is  named. 

GORGES,  from  Gaurges,  in  the  Cotentin.  The  family 
became  famous,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  repre- 
sented at  the  Conquest. 

GOWER.  This  is  very  suspicious.  It  seems  to  be  taken 
from  the  district  of  Gower  in  South  Wales.  Gower  occurs 
in  the  "  Annales  Cambriae  "  under  date  954,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  the  "  Book  of  Llan  Dav"  in  1150. 

GILEBOT,  from  Quillebceuf  in  Normandy.  The  family 
won  lands  in  Brecon,  but  ruined  itself  by  extravagance. 
The  name  became  Walbeoffe,  and  still  more  recently  Gilby. 

GRACY.  In  the  printed  Leland, "  Grauncon  et  Tracy,"  where 
the  T  is  apparently  a  misprint  for  G.  It  stands  for  Grancey, 
on  the  confines  of  Champagne  and  Burgundy,  and  gave  its 

222 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

name  to  a  great  Burgundian  family.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  any  Grancy  was  present  at  the  Conquest.  The  modern 
form  of  the  name  is  possibly  Grace. 

GRANDISON,  Leland's  Grauncon  ;  an  interpolation.  The 
Grandisons  were  a  Burgundian  family.  William  de  Grandi- 
son  was  the  first  to  come  to  England,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  John  de  Grandison  was  Bishop  of  Exeter  in 

1327- 

GRAY,  perhaps  an  interpolation.  It  is  true  that  an 
Architel  de  Grey  is  mentioned  in  Domesday,  but  it  was  not 
till  the  marriage  of  Edward  IV.  with  Elizabeth  Woodville 
that  the  Grays  became  important  people,  and  then  efforts 
were  made  to  concoct  for  them  a  specious  pedigree.  Grey 
or  Gray  was  a  descriptive  name,  and  we  cannot  be  sure  that 
all  Greys  or  Grays  belonged  to  the  descendants  of  Architel 
de  Grey. 

GRAUNT  or  GRANT,  from  Le  Grand.  They  may  be  traced 
back  in  Normandy  till  985,  but  such  pedigrees  are  suspicious, 
as  the  name  is  descriptive  of  height  of  stature,  and  was  not 
a  surname.  There  is  no  mention  of  a  Grant  in  Domesday, 
unless  that  of  Hugo  Grando  de  Scoca,  an  under-tenant  in 
Berkshire,  be  taken  as  one ;  but  Grent  de  Everwick  is  found 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  In  the  printed  edition  of  Leland 
the  name  is  Gaunt. 

GRANDYN,  no  other  than  Grendon  ;  an  interpolation,  from 
Grendon  in  Warwickshire. 

GRESLEY — in  Leland,  Greilly  ;  from  Gresile  in  Anjou. 
Albert  Greslet  occurs  in  Domesday  as  Baron  of  Manchester. 
The  name  has  assumed  the  form  of  Gredley  and  Greely. 

GRENVILLE — in  Leland,  G[r]enevile ;  from  Grenneville 
in  the  Cotentin.  This  illustrious  house  is  descended  from 
Robert  de  Grenville,  who  accompanied  the  Conqueror  to 
England,  and  received  three  knight's-fees  in  the  county  of 
Buckingham. 

GREVILLE  is  disguised  in  Leland  as  Gruyele.  It  comes 
from  a  castle  of  the  name  in  the  Cotentin  ;  but  the  existing 
Greville  family  is  thought  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Grenvilles. 

GURDON,  from  a  town  of  that  name  in  the  department  of 

223 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Lot,  on  the  limestone  Gausses.  How  a  Gurdon  drifted  north 
to  join  the  expedition  is  hard  to  say,  and  almost  certainly 
the  name  is  an  interpolation.  The  first  Gurdon  of  whom  we 
know  received  a  grant  of  half  a  knight's-fee  in  Selbourn 
from  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  this  is  intelligible  enough, 
as  all  the  district  of  Cahors  and  the  South  was  then  under 
the  English  Crown. 

GUBBION.  Guido  Gobio  witnessed  a  charter  of  Geoffrey  of 
Dinan  in  1070,  and  was  one  of  his  knights ;  as  the  latter 
came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror,  Gobio  doubtless 
accompanied  him.  Hugh  Gubion  is  found  in  Hampshire  in 
1130.  What  induced  Shakespeare  to  adopt  the  name  for  the 
two  Gobbos  we  do  not  know.  The  name  has  become  Gibbon 
and  Gubbins. 

GURNEY,  from  Gournai-en-Bray.  The  name  is  of  note  in 
the  history  of  the  Conquest.  It  is  one  that  is  now  widely 
spread  in  England. 

HAMELIN,  a  personal  name,  and  not  a  surname.  Several  are 
named  in  Domesday.  In  Cornwall,  Hamelin  held  twenty- 
two  manors  under  the  Earl  of  Mortaine.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  ancestor  of  the  Trelawney  family ;  but  the 
name  Hamlyn  remains  in  Devon  and  Cornwall. 

HANSARD,  not  mentioned  in  Domesday;  but  the  Hansards 
appear  as  Barons  in  the  palatinate  of  Durham  in  the  twelfth 
century.  This  is  probably  an  interpolation. 

HARCOURT.  Enguerand  de  Harcourt  was  in  the  Conqueror's 
army  at  Hastings.  The  family  was  largely  rewarded  in  later 
times.  But  the  name  is  not  in  Domesday.  We  find  a  Har- 
court among  the  dependents  of  Henry  I.  in  1123. 

HAREVILLE,  not  heard  of  before  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
The  name  of  Harivel  means  actually  a  dealer  in  harins,  an 
inferior  sort  of  horse,  at  fairs.  An  interpolation. 

HASTINGS.  Robert  de  Venoix  was  the  first  Mareschal  or 
Portreeve  of  Hastings.  He  came  from  Venoix,  near  Caen. 
Robert  is  named  in  Domesday  as  FitzRalph  and  de  Hastings 
and  le  Mareschal.  It  must  not  hastily  be  concluded  that 
everyone  bearing  the  name  of  Hastings  is  descended  from 

224 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Robert  de  Venoix ;  many  a  man  was  so  named  simply  because 
a  native  of  that  place. 

HAWARD,  or  HAYWARD,  as  Leland  has  it.  This  is  not  a 
Norman-French  name ;  it  is  from  the  Norse  Havard,  and 
has  the  same  origin  as  Howard. 

HAULEY,  from  La  Haulle  in  Normandy.  We  do  not  find 
the  name  before  the  twelfth  century,  when  Warin  de  Haulla 
held  a  barony  of  eight  fees  in  Devon.  In  Dartmouth  Church 
is  a  brass  of  a  Hawley,  a  merchant  (1408),  possibly  the  origin 
of  the  name  Holley. 

HAUTENEY — in  Leland,  Hauteyn.  Godwin  Haldein  held 
in  Norfolk  (Domesday),  but  his  personal  name  is  Saxon, 
and  Haldein  stands  for  Halfdan.  He  held  the  lordship  of 
Gratyngton  in  the  time  of  the  Conqueror,  and  was  not  only 
permitted  to  retain  it,  but  received  a  grant  of  three  other 
manors  after  the  Conquest.  This  looks  much  as  if  Godwin 
had  been  a  traitor  to  his  King  and  country,  and  had  fought 
under  the  banner  of  the  Bastard  adventurer.  It  is  curious  to 
note  the  transformation  of  the  name  Halfdan  or  Haldane 
into  Hautein  and  Hauteney  by  a  Norman  scribe.  The  name 
is  now  represented  by  Haldane :  the  Norman  scribe  supposed 
it  meant  a  turn-up  nose. 

HAUTEVILLE.  In  Domesday,  Ralph  de  Hauteville  held  a 
barony  in  Wilts. 

HERNOUR,  not  heard  of  before  1324. 

HERCY,  from  Hericy  in  Normandy;  not  noticed  in 
Domesday. 

HERON,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Rouen.  Tihel  de 
Heroun  held  lands  in  Essex  (Domesday).  The  name  survives 
both  in  the  original  form  of  Heron  and  as  Herne.  I  remember 
a  nurse  of  the  latter  name. 

HERYCE.  The  family  of  Herice  is  supposed  to  descend 
from  a  son  of  the  Count  of  Vendome,  but  no  evidence  is 
forthcoming  other  than  the  bearing  of  his  allusive  arms, 
three  "herissons,"  or  hedgehogs,  which  still  appear  in  the 
coats  of  the  Earls  of  Malmesbury  and  Lord  Herries.  But 
the  Earls  of  Malmesbury  derived  from  a  William  Harris,  an 
inhabitant  of  Salisbury  in  1469.  I  dare  say  a  good  many 

22:;  p 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Harrises  would  like  to  be  supposed  to  derive  from  the  com- 
panion of  the  Conqueror,  Robert,  named  in  Domesday.  The 
name  has  become  Hersee,  Herries. 

HOWELL,  a  possible  companion  of  Alan  the  Red,  Duke  of 
Brittany,  but  probably  the  same  as  the  family  of  Le  Tourneur, 
near  Vire. 

HURELL.  The  name  Haurell  or  Harell  is  found  in  Nor- 
mandy, but  not  in  England,  before  the  latter  part  of  the 
twelfth  century. 

JARDINE.  The  first  of  that  name  on  record  is  found  in 
Scotland  before  1153.  In  England  there  have  been  Gardens 
from  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 

JAY  or  GAI,  not  in  Domesday,  but  the  name  is  found  in 
the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  Probably  a  descriptive 
appellation.  The  modern  form  of  the  name  is  Gaye  and 
Jaye. 

KANCEIS  in  Leland's  list  is  really  Chauncy,  from  Canci, 
near  Amiens.  An  Anschar  de  Canci  is  found  to  have 
flourished  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The  name  has  continued 
not  only  as  Chawncey,  but  also  as  Chance. 

REVELERS,  from  Cauville,  in  Seine- Inferieure. 

KYRIEL  stands  for  Criol.  Robert,  youngest  son  of  Robert, 
Count  of  Eu,  obtained  from  him  Criol,  near  Eu.  He  held 
Ashburnham  of  his  kinsman,  the  Count  of  Eu.  The  name 
became  Creale  and  Crole,  Curlle  and  Kyrle. 

LACY,  from  Lassy,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Vire.  Walter 
and  Ilbert  de  Lassi  took  part  in  the  Conquest  of  England. 
Roger  de  Lassi,  son  of  Walter,  held  100  manors  in  five 
counties. 

LASSELS — in  Leland,  Lascels.  Picot  Lascels  was  a  vassal 
of  Alan  Fergeant,  Duke  of  Brittany  and  Earl  of  Richmond, 
and  he  held  lands  under  the  Earl  in  Yorkshire. 

LATYMER,  an  interpreter ;  not  uncommon. 

LA  MUILE  in  Leland  is  none  other  than  Moels  or  Meules. 
Baldwin  de  Moels — from  Meulles,  near  Orbec,  arrondisse- 
ment of  Lisieux — had  estates  in  Devonshire  filling  eleven 
columns  in  Domesday.  A  hairdresser  in  Launceston  bears 
the  name  of  Mules. 

226 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

LEVETOT — in  Leland,  Levecote.  From  Levetot  in  Lower 
Normandy.  Not  in  Domesday,  but  shortly  after. 

LIFFARD,  a  misreading  for  Oliffard. 

LIOF  ET  LIMERS,  another  misreading  or  misprint.  Liof 
was  a  Saxon  who  held  under  Edward  the  Confessor. 

LISOURS,  from  the  Lisiere,  or  verge  of  the  Forest  of  Lyons, 
a  favourite  hunting  ground  for  the  Dukes  of  Normandy. 
Fulk  de  Lisours  attended  William  to  England,  and  was 
given  Sprotburgh. 

LONGCHAMP,  not  in  Domesday,  but  appears  under 
Henry  I.,  when  Hugh  de  Longchamps  was  granted  the 
Manor  of  Wilton  in  Herefordshire.  An  interpolation. 

LONGESPEE.  Longsword  held  in  Norfolk  (Domesday). 
A  mere  nickname ;  possibly  enough  an  interpolation  for 
the  bastard  son  of  Henry  II.  and  the  fair  Rosamond. 

LONGVAL  and  LONGVILLE,  perhaps  the  same,  a  branch 
of  the  House  of  Giffard,  Barons  of  Longueville  and  Bolbec, 
near  Dieppe.  The  name  Longville  still  exists  in  England. 
Leland  gives  also  Longvillers. 

LORING,  for  Lorraine ;  a  native  of  that  province.  The 
name  Lovering  exists.  I  had  a  cook  so  named. 

LOVEDAY,  from  Louday,  near  Toulouse.  An  interpolation, 
as  the  family  can  have  come  to  England  only  at  the  time  of 
the  English  occupation  of  Aquitaine.  It  is  also  not  heard  of 
before  the  thirteenth  century  in  England. 

LOVELL,  a  name,  "the  Wolfing,"  given  to  Aseline  de 
Breherval,  who  became  Lord  of  Castle  Gary  in  England. 
He  received  the  nickname  on  account  of  his  ferocious 
character. 

LOUVAIN — in  Leland,  Lovein.  An  adventurer  from  Louvain 
in  Flanders.  Twice  in  Leland ;  possibly  from  Louveny,  or 
Louvigny,  near  Bernay. 

LOVERAC  held  an  estate  in  Wiltshire  after  the  Conquest ; 
changed  to  Loveries. 

LOWNEY,  from  Launai  in  Normandy.  Not  found  in 
England  till  about  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Modern  form 
of  the  name,  Lunyt  that  of  a  charming  seascape-painter  in 
Devonshire. 

227  p  2 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

LUCY,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Rouen.  The 
Lucys  performed  the  office  of  Castle  Guard  at  Dover  for 
seven  knight's-fees  in  Kent,  Norfolk,  and  Suffolk.  The 
name  remains  in  its  original  form,  and  as  Luce,  a.  yeoman 
name  in  Devon. 

LYMESAY,  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  the  Pays  de  Caux, 
near  Pasilly.  The  ancestor  of  the  Lindsays. 

MALHERMER  should  be  Monthermer.  An  interpolation. 
The  name  first  occurs  in  1296,  when  Ralph  de  Monthermer, 
"  a  plain  esquire,"  made  a  love-match  with  Joan,  daughter 
of  Edward  I.  He  was  summoned  to  Parliament  as  Earl  of 
Gloucester  and  Hereford  jure  uxoris  in  1299. 

MAINARD,  an  under-tenant  in  Essex  and  Lincolnshire, 
but  the  name  occurs  as  holding  in  Wilts,  Hants,  and  Norfolk, 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  It  is  a  Teutonic 
name,  Meginhard,  and  he  has  no  right  to  appear  as  one  of 
William's  assistants  at  Hastings,  unless,  indeed,  he  were  a 
traitor.  Now  Maynard. 

MAINGUN  is  a  misreading  for  Mayenne.  Judael  de 
Mayenne  had  a  vast  barony  in  Devon  (Domesday) ;  Geoffrey 
de  Mayenne  is  named  by  Wace.  Now  Maine  and  Mayne. 

MALEBURGH,  for  Merleberge.  A  great  Baron  in  1086  ;  had 
been  a  landowner  in  England  previous  to  the  Conquest. 
He  was  certainly  one  of  Edward  the  Confessor's  Norman 
favourites,  and  after  the  Conquest  he  was  not  dispossessed, 
but  was  given  lands  that  had  belonged  to  Harold.  The 
name  became  Maleberg  and  Malborough. 

MALEBOUCHE,  a  nickname  for  a  foul-mouthed  fellow. 
There  are  plenty  of  the  kind  now,  but  not  descendants. 

MALEBYS,  a  nickname  for  Mal-b£te.  In  Latin  it  is  Mala 
bestia.  The  name  occurs  in  England  in  1142.  Richard 
Malbysse,  or  "  Ricardus  vero  agnomine  Mala  Bestia,"  says 
William  of  Newburgh,  bears  the  blame  of  having,  with  two 
others,  instigated  the  massacre  of  the  Jews  of  York  in  1189. 
The  name  became  Malby. 

MALET,  a  great  favourite  with  the  Conqueror,  who 
appointed  William  Malet  to  hold  his  newly-built  castle  in 

York. 

228 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

MALCAKE.  The  name  occurs  as  Maletoc  in  r^11?8*"  He 
King  Stephen.  1ftss  than 

MALMAYNE,  a  bad-hand  ;  a  nickname.  s  anc* 

MALVILLE,  from  a  barony  in  the  Pays  de  Caux.  Willilan 
de  Malavilla  appears  in  Domesday  as  holding  lands  in 
Suffolk.  Hence  the  Scottish  Melville. 

MANGEL,  a  native  of  Le  Mans.  Wace  mentions  a  con- 
tingent thence. 

MANDEVILLE,  for  Magnaville,  from  a  place  near  Creuilly. 
Geoffrey,  Sire  de  Magnaville,  is  mentioned  by  Wace,  and  was 
given  estates  in  many  counties.  Hence  Manville. 

MANGYSIR,  for  Mont  Gissart.  Nothing  known  of  the 
family. 

MANNERS,  properly  Myners,  from  Mesnieres,  near  Rouen. 
Richard  de  Manieres  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror, 
and  held  under  Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  land  in  Kent  and 
Surrey  (Domesday). 

MARNY,  formerly  De  Marreiny,  from  a  fief  in  Normandy. 
The  first  mentioned  is  William  de  Marney,  in  1166,  who 
held  a  knight's-fee  in  Essex. 

MARTIN,  Sire  of  Tour,  near  Bayeux.  Came  over  with 
the  Bastard  in  1066,  and  conquered  the  territory  of  Kemys 
in  Pembrokeshire,  which  was  erected  into  a  palatine 
barony. 

MASEY,  from  Ma£y,  near  Coutances.  In  1086  Hugh  de 
Maci  held  lands  in  Huntingdonshire  (Domesday),  and  Hamo 
de  Maci  nine  manors  of  Hugh  Lupus  in  Cheshire.  The 
name  remains  as  Massey. 

MAULE,  from  a  town  of  that  name  in  the  Vexin  Fra^ais. 
Guarin  de  Maule  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and 
received  the  Manor  of  Hatton  and  some  other  lands  in 
Cleveland.1  The  name  remains  not  only  in  its  original 
form,  but  perhaps  also  as  Moll. 

MAULAY,  de  Malo  Lacu.  The  first  who  came  over  to 
England  was  Peter  de  Maulay,  a  Poitevin,  brought  here  by 
King  John,  who  employed  him  to  murder  his  nephew 
Arthur.  In  reward  for  this  he  was  given  in  marriage  the 

1  Ordericus  Vitalis  gives  an  account  of  this  family  (v.  19). 
229 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

,. J  Doncaster,  who  brought    him    the    barony   of 

JL»U  CYj 

Lucy?jCLERK,  MAUCOVENANT,  MAUFE,  MAULOVEL,  MAURE- 
5eX&DE  (for  regarde),  MAUTALENT,  MAUVOISIN,  are  all  nick- 
names— the  bad  clerk,  the  bad  covenant,  bad  faith,  the  bad 
young  wolf,  the  evil  eye,  bad  talent,  bad  neighbour — not 
likely  to  be  passed  on  as  surnames.  De  Mauney  is,  however, 
not  bad  nose,  but  a  place-name ;  more  of  this  presently. 

MAUDIT  might  have  been  supposed  to  have  been  the  name 
given  to  one  excommunicated,  but  it  was  not  so ;  it  was  from 
a  place,  Mauduit,  near  Nantes.  Geoffrey  Maudet  held  lands 
in  Wiltshire,  and  his  brother  William  also  in  Hampshire 
(Domesday).  The  name  has  been  shortened  into  Maude. 

MAULEVRIER  or  MALEVRIER,  from  a  place  near  Rouen. 
Helto  de  Mauleverer  held  lands  in  Kent  (Domesday). 

MENYLE,  for  Menesville,  or  Mesnil,  near  Grandmesnil,  in 
the  arrondissement  of  Lisieux.  Hugh  de  Grand-Mesnil 
fought  bravely  at  Hastings,  says  Wace.  He  "  was  that  day 
in  great  peril ;  his  horse  ran  away  with  him  so  that  he  was 
near  falling,  for  in  leaping  over  a  bank  the  bridle-rein  broke, 
and  the  horse  plunged  forward.  The  English,  seeing  him, 
ran  to  meet  him  with  their  axes  raised,  but  the  horse  took 
fright,  and,  turning  quickly  round,  brought  him  safe  back 
again."  He  was  created  Count  of  Leicestershire  and 
Hampshire.  The  name  remains  as  Meynell. 

MERKINGFEL,  not  a  Norman  name,  nor  heard  of  till  1309, 
and  then  in  Yorkshire. 

MOWBRAY,  from  the  Castle  of  Molbrai,  near  St.  L6,  in  the 
Cotentin.  Three  of  the  family  were  in  the  Conqueror's 
train.  Robert,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  was  the  son  of 
one  of  these ;  he  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon  by  William 
Rufus,  where  he  lingered  for  thirty-four  years,  and  his 
newly- wedded  wife,  Maud  de  1'Aigle,  was  married  to  Nigel 
de  Albini ;  and  Nigel's  eldest  son,  Roger,  by  King  Henry's 
command,  assumed  the  name  of  Mowbray,  and  from  him 
the  later  Mowbrays  are  descended. 

MOHUN — in  Leland  Mooun.  From  Moion,  near  St.  L6  in 
Normandy.  Wace  tells  us  that  "Old  William  de  Moion  had 

230 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

with  him  many  companions  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings."  He 
was  rewarded  for  his  services  by  the  grant  of  not  less  than 
fifty-five  manors  in  Somerset,  besides  two  in  Wilts  and 
Dorset.  The  name  remains  nearer  to  the  early  spelling  than 
Mohun,  as  Moon,  which  is  that  of  a  music-seller  in  Plymouth. 

MONCEAUX,  "  le  Sire  de  Monceals  "  of  Wace.  The  place 
is  south-east  of  Bayeux.  Became  a  famous  family  in  Sussex, 
and  gave  benefactions  to  Battle  Abbey ;  the  name  remains 
corrupted  into  Monseer.  In  Leland  the  name  is  Monceus. 

MONTAIGUE,  from  a  place  of  the  name  in  the  arrondisse- 
ment  of  Coutances.  Two  of  the  name  appear  in  Domesday, 
both  richly  endowed,  but  of  these  one  left  no  heir.  Drogo 
de  Montaigue  came  in  the  train  of  the  Earl  of  Mortaine. 

MONTBURGH,  from  Montebourg,  in  the  Cotentin,  which  at 
the  time  of  the  Conquest  was  held  by  Duke  William  himself. 

MONTFEY,  for  Montbrai,  arrondissement  of  St.  L6.  Giffard 
de  Montbrai  attended  the  Conqueror  to  England.  Name  is 
not  in  Domesday.  Now  Mumfey. 

MONTFICHET,  from  Montfiquet,  arrondissement  of  Bayeux. 
Not  in  Domesday  as  such,  but  as  Robert  Guernon,  Baron 
of  Montfiquet,  who  held  a  barony  in  Essex  in  1086.  The 
name  is  found  in  later  times  as  Fichett,  and  I  notice  in  a 
newspaper  of  January  22,  1909,  the  death  of  a  Mrs.  Amelia 
Fidgett,  of  Mistley,  Essex,  who  died  in  her  I04th  year. 

MONTFORT,  from  a  place  on  the  Rille,  near  Brionne, 
arrondissement  of  Pont  Audemer.  Hugh,  says  Wace, 
was  one  of  the  four  knights  who  mutilated  the  body  of 
Harold  after  the  battle ;  he  received  a  barony  of  113 
English  manors.  The  name  remained  on  as  Mountford  and 
Mmnford. 

MONTCHESNEY.  Hubert  de  Monte  Canisi  held  a  barony  in 
Suffolk  (Domesday).  The  name  may  remain  as  Chesney. 

MONTIGNY,  not  in  Domesday,  but  Robert  de  Mounteney  is 
found  estated  in  Norfolk  in  1161. 

MONTPINSON,  from  Montpingon  near  Evreux.     Ralph  de 
Montpin9on  was  "  Dapifer  "  to  the  Conqueror,  as  Ordericus 
tells  us.     The  name  became  in  England  Mompesson.1 
1  Ordericus  gives  an  account  of  this  family  (v.  17). 
231 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

MONTREVEL,  not  in  Domesday ;  from  Montreuil. 

MONTSOREL,  from  Montsoreau  on  the  Loire.  The  name 
first  occurs  in  1165.  There  is  a  Mountsorel  in  Leicester- 
shire that  had  estates  in  it  that  belonged  to  the  Earl  of 
Chester.  Perhaps  Mounsell. 

MONTRAVERS  or  MALTRAVERS,  not  named  in  Domesday, 
but  occurs  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The  name  has  been 
made  odious  through  John,  Lord  Maltravers,  who  murdered 
Edward  II.  with  terrible  cruelty.  We  have  the  name  still 
as  Maltravers. 

MORLEY.  The  name  does  not  occur  till  the  reign  of 
Henry  I. ;  probably  from  Morlaix  in  Brittany,  and  the  first 
who  came  over  was  a  retainer  of  Alan  Fergeant.  The  name 
is  given  again  by  Leland  as  Merley. 

MORTAINE.  Robert,  Earl  of  Mortaine,  was  the  son  of 
Herluin  de  Couteville,  who  married  Harleva,  the  cast-off 
mistress  of  Duke  Robert,  and  consequently  was  uterine 
brother  of  the  Conqueror.  When  William  became  Duke  of 
Normandy,  he  lost  no  opportunity  of  raising  his  kinsfolk 
from  their  humble  estate,  to  the  disgust  and  indignation  of 
his  nobles,  and  above  all  of  his  relatives  on  the  side  of  his 
father.  Robert  was  rewarded  for  his  services  in  the  Conquest 
of  England  by  being  given  the  whole  of  Cornwall,  comprising 
248  manors,  52  in  Sussex,  75  in  Devon,  10  in  Suffolk,  29  in 
Buckinghamshire,  99  in  Northamptonshire,  196  in  Yorkshire, 
besides  others  in  other  counties.  The  name  in  England  has 
become  Morton,  but  all  Mortons  do  not  derive  from  him,  as 
there  are  places  named  Morton  in  England  that  have  given 
appellations  to  individuals  issuing  from  them. 

MORRICE,  a  Christian  name. 

MORTIMER,  de  Mortuo  Mari.  From  Mortemer,  in  the  Pays 
de  Caux.  Roger  de  Mortemer  furnished  forty  vessels  for  the 
invading  fleet.  He  was  too  old  himself  to  join  the  expedi- 
tion, but  he  sent  his  son  Ralph,  the  founder  of  the  splendid 
English  lineage  that  conveyed  to  the  House  of  York  its  title 
to  the  Crown.  The  name  still  continues.  I  had  an  under- 
mason  working  for  me  some  years  ago,  a  singularly  handsome 
man,  of  the  name  of  Mortimer. 

232 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

MORTIVAUX  or  MORTIVAL.  The  name  does  not  occur 
before  the  reign  of  King  John.  The  name  has  gone  through 
various  forms,  one  being  Morteville. 

MORVILLE,  from  a  castle  of  that  name  in  the  Cotentin. 
The  first  named  is  Hugh  de  Morville,  the  founder  of  the 
English  house  in  1158.  He  was  one  of  the  four  knights 
who  went  from  Normandy  to  slay  Thomas  a  Becket.  The 
family  obtained  a  high  position  in  the  North.  It  became 
of  great  account  in  Scotland.  This  is  certainly  an  inter- 
polation. The  name  in  Scotland  became  Marvell. 

MOUNCY,  from  Monchy,  near  Arras.  Drogo  de  Money 
came  to  England  in  1066,  and  was  in  Palestine  in  1096. 
In  1299  Walter  de  Money  was  summoned  to  Parliament  as 
a  Baron.  The  name  remains  as  Mounce.  Some  of  the  name 
occupied  a  cottage  belonging  to  my  father.  They  were 
notorious  poachers,  and  lived  on  what  they  caught,  and  stole 
their  firing.  At  last  one  of  them,  a  youth,  was  caught 
"robbing  hen-roosts,"  like  some  of  his  betters,'and  was  con- 
victed and  sent  to  prison.  On  leaving,  he  came  to  my 
father  with  the  request  that  as  a  magistrate  he  would  send 
him  back  to  prison,  as  "  it  was  the  only  place  where  he  had 
been  treated  as  a  gentleman."  Was  he  a  descendant  of  the 
Crusader  ?  Also  Mounsey. 

MOYNE,  in  Leland's  copy  Maoun  (i.e.,  Monk).  The  family 
is  found  at  Owers  in  Dorset  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The 
Monks,  ancestors  of  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  are  found  seated 
at  Potheridge  in  Devonshire  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  Monk  is  still  a  name  not  uncommon  in  Devon. 
There  is  a  baker  and  confectioner  so  called  at  Tavistock. 

MOVET,  MAUFE.     The  name  does  not  occur  before  1165. 

MUSARD.  Asculphus  Musard  held  a  great  barony.  Enisard 
and  Hugh  Musard  are  also  named  in  Domesday.  A  nick- 
name signifying  a  loafer  or  loiterer.  It  has  become  in  later 
times  Mussard. 

MUSE.  The  name  does  not  occur  in  England  till  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century.  It  is  probably  a  nickname  from  an 
expression  used  in  hunting. 

MUSSET,  a  name  from  the  bag-pipes  the  man  played. 

233 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Leland  gives  Muschet.  Not  mentioned  in  Domesday.  Prob- 
ably only  the  piper  that  played  before  William.  The  name 
remains. 

MUSTEYS,  for  Moutiers.  Robert  de  Mosters  was  a  tenant 
of  Earl  Alan,  of  Richmond  and  Brittany,  in  Yorkshire  in 
1086.  There  are  several  Moutiers  or  monasteries  in  Nor- 
mandy, whence  the  name  may  have  come.  The  name 
remains  as  Musters. 

MUSEGROS,  from  Mucegros,  near  Ecouen,  was  a  tenant-in- 
chief  in  Herefordshire  (Domesday).  The  ancestor  of  the 
Musgraves,  Musgroves. 

MYRIEL  does  not  occur  till  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 
The  name  is  probably  an  interpolation.  Now  Murrell. 

NAIRMERE,  perhaps  for  Nemours  —  Hubert  de  Nemors 
was  a  tenant  in  Dorset,  and  William  de  Nemors  an  under- 
tenant in  Suffolk  (Domesday). 

NENERS.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  Robert  Nernoit  is 
met  with.  The  name  also  occurs  as  Nermitz. 

NEREVILLE  in  Leland  seems  to  be  a  copyist's  mistake 
for  Oirval,  south-west  of  Coutances,  the  men  of  which  place 
are  mentioned  as  being  at  Hastings. 

NEVILLE,  from  Neuville-sur-Touque.  The  first  who  came 
to  England  was  Gilbert  de  Nevill,  but  he  is  not  named  in 
Domesday.  The  family  was  early  estated  in  Lincoln,  but 
by  marriage  with  an  heiress  moved  into  the  North.  This 
line  died  out  sans  male  issue,  and  the  lands  of  the  heiress 
passed  to  a  Saxon  husband,  and  with  the  lands  the  Norman 
name  was  assumed. 

NEWBET  or  NERBET.  The  name  occurs  first  in  Gloucester- 
shire, where  William  de  Nerbert  in  1165  held  four  knight's- 
fees  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester.  The  name  has  become  Newbert. 

NEWBURGH,  from  Neufbourg  in  Normandy.  Henry  de 
Newburgh  obtained  the  earldom  of  Warwick,  his  brother 
Robert  that  of  Leicester.  The  name  became  Newburrow. 

NEWMARCH,  from  the  castle  of  Neumarche  in  Normandy. 
Bernard  Newmarch  was  one  of  the  Conqueror's  companions- 
at-arms,  and  obtained  as  his  share  of  the  spoil  a  Welsh 
principality  won  by  his  own  good  sword. 

234 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

NOVERS,  for  Noyers.  William  de  Noiers,  or  Nuers,  was 
an  under-tenant  in  Norfolk  (Domesday),  where  he  had  the 
custody  of  thirty-three  of  the  Conqueror's  manors. 

OLIFARD,  not  heard  of  before  1130,  when  two,  Hugh  and 
William,  occur  in  Hampshire  and  Northamptonshire.  It 
appears  in  Scotland  under  David  I.,  1165.  The  name  there 
becomes  Oliphant.  Possibly  Lifford  derives  from  Olifard. 

ONATULLE  is  probably  a  misreading  of  Osseville,  from 
Osseville  in  Normandy.  The  name  does  not  occur  till 
after  1190. 

PAGANEL  or  PAINELL,  a  great  baronial  family  in  Nor- 
mandy. The  name  was  probably  given  to  the  original 
Norman  founder  of  the  family,  who  came  over  with  Rollo 
and  obstinately  refused  to  be  baptized.  So  he  was  called 
the  Pagan,  and  possibly  his  sons  and  grandsons  were  poor 
Christians,  if  Christians  at  all,  so  that  the  name  of  Pagan 
adhered  to  the  family.  It  still  remains  as  Payne  and 
Pennell.  Other  derivations  shall  be  mentioned  later. 

PAIFRER  appears  in  Domesday  as  Paisfor,  Paisforere,  and 
Pastforcire,  once  a  considerable  name  in  Kent. 

PAITENY.  The  name  does  not  occur  till  the  reign  of 
Edward  I. 

PAVILLY,  from  a  place  near  Rouen;  not  in  Domesday. 
Name  occurs  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The  family  died  out 
in  the  tenth  century. 

PAVILLON,  from  Pavelion,  near  Mantes.  Appears  as 
Papelion,  witness  to  the  charter  of  William  the  Conqueror 
to  the  Church  of  Durham,  and  was  present  at  a  Council  at 
Westminster  in  1082.  Now  Papillon,  but  this  is  a  later 
Huguenot  importation. 

PECHE.  This  nickname  of  a  "  man  of  sin  "  occurs  in 
Domesday.  William  Pecatum  was  an  under-tenant  in 
Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Essex.  The  name  may  have  been 
altered  to  Beach  and  Beachy.  It  has  also  been  found  as 
Peach  and  Peachy. 

PERCY,  from  Perci,  a  fief  near  Villedieu  near  Caen. 
William  de  Perci  was  a  tenant  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy. 
He  and  Serlo  de  Perci  came  over  in  the  time  of  the 

235 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Conqueror,  but  neither  of  them  is  mentioned  as  having  been 
present  at  Hastings. 

PERECHAY.  Ralph  de  Perechaie  is  named  as  a  tenant-in- 
chief  in  Berkshire  (Domesday).  The  name  comes  very  near 
to  Percy.  I  knew  some  few  years  ago  a  taverner  on  Dart- 
moor whose  name  as  spelled  over  his  door  was  Purcay. 

PEROT,  for  Pierrot,  Peterkin.  Peret  the  Forester  occurs 
in  Domesday  as  a  Hampshire  Baron,  but  nothing  can  be 
concluded  from  this.  Sir  John  Perrott,  Deputy-Governor  of 
Ireland,  was  an  illegitimate  son  of  Henry  VIII.  He  got 
into  trouble  with  Elizabeth,  whom  he  treated  with  imperti- 
nence. The  name  still  exists.  It  is  that  of  the  well-known 
family  of  guides  to  Dartmoor,  living  at  Chagford. 

PERRERS,  from  Periers,  near  Evreux.  Not  in  Domesday, 
but  the  name  found  in  1156.  Alice  Perrers  of  this  family 
was  mistress  of,  and  then  wife  to,  Edward  III.  She  after- 
wards married  Lord  Windsor.  Another  family  of  entirely 
different  origin,  derived  from  Periers  in  Brittany,  is  now 
represented  by  Perry  in  Devonshire.  It  was  seated  in  Devon 
in  1307.  Now  a  worthy  yeoman  family. 

PERERIS  is  probably  a  mistake  for  Praeres,  or  Praers  now 
Preaux.  There  was  a  barony  of  the  name  in  the  arron- 
dissement  of  Rouen.  Probably  some  Priors  and  Pryors 
derive  hence,  and  not  from  a  Prior  who  abandoned  his 
vocation. 

PEVERELL,  given  twice  in  the  list.  The  name  is  not 
territorial.  It  is  rendered  in  Latin  Piperellus.  William 
Peverell  was  reputed  to  be  the  son  of  the  Conqueror  by  a 
Saxon  lady,  daughter  of  Ingelric,  whom  he  gave  in  marriage 
to  Ralph  Peverell.  Both  Ralph  and  William  Peverell  are 
found  as  chief  tenants  in  Domesday.  William  had  a  barony 
of  1 60  manors.  The  complaisant  Ralph  was  rewarded  with 
sixty-four  knight's  fees. 

PICARD,  from  Picardy,  occurs  twice. 

PIERREPONT,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  St.  Sauveur, 
in  the  Cotentin.  Three  brothers  of  that  name  occur  as 
under-tenants  in  Domesday. 

PINKNEY,  from  Pincquigny,  a  town  in  Picardy,  not  far 

236 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

from  Amiens.  Ansculph  was  created  Viscount  of  Surrey, 
and  his  son  was  William  Ansculph,  one  of  the  great  land- 
owners of  Domesday.  From  two  passages  in  that  record 
we  learn  that  their  name  was  de  Pinchingi. 

PLACY,  an  interpolation.  The  family  descends  from  John 
de  Placetis,  a  domestic  servant  of  Henry  III.,  who  obtained 
the  favour  of  his  weak  master,  and  became  Earl  of  Warwick 
on  marrying  Margaret  de  Newburgh,  much  against  her  will, 
but  at  the  command  of  the  King. 

PLAYCE  or  Du  PLAIZ.  The  family  was  enfeoffed  after  the 
Conquest  by  Earl  Warren.  The  name  remains  as  Place 
and  Plaice. 

PLUNKET,  from  Plouquenet,  near  Rennes.  Not  in  Domes- 
day, but  occurs  in  1158. 

POWER,  from  Poher  in  Brittany,  a  county  of  which 
Carhaix  was  capital ;  properly  Poucaer.  Pou  is  the  Latin 
Pagus.  A  branch  settled  in  Devon  in  1066  with  Alured  de 
Mayenne. 

POINZ  or  DE  PONS,  the  ancestor  of  the  Cliffords ;  from 
Pons,  in  the  Saintonge.  Pons  had  four  sons  who  went  to 
England,  of  whom  Drogo  FitzPonce  and  Walter  Fitz- 
Ponce  held  important  baronies  (Domesday).  The  younger 
brothers  were  ancestors  of  the  Veseys  and  Burghs.  The 
name  is  still  to  be  found  as  Bounce  and  Bunce.  I  remember 
a  poor,  humble-minded  servant-lad  of  that  name,  who  for 
aught  one  knows  may  have  been  as  true  a  descendant  of  the 
Lords  of  Pons  as  any  Clifford,  de  Burgh,  or  Vesey. 

PUNCHARDON,  from  Pontcardon  in  Normandy.  Robert 
de  Pontcardon  held  lands  in  Devon  in  1080.  William  de 
Pontcardon  held  six  fees  in  Somerset  and  Devon  in  1165. 
Now  Punchard,  Pinchard. 

PUGOYS,  a  probable  interpolation.  It  has  been  pretended 
that  Ogier  de  Pugoys  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and 
was  given  the  Manor  of  Bedingfield  in  Suffolk,  and  that  his 
descendants  assumed  the  name  of  Bedingfield.  Mr.  Free- 
man throws  discredit  on  this  descent.  "  It  is  patched  up 
by  a  deed  of  which  I  have  a  copy  before  me,  and  which  is 
plainly  one  of  a  class  of  deeds  which  were  invented  to  make 

23? 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

out  a  pedigree."     The  name  is  from  Puchay,  near  Evreux. 
In  England  it  became  Poggis  and  Boggis. 

PUTEREL.  One  of  the  charters  of  Hugh  Lupus,  Earl  of 
Chester,  names  Robert  Putrel.  Possibly  the  name  may 
have  become  Botrell. 

PYGOT  or  PIGGOT.  The  name  Picot  occurs  seven  times  in 
Domesday.  It  was  a  personal  or  nickname.  The  name  is 
a  diminutive  of  Pygge,  a  girl. 

QUERRU,  probably  for  Carew,  and  consequently  an  inter- 
polation. 

QUINCY,  from  Quinci  in  Maine.  Richard  de  Quincy  was 
companion-in-arms  of  the  Conqueror,  and  received  from  him 
Bushby  in  Northamptonshire. 

REYNEVILLE,  a  mistake,  either  of  copyist  or  of  printer,  for 
Roudeville,  now  Rouville,  near  Gisors.  Not  in  Domesday, 
nor  does  the  name  occur  in  England  till  the  thirteenth 
century. 

RIDELL,  descended  from  the  Counts  of  Angoul£me.  The 
surname  was  first  assumed  by  Geoffrey,  the  second  son  of 
Count  Geoffrey,  in  1048.  He  had  two  sons ;  the  second,  of 
the  same  name  as  himself,  came  to  England  along  with 
William  Bigod.  He  is  mentioned  in  Domesday  as  receiving 
large  grants  of  land,  and  he  also  succeeded  to  his  father's 
barony  in  Guienne.  The  next  in  succession  was  drowned  in 
the  White  Ship,  leaving  only  a  daughter,  who  married  Richard 
Basset ;  and  their  son  Geoffrey  retained  the  name  of  Basset, 
but  the  second  continued  that  of  Ridell.  Not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  Ridells,  descended  from  the  De  Ridales,  so 
called  from  a  district  in  Yorkshire. 

RIPERE,  from  Rupierre,  near  Caen.  William  de  Rupierre, 
who  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror,  is  mentioned  by 
Ordericus.  The  name  has  become  Rooper,  Roope,  and  Roper, 
when  this  latter  does  not  signify  a  cordwainer. 

RIVERS,  from  Reviers,  near  Creulli,  in  the  arrondissement 
of  Caen,  named  by  Wace.  Richard  de  Reviers  held  a  barony 
in  Dorset  in  1086  (Domesday).  He  was  granted  the  Castle 
of  Plympton,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Devon.  Usually 
called  Redvers. 

238 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

ROCHELLE,  called  by  Leland  "  Rokel  ";  from  Rochelle,  in 
the  Cotentin.  Not  in  Domesday,  nor  heard  of  before  the 
reign  of  Henry  II. 

Ros.  Five  of  the  name  are  entered  in  Domesday,  deriving 
their  name  from  the  parish  of  Ros,  two  miles  from  Caen. 
•The  name  has  become  Rose. 

ROSCELYN,  not  in  Domesday. 

ROSEL,  for  Russell;  from  the  lordship  of  Rosel,  in  the 
Cotentin.  In  Domesday,  Hugh  de  Rosel  appears  as  holding 
lands  in  Dorset  as  Marshal  of  the  Buttery  in  England,  so 
that  he  was  one  of  the  flunkey  nobles.  The  fortunes  of  the 
family  were  made  under  Henry  VIII.,  whom  the  then 
Russell  served  unscrupulously,  and  was  nicknamed  the 
King's  Firescreen.  He  was  richly  rewarded  with  Church 
lands. 

RUGETIUS,  not  to  be  identified. 

RYE,  from  a  place  of  that  name  north  of  Bayeux.  Herbert 
de  Rie  in  1047  saved  the  life  of  William,  the  future  Conquerer 
of  England,  when  flying  from  the  conspirators  of  the  Cotentin. 
He  died  before  1066,  but  his  sons  are  entered  in  Domesday. 
The  name  remains. 

RYVEL,  for  Rouville  or  Runeville.  Goisrfed  de  Ryvel  held 
lands  in  Herts  in  1086  (Domesday). 

RYSERS,  for  Richer.  The  name  does  not  occur  before  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

ST.  AMANDE,  in  the  Cotentin.  Not  in  Domesday.  Almeric 
de  St.  Amande  witnessed  a  charter  of  Henry  II.  in  1172. 

ST.  AMARY,  not  identified,  but  probably  a  mistake  for 
Amaury. 

ST.  BARBE.  In  Normandy  a  town  and  two  villages  bear 
the  name  of  St.  Barbara.  Not  in  Domesday.  William  de 
St.  Barbe  was  Dean  of  York,  and  elected  Bishop  of  Durham 
in  1143.  A  family  of  Saintbarbe  was  in  Somerset,  tenants 
of  Glastonbury,  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

ST.  CLERE,  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  the  arrondisse- 
ment  of  Pont  1'Eveque.  "  This  Norman  village  has  bestowed 
its  name  upon  a  Scottish  family,  an  English  town,  an  Irish 
county,  a  Cambridge  college,  a  royal  dukedom,  and  a  King- 

239 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

at-Arms  "  (I.  Taylor).  The  Sieur  de  St.  Clair  is  named  by 
Wace  as  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  This  was  Richard  de 
St.  Clair,  who  had  lands  in  Suffolk  (Domesday).  His 
brother  Britel  held  lands  in  Somerset  (ibid.).  Now  Sinclere 
or  Sinclair. 

SALAWYN.  Joceus  le  Flamangh — i.e.,  the  Fleming — came 
to  England  with  the  Conqueror,  and  held  a  third  part  of  a 
knight's-fee  in  Cukeney,  Nottinghamshire,  and  two  plough- 
lands  of  the  King  by  the  service  of  shoeing  the  King's 
palfrey;  in  fact,  he  was  a  farrier.  His  brother,  Ralph  le 
Silvan  of  Woodhouse,  was  ancestor  of  the  Silvans  or  Salvins 
of  Woodhouse.  They  took  the  name  from  the  fact  of  living 
in  Sherwood  Forest.  The  name  remains  as  Salvin  and 
Salvyn. 

SANDFORD.  Gerard  de  Tornai — i.e.,  Tournay — held  Sand- 
ford  in  Shropshire,  under  Earl  Roger,  and  the  family  took 
the  name  from  the  place. 

SAUVAY,  not  met  with  till  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 

SAUNZAVER  or  SANS- AVOIR,  the  poverty-stricken.  Matthew 
Paris  mentions  a  Walter  Sansavoir  in  the  annals  of  1096. 
But  the  first  Sansaver  met  with  in  England  is  in  Devon  in 
1165. 

SANSPEUR  or  SAUNSPOUR,  a  nickname. 

SAGEVILLE,  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  the  Isle  de 
France.  Richard  de  Sacheville  occurs  as  holding  lands  in 
Essex  in  1086.  Sackville  is  the  modern  form. 

SAYE,  mentioned  by  Wace.  From  Say,  nine  miles  to  the 
west  of  Eximes,  the  chief  place  of  the  viscounty  of  Roger  de 
Montgomery  in  Normandy.  Picot  de  Say  is  named  in 
Domesday. 

SESSE,  from  Seez,  on  the  Arne,  in  Normandy.  The  name 
not  met  with  before  1130. 

SENGRYN  or  SEGUIN,  not  in  Domesday,  and  not  met  with 
before  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  In  1273  it  became  Segin, 
now  Seekins  and  Sequin. 

SOLERS,  from  Soliers,  near  Caen.  Two  of  the  family  are 
met  with  in  Domesday. 

SOMEROY,  entered  twice  by  Leland.  From  Someneri, 

240 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

near  Rouen.  William  de  Someri  held  lands  in  Sussex  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  I.  The  name  got  in  time  contracted  to 
Somers. 

SORELL,  not  met  with  before  the  reign  of  Henry  II. 
Now  Sarell  and  Serle  and  Searle,  the  Norman  Serlo,  a 
personal  name. 

SUYLLY.  Raymond  de  Sully  in  the  time  of  William  Rufus 
went  with  Robert  FitzHamon  to  the  conquest  of  Glamorgan, 
and  was  one  of  the  twelve  knights  that  shared  the  territory 
they  had  helped  to  win.  The  name  is  now  met  with  as 
Soley.  I  see  Sulky  on  many  coal-trucks. 

SOULES,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  St.  L6.  The 
men  of  Sole  are  mentioned  by  Wace  at  Hastings,  "  striking 
at  close  quarters,  and  holding  their  shields  over  their  heads 
so  as  to  receive  the  blows  of  the  hatchet."  The  family  was 
in  early  times  powerful  in  Scotland,  where  it  gave  its  name 
to  the  barony  of  Soulistown,  now  Saltoun,  in  East  Lothian. 

SOVERENY,  not  accounted  for. 

SURDEVAL.  Richard  de  Surdeval  in  1086  was  one  of  the 
tenants  of  the  Earl  of  Mortaine  in  Yorkshire,  holding  of  him 
180  manors.  Now  Sordwell. 

TAKEL  or  TACHEL,  first  heard  of  in  1165,  when  Simon 
Tachel  held  a  knight's-fee  of  Roger  de  Moubray  in  York- 
shire. Now  Tackle. 

TALBOT.  William  Talbot  came  to  England  in  1066,  and 
had  two  sons,  Richard  and  Godfrey,  who  are  mentioned  as 
under-tenants  in  Essex  and  Bedfordshire  (Domesday).  A 
nickname. 

TALLY  perhaps  stands  for  Tilly.  From  the  castle  and 
barony  of  Tilly,  near  Caen.  Ralph  de  Tilly  held  lands  in 
Devon  (Domesday).  The  name  of  Tilly  remains,  but  it  also 
signified  a  labourer. 

TANY,  from  Tani  in  Normandy.  Robert  de  Tani  held 
a  barony  in  Essex  (Domesday). 

TAY  and  THAYS  are  probably  the  same.  Derived  from  a 
certain  Baldric  Teutonicus.  He  was  called  later  De  Tyas, 
and  was  seated  in  Yorkshire,  Essex,  and  many  other 
counties.  The  motto  of  the  family  was  Tays  en  temps 

241  Q 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

(Know  when  to  hold  your  tongue).  Robert  Tay,  who  was 
engaged  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  had  a  variant  of  this  : 
"  Not  to  be  hanged  for  talking." 

TARTERAY  in  Leland's  list  is  a  misreading  or  a  misprint 
for  Carteray,  the  ancestor  of  the  Carterets. 

THORNY,  from  Tornai  in  Normandy.  Giraud  de  Torni 
received  eighteen  manors  from  Earl  Roger  de  Montgomeri. 

TIBOL,  probably  for  Tilliol,  from  a  place  so  named  near 
Rouen.  Humfrey  de  Tilleul  was  the  first  castellan  of  the 
new  castle  erected  at  Hastings. 

TINGEY,  not  to  be  identified. 

TINEL.  Thurstan  Tinel  and  his  wife  appear  in  Domesday 
as  under-tenants  in  Kent. 

TIPITOT,  from  Thiboutot,  in  the  Pays  de  Caux.  The  name 
does  not  occur  in  England  till  1165.  It  got  corrupted  to 
Tiptoft. 

TISOUN,  a  nickname.  From  tison,  a  badger ;  now  Tyson. 
The  family  was  so  called  from  the  knack  they  had  of  laying 
hold  with  their  claws  of  all  that  came  in  their  way  and 
appropriating  it.  Gilbert  Tison,  or  Tesson,  had  a  barony  in 
York,  Notts,  and  Lincoln  (Domesday). 

TOURYS.  Odo  de  Turri  had  large  possessions  in  Warwick- 
shire in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  at  Thoresby.  This  is  curious, 
that  he  should  have  settled  at  a  place  with  a  name  so 
similar  to  his  own.  The  name  Torre  is  still  extant  in 
Yorkshire. 

TREGOZ,  from  a  castle  of  that  name  in  the  arrondissement 
of  St.  L6.  A  Tregoz  was  in  the  Conqueror's  host,  and  is 
praised  by  Wace  for  his  bravery :  "  He  killed  two  English- 
men, smiting  the  one  through  with  his  lance  and  braining 
the  other  with  his  sword."  No  mention  of  the  family  in 
Domesday,  and  not  as  of  much  possessions  till  the  reign  of 
King  Stephen. 

TRACY.  It  is  uncertain  whether  Tracy  is  intended  in  the 
entry  in  Leland.  He  gives  "  Graunson  et  Tracy,"  and,  in 
accordance  with  the  system  adopted  in  the  roll,  the  name 
should  be  Gracy.  The  Sire  de  Traci  was,  however,  accord- 
ing to  Wace,  in  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  The  family  does 

242 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

not  appear  to  have  been  of  much  importance  in  England 
before  the  time  of  Stephen,  who  bestowed  upon  Henry  de 
Tracy  the  Honour  of  Barnstaple.  William  de  Tracy,  one  of 
the  murderers  of  Thomas  a  Becket,  had  extensive  estates  in 
Devonshire  and  Gloucestershire. 

TRAVILLE,  not  identified. 

TREVILLE,  same  as  Treilly,  from  a  castle  in  Manche. 
The  name  occurs  in  England  in  the  twelfth  century.  Now 
Treble. 

TRUSSEL.  The  name  does  not  occur  in  England  till  the 
twelfth  century. 

ST.  CLOYES,  not  identified. 

ST.  JOHN,  from  St.  Jean-le-Thomas,  near  Avranches.  The 
men  of  St.  Johan  are  spoken  of  at  Hastings  by  Wace.  Not 
named  in  Domesday,  but  in  the  reign  of  William  Rufus 
John  de  St.  John  was  one  of  the  twelve  knights  that  invaded 
Glamorgan  along  with  Robert  FitzHamon.  The  name 
remains. 

ST.  JORY,  not  identified ;  perhaps  now  Jury,  unless  from 
residence  in  the  Jewry,  or  Jews'  quarter,  in  a  town. 

ST.  LEGER,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Avranches. 
Robert  de  St.  Leger  was  estated  in  Sussex  (Domesday). 

ST.  LEO  or  ST.  L6,  from  a  place  near  Coutances ;  a  barony. 
Simon  de  St.  Laud  had  grants  at  the  Conquest. 

ST.  MARTIN,  not  in  Domesday,  but  Roger  de  St.  Martin 
was  Lord  of  Hampton,  Norfolk,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 

ST.  MAUR,  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Avranches. 
Wido  de  St.  Maur  came  to  England  in  1066,  but  died  before 
Domesday  was  compiled.  His  son,  William  FitzWido,  held 
a  barony  in  Somerset,  Wiltshire,  and  Gloucestershire,  and 
ten  manors  in  Somerset.  The  name  became  Seamore  and 
Seymour.  But  see  what  is  said  on  that  name  in  the  chapter 
on  Trade-names. 

ST.  OMER,  in  Leland's  list  St.  Thomer.  A  branch  of  the 
house  of  the  Barons  of  Bethune.  Not  in  Domesday,  but 
William  castellan  of  St.  Omer  is  mentioned  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  I.  The  name  is  found  now  as  Stomer. 

ST.  PHILIBERT — in  Leland,  Felebert.  From  St.  Philibert, 

243  Q  2 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

in  the  arrondisement  of  Pont  Audemer.  Not  in  Domesday, 
but  occurs  in  1213 ;  a  baronial  family. 

ST.  QUINTIN,  from  a  place  so  called  near  Coutances.  Hugh 
de  St.  Quintin  accompanied  the  Conqueror  to  England,  and 
received  lands  in  Essex  and  Dorset  (Domesday).  Whether 
the  name  of  Quintin  now  found  points  to  a  descent  from  the 
Norman  St.  Quintin  family  cannot  be  said. 

ST.  TES,  for  Saintes,  capital  of  the  Saintonge.  An  inter- 
polation, as  the  bearer  of  that  name  must  have  come  during 
the  English  occupation  of  Guienne. 

TURLEY,  for  Torlai  or  Thorley.  Not  named  before  1272. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Thorleys  of  the  Middle  Ages 
were  one  quarter  as  well  known  in  England  as  is  the  name 
of  Thorley  now  for  providing  "  food  for  cattle." 

TUCHET,  from  Notre  Dame  de  Touchet,  near  Mortaine 
in  Normandy.  The  family  was  seated  at  Buglawton  and 
Tattenhall  shortly  after  the  Conquest.  Sir  John  Touchet 
married  the  eldest  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Lord  Audley 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  the  barony  descended  to 
Sir  John's  son.  The  name  is  now  Tuckett.  There  is  a  con- 
fectioner of  that  name  at  Plymouth. 

TYRELL,  printed  in  Leland  "  Tyriet,"  but  certainly  a  mistake 
for  "Tyrell."  Fulk,  Sieur  de  Guernaville  and  Dean  of  Evreux, 
married  a  lady  named  Onelda,  and  had  by  her  two  children, 
of  whom  the  youngest — Walter — assumed  the  name  of 
Tyrell.  He  is  entered  in  Domesday  as  Walter  Tirelde, 
tenant  of  Richard  FitzGilbert,  Lord  of  Clare,  of  whom  he 
held  Langdon  in  Sussex. 

UMFRAVILLE,  from  Amfreville,  near  Evreux.  Robert 
Umfraville,  with  the  Beard,  Lord  of  Tour  and  Vian  in  Nor- 
mandy, had  a  grant  from  the  Conqueror  of  the  barony  of 
Prudhoe  and  the  lordship  of  Redesdale.  The  name  still  exists. 

VALENCE,  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  Normandy. 

VALLONIS,  for  Valognes,  in  the  Cotentin.  Peter  de 
Valognes,  or  Vallonis,  received  from  the  Conqueror  fifty- 
seven  manors,  and  was  created  Viscount  of  Essex. 

VAVASOUR.  A  vavasour  is  the  vassal  of  a  vassal,  or  the 
holder  under  a  mesne-lord.  But  the  baronial  Vavasours  were 

244 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

descended  from  Sir  Mauger  de  Vavasour,  porter  to  William 
the  Conqueror.  He  is  not  to  be  found  in  Domesday,  but  his 
grandson  was  a  landowner  in  Yorkshire. 

VAUX  or  DE  VALLIBUS.  Robert  of  that  name  was  a  sub- 
tenant in  Domesday,  as  was  also  Richard  de  Vaux.  The 
family  rose  to  great  distinction. 

VAVILLE,  properly  Wiville  or  Guideville,  held  in  Nor- 
mandy under  the  Toenis.  Hugh  de  Guidville  came  to 
England  in  1066,  and  held  lands  in  Northamptonshire  and 
Leicester  (Domesday).  The  name  has  gone  through  several 
changes.  The  Woodvilles  derived  from  this  Hugh  de  Guid- 
ville. But  the  name  continued  in  the  form  of  Wyville  or 
Wyvill  in  Yorkshire  and  in  Cornwall.  I  have  working  for 
me  an  under-carpenter  of  that  name,  whose  son  was  my  boot- 
boy  and  knife-cleaner.  Twice  in  Leland. 

VENABLES,  from  a  place  between  St.  Pierre  and  Vernon 
on  the  Seine.  It  was  the  seat  of  the  Veneurs,  or  Hereditary 
Huntsmen,  of  the  Norman  Dukes.  Gilbert  de  Venables,  or 
Venator,  was  one  of  the  Palatine  Barons  in  Cheshire  under 
Hugh  Lupus. 

VENOUR,  also  a  huntsman.  The  Grosvenour,  or  head- 
huntsman,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Grosvenor  family.  There 
were  seven  Venatores  mentioned  in  Domesday,  some  bearing 
Saxon  names ;  but  the  ancestor  of  the  Grosvenors  was  Ralph 
Venator,  one  of  the  attendant  Barons  on  Hugh  Lupus,  who 
held  Stapleford  under  the  Earl. 

VERBOIS,  from  a  place  near  Rouen.  The  family  gave 
its  name  as  Warboys  to  a  village  between  Huntingdon  and 
Ramsey. 

VERDERS,  from  verdier.  The  Verdier,  or  verderer,  was  a 
judge  of  petty  offences  against  the  forest  laws.  In  England 
his  office  was  to  take  care  of  the  vert,  a  word  applying  to 
everything  that  bears  a  green  leaf  within  the  forest  that  may 
cover  and  hide  a  deer. 

VERDON,  from  a  fief  in  the  arrondissement  of  Avranches. 
Bertram  de  Verdon,  the  founder  of  the  English  house,  had 
Farnham  Royal  in  Buckinghamshire  of  the  King  (Domes- 
day). 

245 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

VERB,  from  Ver,  between  Bayeux  and  Caen.  Alberic  de 
Vere  was  one  of  the  great  landowners  of  Domesday,  who 
had  his  castle  at  Hedingham  in  Essex.  His  successor  and 
namesake  was  Viscount  under  Henry  I.  in  no  less  than 
eleven  different  counties. 

VERNON,  from  Vernon  in  the  arrondissement  of  Evreux. 
Richard  and  Walter  appear  in  Domesday.  Richard  was 
one  of  the  Barons  of  the  palatinate  of  Hugh  Lupus  in 
Cheshire,  and  had  a  castle  at  Shipbrook  on  the  Wever. 

VESEY,  from  Vassey,  a  fief  in  the  Val  de  Vire,  mentioned 
by  Wace  as  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  under  the  name  of 
Waacee.  Robert  and  Ivo  were  there  present.  Robert 
received  a  great  barony  in  Northants,  Warwick,  Lincoln, 
and  Leicester.  The  name  remains  as  Vasey,  Facey,  Veysey, 
and  Voysey.  In  the  latter  form  I  had  a  labourer  working  for 
me  many  years  who  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

VEYLAND  cannot  be  a  Norman  name ;  it  is  Wayland,  the 
English  form  of  the  Norse  Viglund. 

VILLAIN.  Hugh  de  Villana  held  land  at  Taunton  under 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester.  The  name  assumed  the  forms 
of  Villane,  Velayne,  and  Willon. 

VINON,  for  Vivonne,  a  seigneurie  in  Poitou.  We  do  not 
hear  of  the  family  till  1240. 

VIPONT,  from  Vieuxpont-en-Auge,  near  Caen.  Robert, 
Lord  of  Vieupont,  was  at  Hastings,  and  William  is  also 
mentioned  by  Wace.  William  died  the  year  before  the 
compilation  of  Domesday,  but  his  son  is  mentioned  in  it, 
who  held  Hardingstone  in  Northamptonshire.  The  name 
has  become  Fippen  and  Fippon. 

VUASTENEYS  or  GASTiNAYS,  from  the  Gastinois,  south  of 
Paris  and  east  of  Orleans.  Goisfrid,  described  as  "homo 
Roberti  de  Stafford,"  who  held  large  tracts  of  land  in  the 
great  Stafford  barony,  was  the  founder  of  the  De  Wastineys 
in  England. 

WAGE,  shall  be  dealt  with  elsewhere. 

WACELAY,  not  traced. 

WALANGAY,  not  traced. 

WALOYS,  variously  spelt  Le  Walleys,  Wallais,  and 

246 


THE  ROLL  OF  BATTLE  ABBEY 

Latinized  Wallonis,  means  "the  Welshman";  now  Walsh 
and  Welsh,  also  Wallace. 

WAMERVILLE,  for  Wannerville;  not  heard  of  before  the 
second  half  of  the  twelfth  century. 

WARDE,  already  mentioned  under  De  la  Ward. 

WARENNE.  William  de  Warenne,  or  de  Garenne,  fought 
at  Hastings,  and  few  of  the  Duke's  followers  were  as 
munificently  dealt  with.  He  held  the  great  baronies  of 
Castle  Aire  in  Norfolk,  Lewes  in  Sussex,  and  Coningsburgh 
in  Yorkshire.  The  last  Earl  Warren  had  during  the  lifetime 
of  his  wife  lived  in  open  concubinage  with  Maud  de  Nerefort, 
by  whom  he  had  a  son  who  bore  his  arms  and  was  knighted, 
and  inherited  through  his  wife  the  Cheshire  barony  of 
Stockport,  and  their  descendants  remained  in  the  county 
for  fourteen  generations.  It  would  be  unwise  to  assume 
that  all  Warrens  are  descendants  of  William  de  Warenne. 
Most,  doubtless,  derive  their  name  from  some  warren,  of 
which  the  ancestor  was  warrener. 

WARLEY  stands  for  Verlai  in  Normandy.  In  1066 
Thurold  de  Verlai  held  thirteen  lordships  in  Salop  from 
Earl  Roger,  of  which  Chetwynd  appears  to  have  been  the 
chief.  But  Leland  enters  Werlay  as  well  as  Warley.  By 
this  Werlay  he  means  Vesli.  Humfrey  de  Vesli  was  a 
vassal  of  Ilbert  de  Lacy  in  Yorkshire  in  1086. 

WATERVILLE  is  a  mistake  for  Vateville  on  the  Seine. 
Three  de  Vatevilles  are  entered  in  Domesday  :  William, 
who  held  of  the  King  in  Essex  and  Suffolk,  etc. ;  Robert, 
who  held  in  capite  in  Surrey  with  five  manors  in  other 
counties;  and  Richard,  an  under-tenant  in  Surrey.  Now 
Waterfield. 

WAUNCY,  for  Vancy,  from  Vanci  or  Wanchy,  near  Neuf- 
chatel  in  Normandy.  Hugh  and  Osbern  "de  Wanceo " 
each  held  fiefs  in  Suffolk  in  1086. 

WEMERLAY,  not  traced,  but  probably  the  English 
Wamersley  and  Walmsley  ;  an  interpolation. 


247 


CHAPTER  XII 

FRENCH   NAMES :    I.  EARLY 

THAT  Whitsuntide  wedding  of  1152  when  Henry  Plantagenet 
took  to  wife  Eleanor  of  Guienne,  the  divorced  wife  of 
Louis  VII.,  was  an  event  full  of  disaster  to  both  England 
and  France.  Henry  II.  was  Lord  of  Anjou,  Touraine,  and 
Maine,  as  well  as  of  Normandy,  with  suzerainty  over 
Brittany;  he  was,  moreover,  King  of  England.  By  this 
marriage  his  empire  stretched  from  the  Flemish  border  to 
the  Pyrenees,  commanding  the  entire  coast  of  France,  with 
the  exception  of  that  on  the  Mediterranean,  which  belonged 
to  Provence  and  Toulouse,  covering  more  than  half  the  soil 
whose  nominal  lord  paramount  was  Louis  VII.1 

Eleanor  was  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  William  X., 
Duke  of  Aquitaine  and  Poitou.  She  had  gone  with  her 
husband  on  Crusade  to  the  Holy  Land  in  1146;  but  there 
scandal  had  it  that  she  carried  on  an  intrigue  with  her 
uncle,  Raymond  I.,  Prince  of  Antioch,  the  handsomest  man 
among  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross.  A  Council  was  held  at 
Beaugency  in  1152,  March  21,  when  the  marriage  with 
Louis  was  dissolved  on  the  convenient  plea  of  consanguinity, 
and  in  the  ensuing  May  she  married  Henry. 

A  disastrous  marriage  to  England  and  France  alike,  for 
by  it  the  kingdom  of  France  was  cut  off  from  the  ocean, 
contracted  within  narrow  bounds,  and  with  a  stricture  on  the 
arteries  of  commerce.  By  it,  for  300  years,  English  wealth 
and  English  blood  were  drained  away  to  be  squandered  on 
a  foreign  soil. 

1  Louis  IX.  was  obliged  to  buy  Aigues  Mortes  as  a  port  on  the 
Mediterranean  for  his  fleet,  when  in  1244  he  resolved  on  a  Crusade. 

248 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

The  broken  soldiers  of  fortune  from  the  French  possessions 
of  England  drifted  to  our  island  in  quest  of  offices  about  the 
Court,  or  came  in  the  service  of  noblemen,  to  be  rewarded 
by  being  settled  into  farms  and  lodges  on  English  soil. 
Cooks  and  scullions,  minstrels  and  porters,  chamberlains 
and  jesters,  marshals  and  foresters,  trooped  from  a  land 
devastated  and  depopulated,  to  settle  down  in  the  green 
pastures  and  among  the  flowering  orchards  of  England. 

But  the  tenure  of  all  the  ports  of  France  on  the  Channel 
and  the  Atlantic  served  to  enrich  England,  by  bringing  to  it 
the  commerce  of  the  mainland,  and  merchants  arrived  to 
display  their  wares,  at  first  in  booths  at  fairs,  then  to  settle 
permanently  into  shops  open  all  the  year  round. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  into  England  were  introduced 
foreign  designations  of  officers  in  Court  and  manor,  as  also 
those  of  merchants  and  traders.  Thus  it  is  that  side  by  side 
we  have  foreign  as  well  as  English  names,  as  Seamer  and 
Tailor,  Fletcher  and  Arrowsmith,  Seller  and  Sadler,  Porcher 
and  Swineherd. 

Undoubtedly,  after  Hastings,  a  considerable  number  of 
cautious  men,  who  had  waited  to  see  what  would  be  the 
results  of  William's  venture,  crossed  over  from  Normandy 
with  offers  of  assistance  to  keep  down  the  English.  Those 
who  had  come  across  with  him  were  but  a  handful,  so  that 
he  and  his  successors — the  Red  King  and  Henry  Beauclerk 
— were  ready  enough  to  accept  such  aid,  and  secure  such 
services,  without  inquiring  too  closely  as  to  why  they  had 
not  thrown  themselves  into  the  arms  of  the  Bastard  when 
he  first  planned  his  invasion. 

The  inflow  must  have  continued  with  little  diminution 
under  the  House  of  Anjou.  But  the  caution  must  be  made 
not  to  assume  that  those  arrivals  bearing  place-names  were 
Sieurs  with  territorial  estates,  or  even  knights.  Many  took 
their  names  from  the  places  where  they  had  been  born. 

I  shall  add  more  concerning  this  at  the  close  of  the 
chapter ;  but  I  will  now  deal  briefly  with  the  French  names 
that  have  become  rooted  among  us  and  have  been  Anglicized. 
These  fall  into  four  categories :  those  that  are  personal — 

249 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

names  adopted  as  patronymics  ;  those  that  are  descriptive  or 
an  office  or  a  trade  ;  those  that  are  personally  descriptive ; 
and,  lastly,  such  as  are  place-names.  The  same  four  cate- 
gories are  found  everywhere  in  Europe. 

i.  PERSONAL  NAMES. — In  a  good  number — perhaps  the 
majority — of  cases  where  a  personal  name  became  a  family 
name,  it  had  begun  as  a  Fitz  So-and-so.  But  Fitz  was  all 
very  well  and  understandable  among  the  Norman  and  French 
speaking  nobles  and  their  retainers,  but  not  among  the 
English  dwellers  on  the  land;  and  when  an  old  servant 
FitzHameln  retired  to  a  little  farm  or  a  forest  lodge,  and 
exchanged  his  associates  from  those  of  the  castle  for  those  on 
the  land,  he  now  shed  his  Fitz,  and  was  known  as  Hameln. 
My  hind  is  named  Hamley,  and  is  doubtless  a  descendant 
from  such  a  pensioned-off  retainer,  who  began  life  as  French 
Monsieur  FitzHamelin,  and  ended  it  as  Master  Hamlyn. 

Hammond  is  from  Hamon,  a  Norman  form  of  the  Old  Norse 
Hamundr.  Hamo  Dentatus,  "  with  the  Teeth,"  had  a  son 
Hamo  de  Crevecceur,  "  the  Break-heart."  The  Haymans 
of  Somerfield,  extinct  Baronets,  claimed  descent  from  the 
toothed  Hamo.  Whether  they  could  prove  it  is  another 
matter,  for  Heyman  or  Hayman  signifies  a  parish  servant 
for  keeping  the  cattle  from  straying  over  the  grass  "  heamed 
up  "  for  hay. 

Jordan  is  from  the  Norman  Jourdain,  a  Christian  name 
adopted  after  the  Crusades  had  begun,  and  Crusaders  re- 
turned with  a  bottle  of  Jordan  water,  wherewith  their  sons 
were  baptized,  and  at  the  same  time  were  called  after  the 
river.  I  had  a  gardener  once  of  this  name — perhaps,  judging 
by  it,  of  Norman  descent. 

Drew  is  from  the  Norman  name  Drogo,  but  in  some  cases, 
perhaps,  from  Dreux.  Drogo,  the  Norman  who  came  over 
with  William,  was  given  large  estates  in  Devonshire,  where 
the  name  remains  to  this  day. 

Emery  is  from  Amaury,  as  also  Merick.  Oates  is  a  name 
made  hateful  through  the  iniquities  of  Titus  Oates.  The 
name  is  from  Odo.  FitzOdo  came  over  with  the  Conqueror. 
Odo  is  the  same  as  Otho  or  Otto,  and  takes  as  well  the  form 

250 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

of  Eudes.  Odo  has  likewise  become  Ody  and  Hood.  Robin 
Hood  is  supposed  to  have  been  descended  from  FitzOtes. 
There  was  a  family  named  Hody  (from  Odo)  owning  much 
land  in  Devon.  Just  outside  the  parish  of  Lew  Trenchard 
is  a  block  of  cottages  on  which  was  painted  up  "  Little 
White  Spit."  On  consulting  the  map,  it  appeared  that  at 
some  distance  was  "  Great  White  Spit."  The  names  were 
corruptions  of  Little  Hody's  Bit  and  Great  Hody's  Bit,  as 
those  patches  of  land  had  belonged  to  the  Hody  family. 

Mrs.  Bar  dell  of  "  Pickwick "  fame  descended  from  a 
Bardolf.  Ours,  the  Bear,  must  have  been  accepted  as 
a  personal  name,  for  there  was  a  Fitzurse,  one  of  the 
murderers  of  Thomas  a  Becket.  This  name  has  descended 
to  Fitzoor,  then  Fyshour,  and  to  Fisher.  Goatcher  is  from 
Gautier,  the  French  form  of  Walter  ;  Gwillim  is  Guillaume, 
or  William;  Wilmot  is  Guillaumot,  Little  Billy.  I  had  a 
gardener  in  Yorkshire  called  Jaques,  a  French  form  of  James. 
Rolle  is  from  Raoul,  the  Norman  French  for  Rolf — unless 
Rolle  be  a  place-name,  De  Ruelles.  Ingram  is  Enguerand. 
Fookes  and  Yokes  and  Folkes  are  from  Folko  ;  Eustace  and 
Stacey  from  Eustacy ;  Reynald  and  Rennell  are  Reynaud 
or  Reginald.  Pierre  has  furnished  us  with  our  Pierces  and 
Pearces.  Oger  has  become  Odger.  Lias  and  Lyass  come  from 
Elias,  not  an  uncommon  name  among  the  Normans.  Arnoul 
has  become  Arnold,  and  Ivo  is  Ivey.  Raymond  and  Gilbert 
we  derive  from  Normandy.  Gerard  remains  unaltered. 
Mauger  has  been  transformed  into  Major.  In  Georgeham 
Church,  Devon,  are  the  monumental  efBgies  of  Sir  Mauger 
de  St.  Albino  and  his  lady  ;  he  is  in  armour.  The  villagers 
say  that  this  is  the  tomb  of  Major  St.  Aubyn  and  his 
"  missus."  Milo  has  become  Miles.  Perhaps  from  Guido 
we  have  the  surname  Giddy.  Alured  is  turned  into  Aldred. 
From  Thibault  come  the  Tibbets  and  Tippets.  There  is, 
however,  a  place  named  Thiboutot  in  the  Pays  de  Caux,  but 
this  place  apparently  takes  its  name  from  a  Thibault.  The 
name  Tibbald  is  not  uncommon  among  labourers  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Colchester.  Willett  is  from  Guillot,  a 
diminutive  of  Guillaume,  but  we  have  it  unaltered  as  the 

251 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

name  of  one  of  the  first  manufacturers  of  steel  pens.  Aubrey 
is  the  English  of  Alberic ;  Fra^ois  has  given  us  Francis  and 
Franks;  and  Walkelin  has  supplied  us  with  Wakling. 

2.  OFFICIAL  AND  TRADE  NAMES. — These  have  been  largely 
dealt  with  in  preceding  chapters,  and  need  not  here  delay  us 
and  demand  repetition. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  that  have  not  been  included  in 
them  that  may  receive  notice  here.  Wade  and  Wayte  may 
come  from  Guet  as  well  as  from  a  ford,1  or  be  employed  for 
a  watchman  ;  and  Way  may  come  from  gue,  a  ford.  Baynes 
and  Baines  may  be  a  name  given  to  a  man  in  charge  of  a 
bath,  or  it  may  come  from  one  of  the  French  places  named 
Bagnes.  The  Baines  family  has  adopted  canting  arms — 
crossbones — but  this  is  a  mistaken  derivation.  Over  the 
cemetery  entrance  in  a  certain  place  was  inscribed  in  large 
letters,  "  De  mortuis  nil  nisi  bonum."  A  father  walking  that 
way  with  his  son,  fresh  from  college,  asked  him  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence.  "  Oh,"  answered  the  youth,  "  Of  the  dead 
nothing  remains  but  bones." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  side  by  side  men  of  different 
nationalities  pursuing  the  same  trade,  yet  called  by  different 
names,  as  though  the  Normans  had  employed  men  of  their 
nationality,  and  the  English  had  given  their  custom  to  men 
of  their  own.  N orris  is  sometimes  from  nourice,  nurse. 
Lord  N  orris  was  unquestionably  descended  from  Richard 
de  Norreys,  the  favourite  cook  of  Eleanor  de  Provence,  wife 
of  Henry  III.  But  he  may  have  been  the  son  of  a  nurse. 
And  beside  the  French  Norris  we  have  also  the  English  sur- 
name Nourse.  Salt- workers  employed  by  the  Norman  French 
were  Sauniers — whence  the  surname  Sawner — whereas  the 
English  got  the  condiment  from  native  Salters. 

It  would  appear  as  if  in  some  instances  the  Normans 
brought  their  serfs  over  with  them,  perhaps  for  the  nonce  to 
serve  as  fighting  men,  and  then  rewarded  them  with  a  farm, 
and  they  retained  the  designation  of  the  office  they  held  in 
Normandy.  So  can  one  explain  the  presence  among  us  of 
Porchers :  a  swineherd  would  be  a  Swineherd  to  the  English 

1  William  atte  Wayte  was  Vicar  of  Shebbeare,  1356. 
252 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

villagers ;  set  down  in  their  midst  as  a  small  farmer,  called 
by  his  fellow- Nor  mans  "  Jean  le  Porcher,"  he  would  acquire 
among  the  natives  the  name  of  Jan  Porcher. 

To  what  a  large  extent  the  foreigner  must  have  usurped 
the  higher  branches  of  trade  and  commerce  may  be  seen  by 
the  introduction  of  the  word  and  name  of  Merchant,  and  the 
sinking  of  that  of  Monger.  It  is  only  the  ironmonger,  and 
the  costermonger  who  hawks  his  wares  from  door  to  door, 
and  the  fishmonger,  and  a  few  other  smaller  tradesmen,  who 
retain  the  good  old  Saxon  designation.  All  the  higher  class 
of  tradesmen,  in  deeds  and  in  registers,  write  themselves 
"  merchants."  The  greatest  term  of  contempt  that  can  be 
given  to  a  dog  is  that  it  is  a  mongrel — a  small  tradesman, 
a  half-breed. 

3.  PERSONALLY  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. — These  can  have 
been  accepted  by  the  family  only  if  complimentary,  or  be- 
cause misunderstood,  when  an  old  foreign  retainer  or  man-at- 
arms  went  to  end  his  days  in  the  village  among  farmers  and 
villeins,  talking  to  them  in  broken  English.  They  had  heard 
him  spoken  of  at  the  hall  as  Phillipot,  or  as  Fouille-au-pot. 
It  mattered  nothing  to  them  whether  he  were  called  by  his 
fellow  Frenchmen  Little  Phil,  or  the  scullion,  and  they 
called  him  and  his  family  Philpotts.  From  the  same  source 
we  have  Willard,  or  gueulard,  a  brawler ;  Mordaunt,  one 
biting  or  sarcastic ;  Mutton,  a  sheep  ;  Patey,  from  pateux,  an 
adhesive  person — one  such  as  was  Benedict,  according  to 
Beatrice :  "  He  will  hang  upon  him  like  a  disease ;  he  is 
sooner  caught  than  the  pestilence,  and  the  taker  presently 
runs  mad."  Prouse,  or  Prouze,  from  preux,  chivalrous  ;  Sale, 
dirty  j1  Capron  and  Capern,  one  wearing  a  short  cloak.  An 
old  servant  who  had  set  up  a  tavern  outside  a  town  called 
it  his  "  Guinguette,"  and  thence  obtained  the  surname  of 
Wingate. 

Racket  is  either  the  man  with  the  little  axe,  or  else  the 
name  comes  from  a  residence  near  a  wicket-gate.  Le  Neveu 
became  Le  Neave,  and  then  Neave.  Le  Beaufils  was  shortened 

1  But  the  surname  Sayles  may  signify  one  living  by  the  sqy/es,  or 
palisading,  of  a  park:  Robert  a  la  Sale,  1273,  Hundred  Rolls. 

253 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

into  Buffets.  Timble  was  the  name  acquired  by  the  French- 
man who  played  on  the  timbal,  the  kettledrum.  Grice  is 
from  Le  Gris,  the  Grey-haired  —  unless  from  griis,  a  pig. 
Rouse  is  from  Le  Roux,  and  Morell  from  a  dusky  com- 
plexion. Grant  is  from  Le  Grand,  and  Petty  from  Le  Petit. 
Trist  is  from  trisie,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Joyce  from  Le 
Joyeux.  Douce  may  be  significative  of  a  gentle  disposition, 
but  may  also  signify  a  Dutch  ancestry.  A  man  in  my  parish 
who  picks  up  a  small  livelihood  by  going  round  on  Saturday, 
selling  penny  papers,  is  surnamed  Curtis,  Le  Courtois ;  and  I 
knew  a  little  farmer  named  Poley,  from  Le  Polis,  the  polished 
and  refined.  A  Fyers  comes  from  Le  Fier,  and  Gent  from 
Le  Gentil. 

The  trees  meet  us  in  double  form — English  and  French — 
in  our  surnames.  We  have  the  Norman  Fail,  or  Fayle,  and 
the  English  Beech ;  also  Frein  and  Freyne,  the  name  coming 
mediately  through  Fresne  in  Calvados.  I  had  a  cook  once 
called  Freyne ;  this  signifies  an  ash.  The  hazel-tree  we 
encounter  in  Coudray,  the  name  of  a  place  in  Calvados,  and 
also  in  Kent.  Tallis,  our  English  composer,  took  his  name 
from  Taillis  in  Seine-Inf6rieure,  that  means  underwood. 
Wood  is  with  us  as  Boys,  and  the  Norman-French  Bosc  is 
recognizable  in  our  family  name  Busk.  But  we  have  also 
Tallboys,  or  woodcutter. 

Names  expressive  of  deformity  are  to  be  accepted  with 
great  hesitation,  and  only  to  be  explained  as  above  stated, 
on  the  assumption  that  their  meaning  was  not  understood 
by  the  English.  Chase  may  in  some  instances  come  from 
chassieux,  blear-eyed ;  but  Cammoys  did  come  from  cammus, 
flat-nosed,  and  Courteney  from  short  nose.  Peggotty,  of  "  David 
Copperfield  "  fame,  unquestionably  is  the  Norman-French 
picote,  smallpox-marked.  Comper  may  derive  from  Compere  ; 
Benbow  has  no  relation  to  archery  —  it  is  a  rendering  of 
bambouche,  a  puppet.  Bunyan  has  been  erroneously  de- 
duced from  Bon- Jean — it  is  really  Ap-Einion  ;  and  Mytton 
in  like  manner  has  been  derived  from  miton,  a  spoiled  child, 
whereas  it  is  from  Mitton  (Mid(de)-Town)  in  Yorkshire. 

4.  PLACE-NAMES. — By  far  the   most   numerous   French 

254 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

names  taken  into  our  family  nomenclature  come  from  places 
in  Normandy  or  other  portions  of  the  possessions  of  the 
Anjou  dynasty.  A  good  number  of  these  has  been  given  in 
the  chapter  on  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey  ;  but  I  add  some 
others  here,  without  pretending  to  give  an  exhaustive  list : 

AGNEW  does  not  necessarily  come  from  agneau,  a  lamb, 
but  may  also  be  a  place-name,  Agneaux,  in  the  department 
of  Manche. 

AINGER  is  Angers,  capital  of  Maine-et-Loire. 

ANWYLL,  a  name  now  found  in  Wales,  is  derived  from 
Anseville. 

ARCH,  the  name  of  a  peasant  agitator  in  Essex,  is  from 
Arques  in  Seine-Infe'rieure ;  but  there  are  several  other 
localities  of  that  name. 

AVERY  is  from  Evreux. 

BARBEY,  from  Barbey,  in  Seine-et-Marne. 

BARWISE,  from  Barvaix. 

BATTEN  and  BEATON  derive  from  Bethune  in  Pas-de- 
Calais  ;  and  BAVE,  from  Bavey,  in  the  department  of  Nord. 

BAVENT  is  from  a  place  of  that  name  near  Caen. 

BARWELL  is  from  Berville  in  Eure. 

BEAVER  is  not  from  the  beast,  but  from  Beauvoir ;  and 
BELCHER  from  Bellecourt. 

Some  of  the  BEARDS  do  not  take  their  name  from  "valour's 
excrement,"  as  Bassanio  called  it,  but  from  Les  Biards,  or 
Biard,  as  it  was  formerly,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Mortaine, 
near  Joigny,  the  fief  of  the  Avenels. 

"  Des  Biars  i  fu  Avenals," 

says  Wace.  The  Avenels  joined  the  Conqueror  with  a  con- 
tingent of  lusty  men,  and  doubtless  planted  some  of  them 
in  farms  and  homesteads  about  their  castle  at  the  Peak,  and  on 
other  lands  in  their  possession.  Such  would  not  call  them- 
selves Avenels,  but  Biards,  after  the  place  whence  they 
came,  and  thence  Beards. 

BELLCHAMBERS  is  from  Belencombre,  near  Dieppe. 

BLOMFIELD  is  from  Blonville,  near  Pont  l'Ev£que. 

BELLASIS  is  from  a  place  so  called  near  Coulommieres. 

255 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

BISSET  is  from  Bissey  in  Cote-d'Or ;  and  BOFFIN  from 
Bouvignes  on  the  Meuse,  nearly  over  against  Dinant,  an 
ancient  town  commanded  by  a  stately  castle. 

BLOYE  is  deducible  from  Blois. 

BONVILL,  from  Bonneville,  near  Rouen. 

BOOSEY,  the  music  publisher,  derives  his  name  from 
Boussey  in  Cote-d'Or. 

BONNEY,  from  Bony,  near  Peronne. 

BOSWELL  derives  from  Bosville,  in  Seine-Infe'rieure. 

BOUTELL,  the  name  of  an  authority  on  brasses  and  on 
heraldry,  has  naught  to  do  with  bottles,  but  derives  from 
Boutailles  in  Dordogne.  A  migrant  during  the  Hundred 
Years'  War  and  the  Plantagenet  possession  of  Guienne. 

BOVEY,  when  not  from  Bovey  in  Devon,  is  from  Bouffay 
in  Eure. 

BRAINE  may  derive  from  Brain  in  Cote-d'Or,  or  from 
Braine  in  Oise. 

BREWER  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  ancestor  of 
the  Brewers  was  one  who  brewed  a  peck  of  malt,  for  it 
comes  from  Bruyeres  in  Seine-et-Oise. 

BRUDENELL  hails  from  one  of  the  many  Brettignolles. 
One  is  in  Maine. 

Although  the  London  BUCKETS  came  from  a  German  of 
Heidelberg  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  whose  son 
became  an  Alderman  of  London  in  1634,  all  earlier  Buckets 
deduce  their  name  from  Buquet,  near  St.  Malo. 

BURDETT  is  from  Bourdet. 

BURT  is  from  Bourth  in  Eure. 

Mr.  Hall  CAINE,  the  novelist,  derives  his  name  remotely 
from  Cahaignes,  in  the  department  of  Eure ;  and  CAMMIDGE 
is  the  same  as  Gamidge,  from  Gamaches  in  Somme. 

CANN  is  from  Caen ;  and  CHAFFERS,  the  great  authority 
on  hall-marks  for  plate  and  on  china,  draws  his  name  from 
Caffiers  in  Pas-de-Calais. 

CHAMLEY  is  Chamilly,  Saone-et- Loire ;  and  CHANTRELL 
is  Chanterelle  in  Cantal. 

CAUSE  is  from  the  Pays  de  Caux. 

CARRINGTON  drew  his  name  from  Charenton,  in  the 

256 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

department  of  Seine ;  and  CAYLEY  from  Cailly  in   Seine- 
Inferieure. 

CHAWNEY  is  from  Chauny,  on  the  Oise ;  and  CHAWNES 
from  Chaulnes. 

CHERWELL,  from  Carville. 

CHESNEY,  from  Chesnais  ;  a  widely-spread  name. 

CHEYNELL  is  from  Quesnel ;  and  CHURCHILL  perhaps  in 
some  instances  may  be  an  anglicizing  of  Courcelle  in  Seine- 
et-Oise. 

CLAVELL  is  from  Claville,  near  Evreux ;  and  CONDY,  that 
supplies  a  name  to  the  disinfecting  fluid,  permanganate  of 
potash,  as  well  as  CUNDY,  come  from  Conde,  in  Somme, 
Eure,  and  other  departments.  We  cannot  count  the  patentee 
of  Condy's  Fluid  as  a  descendant  of  the  great  Conde",  only 
as  partaking  with  him  in  a  place-name. 

CONQUEST  is  from  Conques  in  Aveyron — a  most  interest- 
ing place,  with  a  church  treasure  of  almost  unsurpassed 
value,  happily  saved  during  the  Revolution.  English 
authority  extended  over  this  part  of  the  South  of  France 
fitfully  and  disputedly,  and  the  Conquest  who  came  to 
England  must  have  been  one  who  had  thrown  in  his  lot  with 
the  losing  side. 

Sir  Roger  de  COVERLEY'S  ancestor  came  from  Coveliers. 

The  CRESSYS  and  CREASYS  deduce  from  Cregy,  the  scene 
of  the  great  victory  of  Henry  V. 

A  good  old  nurse,  one  of  the  faithful  of  the  past  generation, 
was  a  CROCKET  of  ancient  Norman  extraction,  doubtless 
from  Criquetot  in  Normandy. 

CROLEY  is  from  Creuilly. 

CUFF  and  COFFEE,  from  Coiffy,  in  Haute  Marne. 

CUSTANCE,  from  Coutances.  The  Bishop  of  that  see  came 
to  England  with  the  Conqueror.  Godfrid  was  his  name,  and 
he  was  richly  rewarded  with  manors.  He  plundered  his 
estates  in  England  to  obtain  the  money  wherewith  to  build 
the  glorious  cathedral  of  Coutances.  Doubtless  the  distance 
family  derives  from  some  retainer  of  the  Bishop  who  remained 
in  England  looking  after  his  interests,  but  certainly  not  those 
of  his  tenants  and  villeins. 

257  R 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

DAMPIERRE  is  a  place-name  in  Seine-Inferieure. 

DAVERS  is  De  Havre. 

DARK  is  from  D'Arques  in  Normandy.  I  know  a  labour- 
ing man  so  named. 

DIMOND  derives  from  Dimont  in  Nord ;  and  DINHAM 
from  Dinan. 

DIPROSE  is  from  De  Pre"aux. 

DOMVILLE  is  from  Donville  in  Manche. 

DAY  and  TOYE,  from  Douay ;  and  DRUCE,  from  Dreux. 

DUCIE  is  from  Du9y,  near  Avranches. 

DUDNEY  may  be  Dieudonne"  (the  "  gift  of  God  ")  or  a 
place-name  in  Oise. 

DUFFY  is  D'Auffai.1 

Dame  DURDON,  who  kept  three  serving-men,  was  of 
Norman  ancestry,  from  Dourdan  in  Seine-et-Oise.  I  have 
a  tenant  of  the  name  in  a  cottage,  a  labouring  man.2 

EVILL  is  from  Yville  in  Normandy.  At  first  the  name 
was  D'Eville,  but  the  d  was  dropped  because  Devil  was  the 
inevitable  corruption.  Indeed,  even  then  the  name  did  not 
escape.  My  uncle  had  a  white-haired  curate  of  the  name  of 
Evill,  but  he  went  throughout  the  neighbourhood  by  the 
name  of  "  the  Old  Devil,"  though  a  more  innocent  and  gentle 
soul  did  not  exist. 

EYRE  is  a  place-name  in  Normandy. 

FANCOURT  is  a  corruption  of  Vandelicourt. 

FILBERT  or  FILLBIRD  is  St.  Philibert  in  Calvados. 

FOULGER  is  from  Fougeres  in  Ille-et-Vilaine. 

FOLLETT  may  not  be  from  Folliott,  but  be  a  place-name — 
De  Veulette. 

FOWELL  deduces  from  Fauvel  or  Vauvelle  in  Normandy. 

FURSE  is  the  De  Forz  in  some  copies  of  the  Battle  Abbey 
Roll,  and  it  occurs  in  Domesday  as  Fursa ;  but  it  is  doubtful 
if  it  be  a  Norman  name,  and  not  Saxon.  A  tenant  of  one  of 
my  farms  bore  this  appellation. 

1  Ordericus  gives  an  account  of  this  family  (vi.  8). 

2  There  is,  however,  a  Dearden  near  Edenfield,  in  Lancashire.     But 
Durdon  was  the  famous  fortress  of  the  Duke  of  Ardennes,  according  to 
the  medieval  romance  of  the  Seven  Sons  of  Aymon. 

258 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

GAYLORD  is  from  Chateau  Galliard,  on  the  Seine. 

GILBEY,  the  great  wine-merchant,  whose  crest — a  dragon 
issuing  from  a  tower — is  on  every  bottle  he  sells,  may  derive 
from  Quilleboeuf  in  Normandy.  There  is,  however,  a 
Kilby  in  Leicestershire;  and  in  the  Oxford  University 
Register  for  1571  is  the  entry  of  Richard  Gilbye  or  Kelby  of 
Lincolnshire. 

GOAD  and  GOOD  are  from  Goude ;  and  GORMAN,  when 
not  from  the  Norse  Gormundr,  is  from  Gourmont,  and  this 
is  the  more  probable  as  it  is  a  name  still  widespread  in 
Normandy.  Gorman  was  the  name  of  a  policeman  in  my 
district  in  Devon. 

GOSLING  is  Joscelin  in  Brittany. 

GUINNESS,  the  brewer,  derives  his  name  from  Guines,  near 
Calais. 

HANSOM,  the  inventor  of  the  cab  that  takes  his  name, 
derives  his  from  Anceaumville  in  Seine-Infe'rieure ;  and 
HERRICK,  the  poet,  could  look  back  to  an  ancestor  from 
Heric  in  Loire-Inferieure. 

HOLMES  is  not  always  descriptive  of  one  living  on  a  low 
island,  but  comes  from  La  Houlme  in  Seine-Inferieure. 

INGHAM  might  be  supposed  to  be  the  ham  or  hame  on  the 
ing  or  eng,  a' field  by  a  river-side.  It  is  not  this,  however, 
but  is  the  anglicized  form  of  Engaine ;  and  IVORY  derives 
from  Ivry.  I  remember  a  baker  of  that  name.  Rudolf  d'lvry 
the  uncle  of  Duke  Richard  the  Good,  was  the  son  of  a  miller 
who  had  complaisantly  married  the  cast-off  mistress  of  Duke 
William  Longsword.  "  No  Princes  were  more  lax  as  to 
marriage  than  the  Norman  Dukes.  Both  William  Longsword 
and  Richard  the  Fearless  were  the  offspring  of  unions  which 
were  very  doubtful  in  the  eye  of  the  Church  ;  and  Richard 
the  Good  and  other  children  of  Richard  the  Fearless  were 
legitimatized  only  after  the  marriage  of  their  parents" 
("  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  ").  So  the  Ivry  family  rose  from 
a  mill  to  great  splendour  and  rank,  and  now  is  represented 
by  a  baker. 

JOBLING  is  from  Jublains  in  Mayenne. 

KISSACK  and  CUSSACK,  from  Quissac  in  Lot — arrivals  and 

259  R  2 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

settlers  in  England  when  our  arms  were  being  driven  out  of 
the  South  of  France.  There  the  petty  nobles  and  knights 
passed  from  one  side  to  another  without  scruple,  according 
to  the  pay  offered,  or  to  the  chance  of  plunder,  or  to  revenge 
a  slight.  Some,  who  had  too  deeply  compromised  them- 
selves on  the  English  side,  were  obliged  to  abandon  their 
paternal  acres  and  castles  built  in  and  out  of  the  limestone 
rocks,  and  take  ship  at  Bordeaux  and  retire  to  England. 
The  condition  of  misery  in  which  the  people  were  during  the 
Hundred  Years  War  cannot  be  realized  by  those  who  have 
not  visited  the  Gausses,  and  seen  how  the  unhappy  peasants 
were  constrained  to  make  their  houses  on  the  face  of  a  preci- 
pice, and  at  night  haul  up  their  cattle  to  their  rock  fastnesses.1 

KNOWLES,  if  not  the  short  of  OLIVER,  may  be  from  Noailles. 

The  names  of  LILLEY,  LYALL,  and  LISLE,  come  from 
Lille,  in  the  department  of  Nord. 

LINE  and  LYNE  are  from  Luynes  in  Indre-et-Loire ;  and 
LINTOTT  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  Seine- Inferieure. 

LONGFELLOW,  the  poet,  derives  a  mutilated  name  from 
Longueville  in  Calvados ;  and  LONGSHANKS  is  a  barbarous 
alteration  of  Longchamps,  in  the  department  of  Seine.  As 
I  have  said  before,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  all  those  who 
bear  a  place-name  had  lands  and  a  castle  in  that  place.  The 
De  Longchamps  were  a  great  baronial  race  ;  but  William 
de  Longchamps,  the  Chancellor  of  Coeur  de  Lion,  did  not 
pertain  to  it.  He  and  his  brother,  the  Sheriff  of  York, 
Norfolk,  and  Suffolk,  were  the  grandsons  of  a  serf  in  the 
Diocese  of  Beauvais.  William,  who  was  Bishop  of  Ely, 
bought  the  chancellorship  of  Richard  for  3,000  marks.  "And 
had  he  continued  in  office,"  said  his  enemies,  "  the  kingdom 
would  have  been  wholly  exhausted — not  a  girdle  would  have 
remained  to  the  man,  nor  a  bracelet  to  the  woman,  nor  a  gem 
to  a  Jew."  At  his  fall  he  was  obliged  to  make  his  escape  in 
the  disguise  of  a  woman. 

LOWRY  is  from  Lowry  in  Loiret. 

MAGNAC,  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  Haute  Vienne. 

MAGNAY  and  MAGNAL,  whose  dreadful  and  useless  ques- 
1  See  my  "  Deserts  of  Central  France  "  for  these  rock  refuges. 

260 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

tions  were  the  plague  of  one's  childhood,  came  from  Magny 
in  Calvados. 

MAINWARING  is  from  Mont  Guerin,  and  MATCHAM  from 
Muschamp  in  Normandy. 

MANWELL,  from  Mandeville  in  Calvados,  which  gave  its 
name  to  the  great  traveller  Sir  John. 

MANSELL  is  from  Le  Mans.  Wace  tells  us  that  many  of 
these  went  to  help  in  the  invasion  of  England.  The  existing 
family,  however,  derives  from  John  Mansell,  in  the  reign  of 
King  Henry  III.  He  was  one  of  the  grossest  pluralists 
known  in  England,  for  he  held  700  livings  at  one  and  the 
same  time.  He  was  also  Provost  of  Beverley,  Treasurer  of 
York,  Chief  Justice  of  England,  one  of  the  Privy  Council, 
Chaplain  to  the  King,  and  his  Ambassador  to  Spain.  He 
had  a  wife,  an  heiress  (Joan  de  Beauchamp,  daughter  of 
Simon,  Baron  of  Bedford),  and  left  a  son  (Sir  Thomas 
Mansell),  who  was  a  banneret.  He  feasted  at  his  house  at 
Tothill  two  Kings  and  their  Queens,  with  their  dependents, 
and  700  messes  of  meat  scarce  served  for  the  first  dinner. 
A  Sir  Thomas  Mansell,  a  lineal  descendant,  was  created 
Lord  Mansell  by  Queen  Anne  in  1711. 

MANT  also  is  from  Mantes  or  from  Le  Mans. 

MARVELL  is  from  Merville,  near  Caen.  Andrew  Marvell, 
the  poet,  must  have  derived  thence. 

MAUDE  is  drawn  from  Monthaut,  a  hill  in  Flintshire  on 
which  Robert  de  la  Mare  built  a  castle,  now  called  Mola. 
But  the  name  has  been  supposed  to  derive  from  Le  Mauduit, 
the  excommunicated  or  accursed  one,  who  came  over  with 
the  Conqueror. 

MAIRE  and  MAYOR  are  not  necessarily  names  derived  from 
office,  but  may  come  from  La  Mare. 

MAYBRICK  derives  from  Makebranche,  that  was  altered 
first  into  Malebrank  and  then  into  Maybrick. 

MERRIT,  and  the  commoner  name  MERRY,  are  due  to 
Merey  in  Eure ;  and  Sir  Thomas  MALLORY,  who  wrote  his 
delightful  "  Morte  d' Arthur  "  that  was  printed  by  Caxton, 
drew  his  name  from  Meilleray  in  Seine-et-Marne  probably, 
but  the  name  is  found  in  other  departments  as  well. 

261 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

All  MILLERS  do  not  necessarily  come  from  the  mill,  for 
there  was  a  Norman  family  De  Meslieres.  A  William  de 
Meslieres  witnessed  Richard  Builli's  foundation  charter  of 
Roche  Abbey,  Yorkshire,  in  1146,  as  well  as  that  of  Box- 
grove  in  Sussex. 

MONEY  is  a  corruption  of  De  Mauny.  Sir  Walter  Manny 
or  Mauny,  afterwards  Lord  de  Manny,  and  founder  of  the 
Charterhouse,  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  soldiers  of 
fortune  under  Edward  III.  His  father  was  Jean  le  Borgne, 
or  the  One- Eyed,  Lord  of  Mauny,  near  Valenciennes,  who 
was  killed  in  a  private  quarrel  in  the  English  camp  before 
La  Reole,  on  the  Garonne,  in  1327.  Walter  came  to  England 
in  the  train  of  Queen  Philippa,  who  made  him  one  of  her 
Esquires,  and  he  was  given  the  governorship  of  Merioneth, 
and  the  keepership  of  Harlech  Castle.  He  married  Mar- 
garet, daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  of  Brotherton,  second 
son  of  Edward  I.,  but  his  only  son  fell  down  a  well  and  was 
drowned  in  his  father's  lifetime.  He  had  but  one  legitimate 
daughter,  who  married  John  Hastings,  Earl  of  Pembroke  ; 
but  he  had  two  others  that  were  illegitimate,  of  whom  he 
cannot  have  been  proud,  as  he  gave  them  the  names,  the 
one  of  Maloisel  (a  bad  bird)  and  the  other  of  Malplesant 
(disagreeable).  The  English  Moneys  consequently  cannot 
derive  from  Walter  de  Manny,  but  almost  surely  from  some 
of  his  attendants,  natives  of  Mauny,  who  followed  him  in 
war  and  were  settled  by  him  on  his  estates  in  England.  He 
died  in  January,  1372. 

MOON  or  MOHUN  is  from  Moyon  in  Manche. 

Some  of  our  MONDAYS  and  MUNDYS  may  derive  from 
Mondaye  in  Calvados,  and  not  from  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

MORTICE,  from  Mortaise  in  Calvados. 

MOTT  is  from  La  Motte,  a  very  common  name  of  place 
and  of  family  in  France. 

MULLINS  is  Des  Moulins. 

NEVILL  and  NEWELL  are  from  Neville  in  Manche,  and 
NOEL  from  Noailles  in  Oise. 

NEWERS  and  NOYES  are  derived  from  Noyers  in  Eure, 
and  NUGENT  from  Nogent  in  Seine. 

262 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

OTLEY  is  from  Otteville.  In  "  Testa  de  Neville  "  the  name 
is  spelt  Ottele. 

PEROWNE  is  from  Peronne,  in  the  department  of  Nord. 
Poor,  humble-minded  Tom  PINCH  may  have  had  a  Norman 
ancestry  and  come  from  Penchard  in  Seine-et-Marne,  whence 
certainly  came  the  PINCHARDS. 

PINKERTON  is  from  Pontchardon. 

PINKNEY,  from  Piquigny,  near  Amiens,  and  PLACE  and 
PLAICE  from  either  Plagy  in  Calvados  or  Plage  in  Mayenne. 

The  not  very  beautiful  name  of  PUDSEY  comes  from 
Puisay,  in  the  Orleanois.  This  place  gave  its  name  to  one 
of  the  chief  nobles  of  France,  Everard  de  Puisay,  whose 
daughter  Adelais  was  the  second  wife  of  Roger  de  Mont- 
gomery, Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  She  came  to  England  in 
1083.  During  her  voyage  she  was  overtaken  by  a  storm, 
and  all  despaired  of  reaching  land.  However,  a  priest 
had  a  dream  in  which  the  Magdalen  appeared  to  him 
and  bade  him  tell  Adelais  to  build  a  church  in  her  honour 
at  the  spot  where  she  should  meet  her  husband  for  the 
first  time,  and  where  grew  a  hollow  oak  beside  a  pig-sty. 
The  Countess,  obedient  to  the  vision,  on  reaching  the  spot 
vowed  to  build  a  church,  which  is  Quatford  in  Shropshire. 
Hugh  de  Pudsey  was  elected  Prince-Bishop  of  Durham  in 
^SS*  when  he  was  Treasurer  of  York.  He  had  three 
bastards:  Henry  became  a  soldier,  Burchard  was  made 
Archdeacon  of  Durham,  and  Hugh  was  created  Count  of 
Bar-sur-Seine.  It  is  probably  from  the  eldest  Henry  that 
the  Pudseys  of  Durham  have  descended,  unless  the  Arch- 
deacon followed  his  father's  example.  They  remained  in  the 
palatinate  till  the  seventeenth  century,  and  then  spread  over 
Yorkshire.  I  have  known  Pudseys  who  kept  a  lodging- 
house. 

The  PUSEYS  probably  took  their  name  from  Peise  or 
Pesci,  the  manor  held  by  them,  and  named  in  Domes- 
day. 

The  PLUNKET  family  draws  its  name  from  Plonquenet, 
near  Rennes. 

Ralph  PINEL  in  1086  held  a  barony  in  Essex  and  Sussex. 

263 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

The  name  came  from  Normandy,  where  remained  for  long 
branches  of  the  family,  and  gave  the  name  of  Le  Bois-Pinel 
to  a  place  near  Rennes.  There  were  three  Seigneuries  of 
the  name  in  the  Cotentin.  In  England  we  recognize  the 
name  as  Pennell,  unless  we  derive  this  from  its  more 
probable  source,  Paganel. 

PENLEE,  that  sounds  like  a  combination  of  Welsh  and 
Saxon,  is  no  such  thing ;  it  comes  from  Penly,  between 
Tre"port  and  Dieppe. 

POYSEY  is  from  Poissy  in  Seine-et-Oise. 

PUNSHON  and  PUNCHEON  come  from  Ponchon  in  Oise. 

PURSEY,  a  distinct  name  from  Percy,  is  from  Pourcy 
in  Marne. 

RAW  is  Re*au,  Seine-et-Marne. 

RAYNES  is  from  Rennes. 

REVELL,  from  Reville  in  Manche. 

RICHFIELD,  from  Richeville  in  Eure. 

RICKETTS  from  Ricquier. 

ROMILLY  is  in  Normandy. 

ROMER  is  Romare. 

ROSCOE,  from  Roscoff  in  Brittany. 

ROWE  is  De  Rohaut.  The  four  sons  of  Rohaut,  a  Breton 
noble  living  in  1000,  accompanied  the  Conqueror  to  England, 
and  one  of  these,  Ruald  Fitz  Rohaut,  held  three  lordships  in 
capite  in  Devon  in  1086.  His  son  Ruald,  or  Rohaut,  was 
father  of  Alan  FitzRohaut,  who  married  Lady  Alicia  de 
Dodbrooke,  and  acquired  additional  estates  by  her  in  Devon. 
The  Rowes  or  Rohauts  have  remained  to  this  day  in  Devon. 
One  branch  at  Staverton  is  extinct,  but  the  other  at  Lamer- 
ton,  near  Tavistock,  flourishes. 

ROYE,  from  a  town  in  Somme. 

RUGGLES  is  from  Rugles  in  Eure. 

RULE,  from  Ruelle  in  Seine-et-Oise. 

RUMBELOW  and  RUMBOLD  are  from  Rambouillet  in  Seine- 
et-Oise. 

SACE,  from  Sassey,  in  Calvados,  or  Sace  in  Mayenne. 

SCOFIELD  and  SHOVELL  are  all  English  forms  of  Escoville 
in  Calvados. 

264 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

SEELEY  may  possibly  hail  from  Sille  in  Sarthe. 

SERVICE  is  from  St.  Servais  in  Cotes  du  Nord. 

SHAND,  SHANDY,  and  CHANDOS,  from  Chandai  in  Orne. 

STUTFIELD  is  Estoteville  in  Seine-Inferieure. 

SUMMERFIELD  and  SUMMERVALE  derive  from  Somerville, 
now  Sommervieux,  near  Caen.  Roger  de  Somerville  was 
summoned  to  Parliament  as  a  Baron,  and  died  in  1327. 
Roger's  son  was  the  Sir  Philip  to  whom  John  of  Gaunt 
granted  an  estate  on  condition  that  he  should  keep  a  flitch 
of  bacon  hanging  in  his  hall  at  Wichnor  at  all  times  of  the 
year  except  in  Lent,  to  be  given  to  any  man  who  could  take 
oath  that  he  had  not  repented  after  having  been  married  a 
year  and  a  day,  and  could  bring  with  him  a  couple  of  wit- 
nesses to  confirm  his  words.  "  Of  the  few  that  have  ventured 
to  claim  the  prize,  three  couple  only  have  obtained  it,  one 
of  which,  having  quarrelled  about  the  mode  of  preserving  it, 
were  adjudged  to  return  it.  The  other  two  couples  were  a 
sea-officer  and  his  wife,  who  had  not  seen  each  other  from 
the  day  of  their  marriage  till  they  met  in  Wichnor  Hall; 
and  a  simple  couple  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  husband  a 
good-tempered  man  and  the  wife  dumb."  So  little  prospect 
is  there  of  the  flitch  being  claimed  that  it  is  now  made  of 
wood  and  hung  up  in  the  lodge. 

STAPLES,  from  Estaples. 

TEALE  is  Le  Thel  in  Seine-Inferieure. 

Mr.  TOOTS,  of  "  Dombey  and  Son  "  notoriety,  derived  his 
name  from  Totes.  Look  at  his  picture  by  Phiz,  and  think 
of  him  as  a  descendant  of  a  Norman  man-at-arms. 

TORRENS  comes  from  a  citizen  of  Torigny  in  Manche. 

TOWERS  is  an  anglicizing  of  Thouars. 

TRAVERS  comes  from  Te"vieres,  between  Bayeux  and 
Caen.  In  the  days  of  the  Conqueror,  Robert  de  Travers, 
or  D' Estovers,  Baron  of  Burgh-upon-Sands,  married  the 
daughter  of  Randulf  de  Meschines,  Lord  of  Cumberland. 
He  became  hereditary  forester  of  Inglewood.  "  The  badge 
of  his  office — the  jagged  branch — is  over  and  over  again  intro- 
duced in  the  chapel  of  Naworth  Castle,  which  is  so  rich  with 
arms  and  cognizances;  and  where  this  jagged  branch  is,  in 

265 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 


some  places,  even  thrown  across  the  Dacre's  arms  fesswise. 
The  forestship  of  Inglewood  was  so  honourable,  and  gave 
great  command,  that  there  is  no  wonder  that  the  family 
should  wish  by  every  means  to  set  forth  their  claim  to  it" 
(Hutchinson's  "  Cumberland  "). 

TWOPENNY,  perhaps,  comes  from  Tupigny  in  Flanders. 

TURNEY,  from  Tournai  in  Orne,  or  in  Belgium. 

UDALL  is  from  Oudalle  in  Seine-Inferieure. 

VARVILL  and  FARWELL  and  FAREWELL,  even  FARFIELD, 
are  all  from  Varaville  in  Calvados. 

VERDON  and  VERDANT  derive  from  Verdon  in  Meuse. 

VERE,  from  Verin,  in  Calvados,  or  another  Ver  in 
Manche. 

VERNEY  is  from  Vernai,  near  Bayeux. 

VILLIERS  is  the  name  of  a  place  in  Manche. 

VILLEDIEU  has  given  us  the  surname  Filldew  or  Pill- 
dew. 

VIZARD  is  from  Visart. 

WYLIE  is  no  crafty  rogue,  but  deduces  from  Vesli. 

WORNALL  comes  from  Verneuil. 

WYON  is  from  Vian ;  spelled  Wiun,  as  one  holding  lands 
in  Lincoln  in  the  twelfth  century. 

VAWDRY  is  from  a  place  of  that  name  in  Calvados. 

VOWLES  and  VOALES  is  from  Veules  in  Seine-Inferieure, 
and  WATERFIELD  very  probably  from  Vatierville,  in  the  same 
department. 

I  have  left  to  the  last  all  the  corruptions  of  names  of  saints. 
SIMBARBE  is  Ste.  Barbe.  SACHEVEREL  comes  from  St. 
Cheverol.  SLODGER  is  St.  Ledger.  SLOW  is  St.  L6;  in 
Latin  Laudus,  that  gives  us  the  surname  of  the  Archbishop, 
Laud.  SMART  comes  from  Ste.  Marte  or  Martha.  STOMER, 
from  St.  Omer.  SIMPER,  from  St.  Pierre.  SIMPOLE,  from 
St.  Pol  de  Leon.  SAVILLE,  from  St.  Ville  or  Vitalis. 

If  we  want  nowadays  to  find  the  descendants  of  the 
Normans,  even  of  those  who  held  vast  baronies  under  the 
Conqueror  and  his  successors,  we  look  in  vain  into  the 
modern  peerage;  only  here  and  there  do  we  find  them  in 

266 


- 

80 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

Burke's  "  Landed  Gentry."  For  the  most  part  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  conquering  Normans  are  found  in  the 
lower  walks  of  life,  among  labourers  and  artisans,  or,  at 
best,  among  tradesmen.  Here  and  there,  indeed,  among  the 
titled  of  the  land  we  may  find  an  ancient  Norman  name, 
but  it  is  assumed,  either  on  the  grounds  of  a  doubtful  pedi- 
gree or  of  a  descent  in  broken  falls  through  the  spindle.  How 
great  families  may  decline  I  will  show  by  a  few  instances. 

I  will  begin  with  a  notable  family — that  of  the  Gr en- 
miles  of  Stowe,  whence  came  the  great  Sir  Bevil  and 
Sir  Richard.  One  branch  so  sank — and  that  in  the  very 
parish  wherein  was  the  splendid  mansion  of  the  Grenvilles — 
that  two  of  them  were  in  receipt  of  parish  relief,  and  one  of 
them  was  twice  pricked  for  High  Sheriff  whilst  a  pauper. 

The  Glanvilles  were  of  Norman  descent.  A  branch 
settled  near  Tavistock  and  became  tanners.  From  the  tan- 
pits  rose  one  who  became  a  great  Elizabethan  Judge,  and 
built  a  noble  mansion  at  Kilworthy.  One  of  the  last  of  the 
Glanvilles  was  huntsman  to  Squire  Kelly  of  Kelly,  and  an- 
other was  a  ferryman  at  Saltash,  whose  wife  Anne  was  a 
famous  rower,  and  was  one  of  the  crew  of  women  who  beat 
the  French  boatmen  in  a  race  at  Havre  in  1850.  Anne  was 
stroke.  The  women  were  dressed  in  black  skirts,  long  white 
bedgowns,  and  nightcaps.  One  of  them — Mrs.  House — was 
so  elated  at  the  victory  that  on  reaching  the  committee-boat 
she  plunged  into  the  water,  dived  under  the  vessel,  and  came 
up  with  dripping  and  drooping  nightcap  on  the  opposite  side. 
The  Glanvilles  declined  in  station,  and  with  the  declension 
the  name  became  degraded  to  Gloyne.  In  the  Sourton  parish 
registers  is  the  entry  of  the  death  of  Matthew  Glanville, 
alias  Gloyne — February  24,  1777. 

There  was  not  a  prouder  name  amongst  those  who  came 
over  with  the  Conqueror  than  the  De  Pomeroys.  The 
family  issued  from  La  Pomeraye  in  Normandy,  and  a  frag- 
ment of  their  stronghold  remains  at  Cinglais,  not  far  from 
Falaise.  Here  was  the  original  pommerai,  or  orchard,  that 
gave  its  name  to  the  place  and  family.  Ralph  de  Pomeraye 
is  mentioned  in  Domesday  as  holding  sixty  manors  in  capite, 

267 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

all  but  two  in  Devonshire,  where  Berry  Pomeroy  became 
the  seat  of  the  barony.  Ralph  built  the  castle  whose  ruins 
now  tower  above  the  woods  that  clothe  the  hill  it  crowns. 
Henry  de  Pomeroy,  unhappily  for  himself,  took  sides  with 
John  during  the  absence  of  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  garrisoned 
St.  Michael's  Mount  for  John.  But  soon  arrived  the  news 
of  the  enlargement  of  Richard  from  prison,  and  the  story 
goes,  as  Fuller  relates,  "  that  a  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  King's 
came  to  the  castle  of  Berry  Pomeroy,  and  there  received 
kind  entertainment  for  certain  days  together,  and  at  his 
departure  was  gratified  with  a  liberal  reward.  In  counter- 
change  whereof  he  then,  and  no  sooner,  revealing  his  long- 
concealed  errand,  flatly  arrested  his  host,  to  make  his  im- 
mediate appearance  before  the  King,  to  answer  a  capital 
crime.  Which  unexpected  and  ill-carried  message  the  gentle- 
man took  in  such  despight  that  with  his  dagger  he  stabbed 
the  messenger  to  the  heart.  Then,  despairing  of  pardon  in  so 
superlative  an  offence,  he  abandoned  his  house  and  gat  him- 
self to  his  sister,  then  abiding  in  the  Island  of  Mount  Michael 
in  Cornwall.  Next  he  bequeathed  a  large  portion  of  his  land 
to  the  religious  people  dwelling  there,  to  pray  for  the  redeem- 
ing of  his  soul ;  and,  lastly  (that  the  remainder  of  his  estate 
might  descend  to  his  heirs),  he  caused  himself  to  be  let  bleed 
to  death." 

But  the  misfortunes  of  the  De  Pomeroys  did  not  end  here. 
In  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Sir  Thomas  Pomeroy  wrought 
the  utter  downfall  of  his  family  by  engaging  in  the  Devon- 
shire rebellion  of  1549  against  the  violent  changes  in  religion. 
He  was  involved  in  ruin.  His  life  indeed  was  spared, 
but  that  was  all ;  the  grasping  hand  of  the  Seymours  was 
laid  on  his  estate,  and  his  beautiful  and  noble  mansion  of 
Berry  passed  away  from  the  family  for  ever. 

And  now  where  are  the  Pomeroys  ?  Our  school  com- 
mittee paid  five  shillings  to  a  Mrs.  Pomeroy  to  clean  out  the 
schoolroom,  and  as  I  write  I  have  before  me  a  bill  for  a 
suit  of  clothes  from  Pomeroye,  tailor,  at  Tavistock.1 

1  I  quote  the  following  from  the  Daily  Express,  February  23,  1909  : 
"  Paris,  February  22. — The  Countess  de  la  Pomiere  was  found  dying  in  a 

268 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

No  more  splendid  family  existed  in  England  of  the  Norman 
invaders  and  conquerors  than  that  of  the  De  Toeni.  Raoul 
of  that  family  bore  at  Hastings  the  consecrated  banner  that 
the  Pope  had  sent  to  William  with  his  blessing  to  consecrate 
the  wicked  invasion.  It  was  a  race  that  mixed  its  blood 
with  the  Plantagenets.  They  became  Earls  of  Stafford  and 
Dukes  of  Buckingham.  Henry,  the  second  Duke,  "  made 
his  boast  that  he  had  as  many  liveries  of  Stafford  knots  as 
Richard  Nevill,  the  late  great  Earl  of  Warwick,  had  of 
ragged  staves."  He,  as  may  be  remembered,  was  executed 
at  Salisbury  in  1483.  His  son  Edward  was  restored  by 
Henry  VIII.  to  the  dukedom  and  other  honours,  and  was 
appointed  Lord  High  Constable  of  England ;  but  he  also 
was  to  end  his  life  on  the  scaffold.  He  had  quarrelled  with 
Wolsey.  It  is  said  that  at  a  great  Court  ceremonial,  when 
the  Duke  was  holding  a  basin  to  the  King,  no  sooner  had 
His  Majesty  washed  than  Wolsey  dipped  his  own  hands 
into  the  water,  and  Buckingham,  stung  at  this  indignity, 
"flung  the  contents  of  the  ewer  into  the  Churchman's 
shoes."  Wolsey  swore  to  be  revenged,  and  how  he  accom- 
plished his  end  may  be  read  in  Shakespeare's  "Henry  VIII." 
With  the  fall  of  his  head  under  the  axe  in  1522  the  princely 
house  of  Stafford  fell  to  rise  no  more.  His  only  son,  stripped 
of  lands  and  dignities  alike,  received  back  but  a  scanty 
portion  of  the  splendid  possessions  of  his  family,  and  was 
allowed  the  title  of  Baron.  Edward,  fourth  Lord  Stafford, 
married  his  mother's  chambermaid,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  grandson  Henry,  with  whom  the  direct  line  terminated 
in  1637  ;  and  the  claim  of  the  last  remaining  heir,  Roger, 
was  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords  on  account  of  his 

miserable  garret  in  Senlis  this  morning.  She  had  not  been  seen  for 
some  days,  and  when  the  neighbours  forced  their  way  into  her  room  they 
found  her  calling  feebly  for  help.  She  was  lying  on  a  heap  of  straw  in 
the  middle  of  the  room,  fighting  as  well  as  she  could  with  rats  for  a 
crust  of  bread  and  a  piece  of  cheese,  which  she  clutched  to  her  breast. 
Lying  all  about  the  floor  of  the  room  were  bank-notes,  bonds,  and  shares 
worth  more  than  £6,000.  The  rats  had  eaten  away  portions  of  the 
paper.  The  Countess  has  been  taken  to  a  home  at  Clermont,  but  there 
is  little  hope  of  her  recovery." 

269 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

extreme  poverty.  The  unfortunate  man,  de  jure  Lord 
Stafford,  the  great-grandson  of  the  last  Duke,  was  then  aged 
sixty-five,  and  had  sunk  into  so  abject  a  condition  that, 
ashamed  to  bear  his  true  name,  he  called  himself  Floyd, 
after  one  of  his  uncle's  servants  who  had  brought  him  up 
and  been  kind  to  him.  He  was  compelled  to  surrender  his 
claim  to  the  barony  into  the  hands  of  Charles  I.,  and  died  in 
1640,  unmarried.  His  only  sister,  Jane,  married  a  joiner, 
and  had  a  son  who  earned  a  livelihood  as  a  cobbler  in  1637 
at  Newport  in  Shropshire.  As  Banks  says :  "  The  most 
zealous  advocate  for  equality  must  surely  here  be  highly 
gratified  when  he  is  told  that  the  great-granddaughter  of 
Margaret,  daughter  and  heir  of  George,  Duke  of  Clarence, 
brother  to  King  Edward  IV.,  was  the  wife  of  a  common 
joiner,  and  her  son  the  mender  of  old  shoes." 

The  Conyers  were  one  of  the  noblest  families  in  the  North 
of  England.  Roger  Conyers  was  made  Constable  of  Durham 
Castle  by  William  the  Conqueror.  Surtees  enumerates  all 
the  defunct  families  that  had  sprung  from  the  parent  stock — 
viz.,  "  Conyers  of  Hornby  Castle,  whose  peerage  is  vested  by 
heirs-general  in  the  Duke  of  Leeds;  Conyers  of  Bowlby, 
Danby-Wiske,  Hutton-Wiske,  Thormandby,  Pinchinthorpe, 
Marshe,  and  High  Dinsdale,  in  Yorkshire ;  Wynyard, 
Layton,  Horden,  Coltham,  Conyers,  in  Co.  Durham  ;  and 
Hopper  in  Northumberland."  The  Duchess  of  Cleveland 
says :  "  One  by  one,  some  later  and  some  earlier,  each  of 
the  remaining  branches  of  this  famous  house  had  died  out. 
The  fair  domain  of  Stockburn  went  with  the  heiress  of 
William  Conyers  to  Francis  Talbot,  eleventh  Earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  in  1635,  and  passed  through  their  daughter  to 
the  Stonors.  Coatham-Conyers,  first  brought  by  Scolastica 
de  Coatham  in  the  time  of  Edward  I.,  was  forfeited  by 
Roger  Conyers,  who  joined  the  rising  of  the  Northern  Earls 
in  1569.  Wynyard  had  been  transferred  to  the  Claxtons  in 
the  previous  century.  The  line  of  Layton  ended  in  1748. 
Hutton  passed  to  the  Mallorys,  and  Danby  to  the  Scropes, 
who  now  hold  it.  Their  possessions  dwindled  and  dis- 
appeared year  by  year.  Manor  after  manor  was  lost  to  its 

270 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

ancient  lords,  estate  after  estate  alienated  or  carried  away 
by  heiresses,  till  at  length  they  were  bereft  of  all,  and  in 
1810  Surtees  found  Sir  Thomas  Conyers,  the  last  of  this 
race,  in  the  workhouse  of  Chester-le-Street.  No  other 
earthly  refuge  was  left  him  save  the  pauper's  grave.  A 
subscription,  proposed  by  Surtees,  and  headed  by  Bishop 
Barrington,  was  set  on  foot  to  rescue  him  from  his  unhappy 
position,  and  enough  money  was  raised  to  remove  him  to  a 
more  fitting  abode.  The  old  man  only  lived,  however,  a 
few  months  afterwards,  and  with  him  expired  the  proud 
name  that  had  shone  in  the  county  annals  for  the  better 
part  of  800  years." 

And  is  this  an  altogether  exceptional  case  ?  Has  it  not 
been  the  same  thing  with  many  an  ancient  family  that  from 
one  cause  or  another  has  gone  under  ? 

The  Umfravilles  derived  from  Amfreville,  near  Evreux. 
The  first  of  the  name  who  came  to  England  was  Robert 
with  the  Beard,  Lord  of  Tour  and  Vian  in  Normandy,  and 
had  a  grant  from  the  Conqueror  of  the  barony  of  Prudhoe. 
Gilbert  III.  of  Umfraville  inherited  from  his  mother,  the 
Countess  of  Angers,  and  was  created  Baron  Umfraville  by 
Edward  I.  in  1295,  and  Governor  of  the  whole  territory  of 
Angers.  He  was  then  created  Earl  of  Angers.  But  the 
family  sank  lower  and  lower,  till  towards  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  last  of  the  baronial  race  was  a 
chandler  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He  left  several  daughters 
and  one  son,  born  in  1784,  who  after  the  death  of  the  father, 
were  supported  by  the  industry  of  their  mother.  The  then 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  whose  ancestor  had  obtained 
Prudhoe  from  the  Umfravilles,  took  interest  in  the  lad,  then 
aged  fourteen,  and  provided  for  him  in  the  navy.  He  served 
under  Lord  Exmouth  in  the  East  Indies,  eventually  rose  to 
the  rank  of  a  Captain,  retired  on  half-pay,  and  died  of  drink. 
He  still  possessed  a  sword  given  by  Henry  V.  to  his  ancestor, 
which  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Umfraville  was  sent  to  Alnwick 
Castle. 

The   Duchess  of  Cleveland   says   of  the  Vieux-ponts,  or 
Viponts,  named  by  Wace  as  taking  part  in  the  Battle  of 

271 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

Hastings,  and  afterwards  advanced  to  honour  :  "  This  great 
name,  like  many  others  presumed  to  be  extinct,  has  most 
likely  simply  merged  into  obscurity.  In  1880  I  saw  Vipond 
inscribed  over  the  door  of  a  grocer's  shop  in  Middleton  in 
Teesdale,  within  a  dozen  miles  of  the  county  in  which  the 
De  Viponts  once  reigned  supreme." 

De  Vesci  was  a  famous  name.  It  was  like  the  tree  in  the 
vision  that  had  its  boughs  wide  extended,  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  lodged  in  the  branches  of  it.  It  stretched  into 
Scotland.  It  is  represented  at  the  present  day  by  Messrs. 
Veitch,  the  nursery  gardeners  and  seed  merchants. 

"  Little  Miss  Muffet 
Sat  on  a  tuffet, 

Eating  curds  and  whey  ; 
When  by  came  a  spider 
And  sat  down  beside  her, 
Which  frightened  Miss  Muffet  away." 

In  Miss  Muffet  we  recognize  the  name,  but  not  the 
ancestral  heroism,  of  her  ancestor,  De  Maufet  or  Mauf£, 
who  fought  at  Hastings.  Her  arms:  Argent,  a  lion  rampant, 
sable,  between  nine  escallops,  gules.  A  lion  rampant,  and 
sable,  too,  and  to  be  frightened  by  a  spider  ! 

Lysons  is  from  Lisons  in  Calvados. 

Memoray  is  a  singular  name  that  appears  in  Holinshed's 
list  of  the  warriors  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror. 
John  de  Murmuru  was  granted  half  a  knight's-fee  in 
Gloucestershire.  The  family  never  rose  to  any  distinction. 
A  Brixham  fisherman  bears  the  name  of  Memory. 

Holinshed  includes  Totelles  among  those  in  the  Roll  of 
Battle  Abbey.  I  believe  that  the  Tootles  of  to-day  do  not 
occupy  a  very  distinguished  place  in  the  social  order.  At  an 
evening  party  the  butler  announced  :  "  Mr.  Tootles,  Mrs. 
Tootles,  and  the  two  Misses  Tootles,  too." 

Such,  the  broadside  ballad  printer,  takes  his  name  from 
Zouche. 

Rudeville,  now  Ruville,  is  a  place  near  Gisors,  and, 
according  to  Holinshed's  list,  a  De  Rudeville  came  over 
with  the  Conqueror.  The  name  in  England  became  Rudall 

272 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

or  Ruddle.  Daniel  Defoe  published  an  account  of  the  laying 
of  a  ghost  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Ruddle.  Vicar  of  Launceston, 
1720.  He  had  a  family,  the  living  was  poor,  and  his  children 
settled  down  into  humble  life  in  the  neighbourhood.  A 
descendant  is  now  a  gamekeeper. 

There  was  a  worthy  carrier  between  Lew  Down  and 
Tavistock,  now  dead,  who  could  neither  read  nor  write,  but 
never  forgot  a  commission.  His  name  was  Tooke.  Tooke 
or  Touques  is  a  place  in  the  arrondissement  of  Pont  1'Eveque. 
The  Sieur  de  Touques  appeared  in  the  list  of  those  who 
fought  under  William  the  Conqueror.  Henry  Tooke  served 
Edward  I.  in  his  Scottish  wars,  and  obtained  from  him  a 
grant  of  lands.  Sir  Brian  Tuke, Treasurer  under  Henry  VIII., 
was  one  of  those  drawn  by  Holbein.  "  Nicholas  Toke  of 
Godington,  usually  called  Captain  Toke,"  says  Hasted, 
"  Sheriff  of  Kent  in  1663,  dying  in  1680,  was  buried  in  the 
chancel  with  his  five  wives.  His  portrait,  at  full  length,  is 
in  the  hall  there,  and  that  of  Diana,  his  fifth  wife,  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Winchelsea.  There  is  an  anecdote  of  him  in 
the  family,  that  at  the  age  of  ninety-three,  having  been  left 
a  widower,  he  walked  from  hence  to  London  to  pay  his 
addresses  to  a  sixth  wife ;  but,  being  taken  ill,  he  presently 
died.  Leaving  no  male  issue  by  any  of  his  wives,  he  devised 
the  seat  of  Godington,  with  the  rest  of  his  estate,  to  his 
nephew  and  heir-at-law,  Nicholas  Toke  of  Wye." 

Godington  Hall  is  a  fine  Elizabethan  mansion.  "  In  the 
windows  of  the  staircase  are  collected  all  the  arms,  quarter- 
ings,  and  matches,  of  the  family,  in  painted  glass.  The 
drawing-room  upstairs  is  curiously  wainscoted  with  oak." 
So  in  the  East  of  England  is  a  Toke  or  Tooke  estated,  with 
the  armorial  bearings  of  his  family  shining  down  on  his 
head  through  the  painted  glass ;  and  in  the  West  lies,  in  my 
churchyard,  Tooke  or  Toke,  the  illiterate  carrier,  without  a 
headstone  to  mark  his  grave,  and  he  may  have  been  as  lineal 
a  descendant  of  the  Sieur  de  Touques  as  is  the  Squire  of 
Godington. 

Toustain  was  the  Norman  equivalent  of  the  Saxon  Tostig. 
Toustain  FitzRou — i.e.,  son  of  Rolf — was  standard-bearer  at 

273  s 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

Hastings.  When  Raoul  de  Conches,  to  whom  this  honour 
belonged  by  hereditary  right,  and  Walter  Giffard,  to  whom 
it  had  been  offered,  both  declined  the  honour  on  various 
excuses,  the  Duke  looked  about  him  for  a  worthy  substitute. 
"  Then,"  says  Wace,  "  he  called  to  him  a  knight  whom  he 
had  heard  much  praised,  Tostan  FitzRou  le  Blanc  by  name, 
whose  abode  was  at  Bec-en-Caux.  To.  him  he  delivered 
the  gonfanon ;  and  Tostan  accepted  it  right  cheerfully,  and 
bowed  low  to  him  in  thanks,  and  bore  it  gallantly  and  with 
a  good  heart,  high  aloft  in  the  breeze,  and  rode  by  the  Duke, 
going  wherever  he  went.  Wherever  the  Duke  turned,  he 
turned  also ;  and  wheresoever  he  stayed  his  course,  there 
he  rested  as  well.  His  kindred  still  have  the  quittance  of 
all  service  for  their  inheritance ;  on  that  account  they  and 
their  heirs  are  entitled  to  hold  their  inheritance  for  ever." 
"  For  ever,"  writes  Wace,  and  for  ever  the  grant  was  made 
by  William  the  Conqueror.  Where  now  are  the  acres  of  the 
Tostans  ?  Where  the  descendants  of  the  standard-bearer  at 
Hastings  ?  What  has  become  of  the  barony,  including  land 
in  two  different  counties,  granted  to  the  standard-bearer  ? 

The  name,  if  not  the  blood,  remains,  and  I  have  little 
doubt  that  the  blood  follows  the  name  made  so  famous  at 
Hastings.  It  is  now  Dustan.1  One  of  that  name  is  now  a 
coachman,  son  of  the  village  tailor.  He  married  a  dress- 
maker of  the  name  of  Gerry,  from  the  adjoining  parish. 
Now,  this  also  is  a  Norman  name,  and  that  also  of  one  that 
fought  at  Hastings.  He  was,  indeed,  a  clerk,  and  was  given 
a  canonry  in  St.  Paul's  and  lands  at  Twyford.  Either  he 
married  and  had  a  considerable  family,  or  his  brothers  and 
cousins  followed  him,  as  we  find  the  name  of  Gueri  or  Gerry 
all  over  the  county  of  Devon  in  the  succeeding  reign. 

What  a  palace  of  delights  is  Gamage's  shop  to  children  ! 
What  hours  of  happiness  has  not  Mr.  Gamage  given  to  the 
little  ones !  Among  some  copies  of  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey 
occurs  the  name.  If  the  Sieur  did  not  come  over  in  1066, 
he  did  soon  after,  drawing  his  name  from  the  Chateau  de 

1  But  another  derivation  of  the  name  may  be  dy stain  (Welsh),  a 
steward.  Dustun  (Cornish)  is  a  witness. 

274 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 

Gamaches,  and  his  pedigree  from  Protadius,  Mayor  of  the 
Palace  to  Theodoric,  King  of  Orleans,  in  604.  What  peer 
in  his  ermine  and  wearing  his  coronet  can  show  such  an 
ancestry  as  the  owner  of  the  toy-shop  ? 

William  de  Valence  was  a  Lusignan,  with  a  water-nymph 
as  ancestress.  He  was  Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  half-brother 
of  Henry  III.  through  his  mother,  Isabella  d'Angouleme, 
widow  of  King  John,  who  remarried  Hugh  de  Valence  or 
de  Lusignan,  Count  de  la  Marche.  A  curse  was  believed  to 
rest  on  the  family  of  Aymer  de  Valence,  whose  beautiful 
monument  is  in  Westminster  Abbey,  because  he  sat  in 
judgment  on  his  cousin,  Thomas  of  Lancaster,  at  Pontefract, 
and  condemned  him,  unheard,  to  death.  His  own  violent 
death  two  years  later  was  held  to  be  a  retribution  for  his 
"  mercenary  and  time-serving  act  of  infamy."  But  the 
fatality  did  not  end  with  him,  for  "  it  was  observed  that, 
after  that  judgment  was  given,  none  of  the  succeeding  Earls 
of  Pembroke  -ever  saw  his  father,  nor  any  father  of  them  took 
delight  in  seeing  his  son." 

The  name  lingered  on.  A  squire  of  the  name  had  lands 
in  Sennen  at  the  very  Land's  End.  But  these  lands  are 
gone  now,  and  the  last  Valence  I  have  met  was  a  small 
tenant-farmer  in  an  adjoining  parish. 

I  have  shown  in  another  chapter  that  from  household 
domestics,  and  from,  those  engaged  in  the  forests  and  in 
the  stables,  that  also  from  the  booths  and  workshops  of  the 
traders,  that  even  from  among  the  labourers  on  the  land, 
men  have  risen  to  the  surface  and  have  flushed  our  nobility 
with  new  and  vigorous  life.  Tailors  have  cast  aside  their 
shears,  and  ceased  to  sit  cross-legged  on  the  table.  Smiths 
have  quitted  the  bellows  and  the  anvil ;  coopers  have  ceased 
to  hammer  and  tighten  the  staves  of  casks;  cooks  have 
doffed  their  white  aprons  and  wiped  the  gravy  from  their 
fingers,  to  assume  the  ermine  and  the  coronet.  And  the 
butlers  have  slipped  from  behind  their  master's  chairs,  and 
the  obsequious  chamberlains  have  ceased  to  cringe,  and  the 
forester  and  the  parker  to  stand,  bonnet  in  hand,  and  bow 
before  their  lords,  to  step  forward  and  thrust  these  great 

275  S   2 


EARLY  FRENCH  NAMES 


seigneurs  into  the  background,  and  require  the  namesakes 
of  their  lords — probably  their  descendants  in  blood — to 
clean  the  boots  and  serve  behind  the  counter,  to  the  great- 
grandsons  of  the  servants  of  the  haughty  possessors  of  castle 
and  manor. 

"  Robert  of  Sicily,  brother  of  Pope  Urbane 
And  Valmond,  Emperor  of  Allemaine, 
Apparelled  in  magnificent  attire, 
With  retinue  of  many  a  knight  and  squire, 
On  St.  John's  Eve,  at  vespers,  proudly  sat, 
And  heard  the  priests  chant  the  Magnificat. 
And  as  he  listened,  o'er  and  o'er  again 
Repeated,  like  a  burden  or  refrain, 
He  caught  the  words  *  Deposuit potentes 
De  sede,  et  exaltavit  humiles? 
And  slowly  lifting  up  his  kingly  head, 
He  to  a  learned  clerk  beside  him  said  : 

*  What  mean  these  words  ?'    The  clerk  made  answer 

meet: 

*  He  has  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seat, 
And  has  exalted  them  of  low  degree.' 
Thereat  King  Robert  muttered  scornfully : 

'  JTis  well  that  such  seditious  words  are  sung 
Only  by  priests  and  in  the  Latin  tongue  : 
For  unto  priests  and  people  be  it  known, 
There  is  no  power  can  push  me  from  my  throne.' " 

And  so  must  have  thought  the  great  nobles  of  Norman 
extraction  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  But  the  words  of  Mary 
uttered  1,900  years  ago  proclaimed  a  great  social  fact  that 
has  prevailed  for  ever  in  the  world,  and  ever  will  prevail. 
It  is  a  law  that  the  mother  impresses  on  her  infant,  when 
she  sways  it,  now  to  the  ceiling,  then  to  the  floor,  in  her 
hands,  and  sings : 

"  Now  we  go  up,  up,  up, 
And  now  we  go  down,  down,  down  !" 

The  great  human  pot  must  boil,  and  if  it  did  not  do  so 
there  would  be  stagnation  : 

"  And  thus  the  whirligig  of  Time  brings  in  his  revenges." 


276 


CHAPTER  XIII 

FRENCH    NAMES  :    II.    THE    HUGUENOT    REFUGEES 

IT  is  unnecessary  to  relate  the  story  of  the  civil  wars  of 
religion  in  France,  and  the  attempts  made  by  the  Crown  to 
crush  out  Calvinism,  that  had  pervaded  the  South  even 
more  than  the  North.  The  refugees  from  persecution  began 
to  come  over  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  the  flow  was 
considerable  in  that  of  Elizabeth  and  of  James  I.,  but 
the  great  bulk  arrived  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.  in  1685.  The  Calvinists — it  is  a 
mistake  to  call  them  Protestants,  for  they  strongly  dissented 
from  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the  adherents  to  which  were 
the  true  Protestants,  and  obtained  their  designation  from  it 
— the  Calvinists,  I  say,  had  obtained  liberty  from  1577  to 
build  meeting-houses  ("temples  ").  But  in  1661  the  death 
of  Cardinal  Mazarin  was  the  signal  for  evading  the  permission 
hitherto  accorded,  and  between  that  year  and  1673  half 
their  conventicles  had  been  taken  from  the  Huguenots. 

They  came  over  in  troops.  The  crypt  of  Canterbury 
Cathedral  was  given  up  to  them  for  haranguing  and  psalm- 
singing  ;  they  had  places  of  worship  in  Austin  Friars  and 
Threadneedle  Street,  London.  Before  1685  they  had  their 
conventicles  in  Canterbury,  Canvey  Island,  Colchester, 
Dover,  Faversham,  Glastonbury,  Ipswich,  Maidstone,  Nor- 
wich, Rye,  Sandtoft,  Sandwich,  Southampton,  Stamford, 
Thetford,  Thorne  Abbey,  Whittlesea,  Winchester,  Yarmouth ; 
in  and  after  1685  at  Barnstaple,  Bideford,  Bristol,  Chelsea, 
Dartmouth,  Exeter,  Greenwich,  Hammersmith,  Plymouth, 
Stonehouse,  and  Thorpe. 

Considerable  reluctance  was  felt  by  the  English  Govern- 

277 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

ment  in  granting  letters  of  naturalization  to  these  foreigners. 
It  was  thought  that  the  great  influx  of  needy  strangers 
would  throw  many  of  our  own  people  out  of  employ.  Any 
Bill  to  allow  them  a  share  of  the  Englishman's  right  was 
unpopular  with  the  City  of  London,  and  with  all  boroughs 
and  corporations;  and  naturalization  was  doled  out  re- 
luctantly to  individuals  only,  by  letters  patent  and  by  private 
Acts  of  Parliament.  In  1681  naturalization  was  accorded  to 
eleven  men  only  and  six  women,  but  to  as  many  as  thirty-eight 
with  their  wives  and  children  in  one  day,  March  21,  1682. 
A  royal  bounty  was  accorded  to  the  refugees,  consisting  of 
money  raised  throughout  the  kingdom,  but  these  Huguenots 
speedily  settled  into  trades.  There  were,  however,  some 
persons  of  quality  who  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  work 
with  their  hands,  and  these  had  to  be  provided  for  out  of 
the  alms  gathered  through  the  land.  Large  sums  had  been 
subscribed  in  1681,  and  in  the  two  or  three  ensuing  years, 
for  it  appears  that  in  1685  there  remained  a  balance  of 
£17,950  undistributed.  In  1686  another  collection  was 
made,  and  something  like  £40,000  was  raised. 

The  funds  were  faithfully  administered.  To  this,  one  of 
the  refugees,  Misson,  bore  witness  in  1697.  He  wrote : 
"  The  sums  of  money  that  have  been  collected  have  always 
been  deposited  in  the  hands  of  four  or  five  noblemen,  who 
have  referred  the  division  and  administration  thereof  to  a 
chosen  set  of  men  picked  out  from  among  the  refugees 
themselves.  Nothing  can  be  more  laudable  than  the  charity, 
equity,  moderation,  compassion,  fidelity,  and  diligence,  with 
which  these  gentlemen  acquit  themselves  of  the  employ- 
ment which  their  goodness  induced  them  to  accept.  It  is 
impossible  to  express  the  sentiments  of  acknowledgment, 
esteem,  and  love,  which  all  the  poor,  and  all  the  refugees  in 
general,  have  in  their  hearts  for  these  good  and  pious 
administrators."  In  1696  the  House  of  Commons  voted  an 
annual  grant  of  £16,000  for  the  distressed  French  Calvinists, 
of  which  £14,000  was  for  the  laity  and  £3,000  for  their 
ministers. 

In  1711  Harley  and  Bolingbroke  stopped  the  annuity. 

278 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

They  thought — and  perhaps  thought  justly— that  these 
French  had  received  quite  enough  English  money,  and 
had  had  time  to  learn  to  shift  for  themselves.  But  on  the 
accession  of  George  I.  the  payments  were  resumed,  and 
they  continued  at  the  same  rate  until  the  death  of  Sir  Robert 
Walpole.  The  sum  of  £1,718  43.  per  annum  is  still  paid 
without  diminution  to  the  French  pastors  in  England. 

In  1694  a  Bill  for  naturalizing  all  Protestant  "strangers 
came  up  for  a  second  reading  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  was  dropped,  so  strong  a  feeling  against  it  was  enter- 
tained in  the  country.  It  was  hoped  that  these  immigrants 
had  come  to  remain  for  a  while  only,  till  the  tyranny  was 
overpast,  and  would  then  return  to  their  own  country ;  and, 
in  fact,  a  good  many  of  the  refugees  entertained  the  expecta- 
tion of  going  back  to  their  old  homes. 

Sir  John  Knight,  M.P.  for  Bristol,  published  an  elaborate 
oration  in  1694  relative  to  the  Bill :  "  That  the  sergeant  be 
commanded  to  open  the  doors,  and  let  us  first  kick  the  Bill 
out  of  the  House,  and  then  foreigners  out  of  the  kingdom." 
One  of  the  reasons  given  for  the  introduction  of  the  Bill 
was  that  England  was  in  need  of  husbandmen  to  till  the 
ground.  On  this  Sir  John  wrote  :  "  Of  the  40,000  French 
come  into  England,  how  many  ...  at  this  time  follow  the 
ploughtail  ?  It's  my  firm  opinion,  that  not  only  the  French, 
but  any  other  nation  this  Bill  will  let  in  upon  us,  will  never 
transplant  themselves  for  the  benefit  of  going  to  the  plough. 
They  will  contentedly  leave  the  English  the  sole  monopoly 
of  that  slavery." 

William  of  Orange,  who  had  a  special  dislike  for  the 
doctrines  of  the  Anglican  Church  and  Episcopal  order,  en- 
couraged the  influx  to  the  utmost,  especially  of  Dutch,  who 
had  no  need  to  escape,  and  he  desired  to  leaven  the  British 
population  with  Calvinism.  This  the  Tory  and  High  Church 
party  resented. 

However,  a  Bill  for  the  Naturalization  of  Foreign  Prot- 
estants was  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons  on 
February  14,  1709,  and  passed  on  March  23.  The  qualifica- 
tion was  the  taking  of  the  usual  oaths,  and  there  was  also 

279 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

a  proviso  :  "  That  no  person  shall  be  naturalized,  etc.,  unless 
he  shall  have  received  the  Sacrament  in  some  Protestant  or 
Reformed  congregation  within  the  kingdom." 

Bishop  Bur  net  says  hereon  :  "  An  Act  passed  this  session 
that  was  much  desired,  and  had  been  often  attempted,  but 
had  been  laid  aside  in  so  many  former  Parliaments,  that 
there  was  scarce  any  hope  left  to  encourage  a  new  attempt. 
It  was  for  naturalizing  all  foreign  Protestants  upon  their 
taking  the  oaths  to  the  Government,  and  their  receiving 
the  Sacrament  in  any  Protestant  church.  Those  who  were 
against  the  Act  soon  perceived  that  they  could  have  no 
strength  if  they  should  set  themselves  directly  to  oppose  it, 
so  they  studied  to  limit  strangers  in  the  receiving  of  the 
Sacrament  to  the  way  of  the  Church  of  England.  This 
probably  would  not  have  hindered  many  who  were  other- 
wise disposed  to  come  among  us ;  for  the  much  greater  part 
of  the  French  came  into  the  way  of  our  Church.  But  it 
was  thought  best  to  cast  the  door  as  wide  open  as  possible 
for  the  encouragement  of  strangers.  And  therefore,  since, 
upon  their  first  coming  over,  some  might  choose  the  way  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  beyond  the  sea,  it  seemed 
the  more  inviting  method  to  admit  of  all  who  were  in  any 
Protestant  communion.  This  was  carried  in  the  House  of 
Commons  with  a  great  majority.  But  all  those  who  appeared 
for  this  large  and  comprehensive  way  were  first  reproached 
for  their  coldness  and  indifference  to  the  concerns  of  the 
Church,  and  in  that  I  had  a  large  share,  as  I  spoke  copiously 
for  it  when  it  was  brought  up  to  the  Lords.  The  Bishop  of 
Chester  (Sir  William  Dawes)  spoke  as  zealously  against  it, 
for  he  seemed  resolved  to  distinguish  himself  as  a  zealot  for 
that  which  was  called  the  High  Church.  The  Bill  passed 
with  very  little  opposition." 

A  good  many  of  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  who 
came  over  brought  their  money  with  them.  Those  immi- 
grants who  were  of  noble  family  were  younger  sons,  and 
fortune-hunters,  who  looked  out  for  rich  widows  and 
heiresses  in  England,  and  with  their  French  manners  and 
flattering  tongues  soon  wheedled  themselves  into  their  affec- 

280 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

tions  and  married  them.  On  the  whole,  the  refugees  did 
very  well  in  England,  and  managed  to  feather  their  nests 
comfortably.  The  pastors  did  uncommonly  well,  what  with 
the  grants  made  to  them  and  their  chances  with  amorous 
and  rich  widows  of  citizens  ;  and  they  took  good  care  to 
have  their  sons  brought  up  in  the  faith  of  the  English 
Church,  so  as  to  qualify  them  for  plump  livings  and  still 
higher  preferments. 

The  Marquis  de  Rouvigny  was  created  Earl  of  Gal  way 
by  William  III.  Jean  Louis  Ligonier  was  raised  to  the 
peerage  as  a  Viscount  Ligonier  of  Enniskillen  in  1757,  and 
Earl  in  1776 ;  Edward  Ligonier  was  created  Earl  Ligonier 
in  1776.  He  was  the  son  of  Francis  Ligonier.  Lord  de 
Blaquiere  is  descended  from  a  refugee,  Jean  de  Blaquiere, 
who  took  up  his  abode  in  England  in  1685.  Baron  de 
Tessier  comes  from  a  refugee,  Jacques,  who  came  to  England 
in  1712  and  founded  a  wealthy  merchant-house.  Claude 
Armand  was  naturalized  in  1698.  His  son  George  was 
created  a  Baronet  in  1764.  A  French  refugee  named  De 
Bailleu  settled  in  Cambridgeshire  before  the  Revocation, 
and  was  the  ancestor  of  Sir  John  Bayley,  Bart.,  1834. 
Another  refugee,  Boileau,  was  the  ancestor  of  Sir  John 
Peter  Boileau,  Bart.  Elie  Bouhe"rau,  son  of  a  pastor  at 
La  Rochelle,  founded  the  family  of  Borough,  Baronets. 
De  Crespigny  is  another  Baronet  of  Huguenot  ancestry  ; 
also  Lambert,  Baronet ;  also  Larpent ;  also  Pechell.  Earl 
Clancarty  is  a  Trench  descended  from  the  Huguenot  family 
of  Trenche.1  The  Earl  of  Radnor  is  a  Bouverie,  whose 
ancestor  was  Laurent  des  Bouveries,  a  silk-manufacturer, 
who  fled  to  England  from  French  Flanders.  Sir  John 
Houblon,  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1695,  and  a  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  was  also  of  Huguenot  extraction.  In  1689 
was  naturalized  that  soldier  of  fortune,  Count  Schomberg, 
whom  William  III.  at  once  elevated  to  the  English  peerage, 

1  In  the  Patent  Rolls,  March  17,  1715,  George  I.  declares  :  "We  are 
graciously  pleased  to  allow  for  and  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  late 
Countess  of  Clancarty's  children,  and  for  their  education  in  the 
Protestant  religion,  the  annuity  or  yearly  pension  of  ^1,000." 

281 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

with  the  titles  of  Baron  of  Teyes,  Earl  of  Brentford,  Marquis 
of  Harwich,  and  Duke  of  Schomberg.  His  son  Charles, 
naturalized  in  1691,  was  created  Duke  of  Leinster,  and  after- 
wards succeeded  to  his  father's  English  dukedom. 

Frederick  William  de  Roy,  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  who  was 
naturalized  in  1694,  was  created  Earl  of  Lifford.  Armand 
de  Liremont,  a  second  son,  was  given  the  title  of  Earl  of 
Faversham  by  Charles  II.  Swift  says  that  he  was  "  a  very 
dull  old  fellow  ";  and  Burnet :  "  Both  his  brothers  changing 
their  religion,  though  he  continued  himself  a  Protestant, 
made  that  his  religion  was  not  much  trusted  to.  He  was  an 
honest,  brave,  and  good-natured  man,  but  weak  to  a  degree, 
not  easy  to  be  conceived."  However,  he  knew  on  which  side 
his  bread  was  buttered. 

Cavalier,  the  Camisard,  a  baker's  boy,  was  given  a  com- 
mission in  the  British  army  as  Major-General,  and  made 
Governor  of  Jersey.  Tassin  d'Allonne  was  made  Secretary 
to  Queen  Mary,  and  granted  the  lands,  manors,  and  lordship, 
of  Pickering,  and  the  manor  and  lordship  of  Scalby,  for 
ninety-nine  years  after  the  death  of  the  Queen.  A  good 
many  of  the  pastors  were  provided  for  to  serve  the  refugee 
congregations  in  London,  Plymouth,  Colchester,  Norwich, 
and  elsewhere  ;  and  with  the  £200  per  annum  granted  them 
out  of  the  Royal  Bounty  Fund,  and  the  money  that  flowed 
in  from  their  flock,  they  were  in  pretty  comfortable  circum- 
stances, far  better  off  than  they  had  been  in  their  own  land, 
and  infinitely  better  than  many  a  poor  English  curate. 

Where  a  pastor  could  not  find  a  congregation  of  refugees, 
he  swallowed  his  scruples,  signed  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
submitted  to  ordination,  and  was  given  a  cure  in  England 
or  Ireland,  which  he  had  no  hesitation  in  accepting,  though 
unable  to  speak  the  language  of  the  people  to  whom  he  was 
supposed  to  minister.  Daniel  Lombard  was  given  the 
rectories  of  Lanteglos  and  Advent  in  Cornwall,  with  the 
borough  town  of  Camelford  in  it,  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  parish  church,  worth  at  the  present  day  £385  per  annum. 
He  rode  to  take  possession  of  his  living,  but,  being  unable  to 
make  himself  understood  when  he  asked  his  way,  rode  on  to 

282 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

the  Land's  End,  and  there  had  to  turn  and  ride  back  to  the 
eastern  confines  of  the  county.  Jacques  Abbadie  was 
made  Dean  of  Killaloe,  and,  not  content  with  that, 
clamoured  for  the  deanery  of  St.  Patrick's.  Charles 
Bertheau,  pastor  of  the  French  chapel  in  Threadneedle 
Street,  left  £1,000  to  his  nephew  and  £4,000  to  the  poor. 
Jacques  Pineton  de  Chambrun  was  made  domestic  chaplain 
to  William  of  Orange,  and  Canon  of  Windsor.  The  pastor 
Eland  Grosteste  de  la  Motte  feathered  his  nest  so  well  in 
England,  that  in  1713  he  was  able  to  bequeath  to  his 
brother-in-law  Robethon  £1,200,  another  £1,200  to  his 
brother  Jacques,  £500  to  a  godson,  and  all  the  rest  of 
his  money  to  his  wife.  De  Montandre  was  made  Master  of 
the  Ordnance  in  Ireland,  and  Field-Marshal.  Josias  de 
Champagne  married  Lady  Jane  Forbes,  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Granard,  and  his  son  was  given  the  deanery  of  Clon- 
macnois ;  his  grandson  became  a  Lieutenant-General ; 
another  grandson,  Rector  of  Twickenham  and  Canon  of 
Windsor ;  another  became  General  Sir  Josias  Champagne. 
The  refugee  Jean  Crommelin  left  to  his  three  sons  £10,000 
apiece.  Louis  Crommelin  became  Director  of  the  Royal 
Linen  Manufactory,  with  a  patent,  and  petitioned  for  a 
pension  of  £500  a  year,  "  having  lost  his  only  son,  who 
managed  all  his  affairs,"  and  he  would  have  to  pay  an 
assistant  to  do  the  work  for  him. 

From  the  pastor  Aufere  the  family  of  Aufere  of  Hoveton 
and  Foulsham  Old  Hall  descends  in  direct  succession. 
The  pastor's  second  son,  George  Rene",  had  one  child 
Sophia,  the  ancestress  of  the  Earls  of  Yarborough.  The 
following  notice  appeared  in  the  Scots  Magazine  :  Died  ist 
September,  1804,  Mrs.  Aufere,  mother-in-law  of  Lord  Yar- 
borough. By  the  death  of  this  venerable  lady  his  lordship 
will  come  into  possession  of  £50,000  ready  money,  and  one 
of  the  finest  collections  of  paintings  in  this  country.  The 
late  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  frequently  said  that  it  contained  a 
greater  variety  of  pieces  by  the  first  masters  of  the  Italian, 
Dutch,  French,  and  Flemish  schools  than  any  other  private 
collection  in  England,  and  estimated  it  at  £200,000.  It  is 

283 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

supposed  that  the  deceased,  in  conformity  with  her  promises 
frequently  repeated,  has  besides  left  a  legacy  of  £10,000  to 
each  of  his  lordship's  daughters.  His  lordship's  two  sons,  it 
is  also  supposed,  will  enjoy  £20,000  each  beside  the  Chelsea 
estate."  This  lady  was  a  Miss  Bate.  George  Rene*  was  the 
second  son  of  the  Calvinist  minister  Israel  Antoine  Aufere. 
Pretty  well  done  for  the  second  son  of  a  runaway  Huguenot 
pastor,  it  must  be  allowed ! 

The  Portals  were  refugees.  Henri  Portal  become  a  paper- 
manufacturer,  and  was  granted  the  privilege  of  making  the 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  England,  which  his  descendants 
inherited.  Jean  Frangois  Portal's  son,  Guillaume,  was  given 
the  rectory  of  Fanebridge,  Essex,  and  Clowne,  in  the  county 
of  Derby,  and  was  made  tutor  to  Prince  George,  afterwards 
George  III.  The  family  is  now  well  estated  in  Hampshire, 
and  represented  by  Melville  Portal  of  Laverstoke,  M.P.  for 
North  Hants  in  1849-1851,  and  High  Sheriff  in  1863. 

Louis  Paul,  son  of  a  refugee  druggist,  was  ancestor  of  the 
Baronets  of  that  name.  Elie  Bouhereau,  son  of  a  pastor  at 
La  Rochelle,  was  ordained  and  made  Chanter  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  Dublin,  and  Librarian.  The  descendants  call 
themselves  Borough.  Sir  John  Chardin,  the  traveller,  was 
another  refugee.  He  was  knighted  in  1681 ;  the  daughter, 
Julia,  married  Sir  Christopher  Musgrave,  Bart.,  of  Hartley 
Castle.  Henri  Justel,  on  coming  to  England  in  1681,  was 
made  Keeper  of  the  King's  Library  in  St.  James's  Palace, 
with  a  salary  of  £200  per  annum. 

James  and  Peter  Auriole  were  refugees.  James  became  a 
wealthy  merchant  in  Lisbon,  whence  he  went  from  London. 
His  eldest  son,  James  Peter,  as  well  as  his  brother,  obtained 
lucrative  appointments  in  India.  The  second,  Charles, 
became  a  General  in  the  royal  service.  James  Peter  was  the 
father  of  Edward  Auriol,  Rector  of  St.  Dunstan,  in  the  West 
of  London,  and  Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's.  Peter  Auriol  was 
the  father  of  Henrietta  Auriol,  ancestress  of  the  Earls  of 
Kinnoull,  whose  marriage  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine :  "  Married,  3ist  January,  1719,  the  Right  Rev. 
Robert  Drummond,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  to  the  eldest 

284 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

daughter  of  Mr.  Auriol,  merchant,  in  Coleman  Street."    With 
her,  as  dowry,  £30,000  went  to  the  Bishop. 

This  prelate  was  by  birth  the  Hon.  Robert  Hay,  second 
son  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Kinnoull.  He  assumed  the  name 
of  Drummond  in  1739,  on  succeeding  to  the  estates  of  the 
first  Viscount  Strathallan.  From  being  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  in 
1748,  he  was  promoted  to  be  Bishop  of  Salisbury  in  1761,  and 
in  the  same  year  was  made  Archbishop  of  York.  He  had  six 
sons  by  his  wife.  The  eldest  became  ninth  Earl  of  Kinnoull. 

M.  David  de  Montolieu  was  made  General  of  Foot  in  the 
English  army.  He  left  £1,500  to  his  only  daughter.  Louis 
Jacques  Puissard,  the  refugee,  was  granted  several  forfeited 
estates  in  1697,  yielding  £607  per  annum.  Gabriel  de 
Quesne  was  made  Commissioner  of  Fortifications  in  the 
British  service  at  Port  Royal,  and  his  son  Thomas  Roger 
was  given  the  vicarage  of  East  Tuddenham  and  made 
Prebendary  of  Ely.  Mathieu  Hullin  de  Gastine  was  another 
refugee.  He  left  to  his  son  £3,666  75.  gd.  Jacques  de 
Gastigny,  a  Huguenot  refugee  from  Holland,  was  created 
Master  of  the  Buckhounds  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He 
followed  him  to  England,  and  died  in  1708,  He  must  have 
done  pretty  well  for  himself,  as  he  left  £500  to  the  pesthouse, 
£500  for  the  hospital,  and  numerous  legacies. 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  the  death  is  recorded  of 
Paul  Dufour,  a  Huguenot  refugee,  "  Treasurer  of  the  French 
Hospital,  to  which  he  left  £10,000."  There  were  other 
numerous  and  large  bequests. 

David  Bosanquet  came  to  England  from  Lyons  in  1685. 
His  son  Samuel  married  the  heiress  of  William  Dunster,  and 
his  grandson,  also  named  Samuel,  became  Director  of  the  Bank 
of  England  and  Deputy-Governor  of  the  Levant  Company. 
James  Whatonau  Bosanquet  married  the  only  daughter  and 
heiress  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Sir  Nicolas  Conyngham 
Tindal,  and  his  descendants  are  the  Tindal-Bosanquets. 

The  family  of  Esdaile  of  Cothelestone  claims  descent  from 
a  Huguenot  refugee.  Sir  James  Esdaile,  Kt.,  was  the  father 
of  William  Esdaile,  a  London  banker.  Zacharie  Fonnereau 
was  another  who  escaped  to  England  at  the  Revocation,  and 

285 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

his  son  Claude  died  a  merchant-prince  in  1740,  leaving  to 
his  eldest  son,  Thomas,  £40,000,  and  to  three  other  sons, 
Abel,  Philip,  and  Peter,  £20,000  apiece,  and  to  another  son, 
the  Rev.  Claude,  £25,000,  and  to  his  four  daughters,  each 
£10,000.  To  his  widow  £400  per  annum.  Nicholas  Gam- 
bier  came  to  England  at  the  same  time.  His  son  James 
became  a  barrister  in  good  practice,  whose  daughter  Susan 
married  Sir  Samuel  Cornish,  Bart.,  and  Margaret,  Sir  Charles 
Middleton,  Bart.,  created  Lord  Barham.  The  son  James 
became  an  Admiral. 

Augustine  Prevost  came  to  England  from  Geneva,  where 
was  no  persecution  whatever,  and  became  a  Major-General 
in  the  British  army.  He  was  the  father  of  Sir  George 
Provost,  created  Baronet,  Governor-General,  and  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces  in  North  America,  where  he 
disgraced  himself  at  Saratoga,  and  had  to  be  recalled,  and 
only  by  his  death  escaped  a  court-martial. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly  was  the  son  of  a  Huguenot  jeweller 
refugee.  Sir  Samuel's  eldest  son  was  called  to  the  Upper 
House  as  Baron  Romilly  of  Barry. 

Baron  de  Tessier  was  descended  from  Jacques,  who  took 
refuge  in  Switzerland,  but  whose  son  of  the  same  name 
thought  he  could  better  his  fortunes  by  coming  to  England. 

William  III.  found  means  to  accommodate  a  large  number 
of  the  refugees  by  raising  French  regiments  to  serve  in  Ire- 
land. There  was  one  of  cavalry,  one  of  dragoons,  and  three 
infantry  regiments.  These  were  disbanded  at  the  Peace  of 
Ryswick,  but  were  reorganized  in  1706-07.  But  that  was 
not  sufficient.  An  English  infantry  regiment  was  placed 
under  Colonel  Puissar,  and  an  English  regiment  of  cavalry 
under  Sir  John  Lanier,  both  Frenchmen. 

De  la  Roche  wrote :  "  A  clergyman  well  acquainted  with 
Isaac  Vossius  told  me  that  one  day  he  asked  that  Prebendary 
of  Windsor  what  was  become  of  a  certain  person.  '  He  has 
taken  Orders,'  replied  Vossius.  '  He  has  got  a  living  in  the 
country — sacrificulus  decipit  populum.' ' 

There  is  this  excuse  for  the  way  in  which  William  III. 
and  George  I.  thrust  French  and  Dutch  pastors  into  English 

286 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

livings  and  prebendal  stalls  after  having  had  them  ordained, 
that  the  main  body  of  the  English  clergy  were  Jacobite  and 
High  Church,  even  such  as  had  not  joined  the  Nonjuror 
schism.  It  was  the  policy  of  both  to  flood  the  English 
Church  with  Calvinism  and  Whiggery.  That  those  pre- 
ferred either  could  not  speak  English  at  all,  or  spoke  it  with 
such  an  accent  and  so  broken  as  not  to  be  "  understanded  by 
the  people,"  was  not  a  matter  that  concerned  them  greatly. 
William  was  highly  incensed  at  the  rejection  by  Convoca- 
tion of  his  and  Burnet's  Bill  for  the  revision  of  the  Liturgy, 
in  order  to  admit  Dissenters,  by  adopting  certain  alterations 
and  making  the  use  of  certain  ceremonies  discretionary.  He 
revenged  himself  on  the  Church  by  heaping  benefices  and 
dignities  on  the  Calvinist  foreign  refugees. 

Pierre  Allix  was  a  Huguenot  pastor  and  the  son  of  a 
pastor.  When  he  came  to  England  he  submitted  to  ordina- 
tion. Woodrow  wrote  :  "  Mr.  Webster  tells  me  that  he  had 
an  account  that,  when  they  were  forced  out  of  France  in 
1685,  Monsieur  Allix  was  the  first  who  submitted  to  reordina- 
tion  in  England ;  that  he  was  so  choaked  [shocked]  when  he 
saw  Monsieur  Allix  reordained,  and  a  declaration  made  that 
he  was  [had  been]  no  minister,  and  the  reflection  cast  on 
the  whole  ministry  of  France  and  the  Reformed  Churches, 
that  he  could  not  bear  it,  but  came  to  Scotland." 

Allix  had  several  sons.  Peter  became  incumbent  of  Castle 
Camps  in  Cambridgeshire,  and  Chaplain-in-Ordinary  to  the 
King ;  then  Dean  of  Gloucester,  and  next  Dean  of  Ely.  His 
wife  was  Elizabeth,  niece  of  Admiral  Sir  Charles  Wager, 
and  his  descendants  are  the  well-estated  families  of  Allix  of 
Willoughby  Hall  and  of  Swaffham. 

Charles  Daubuz,  another  refugee,  became  Vicar  of  Brother- 
ton  in  Yorkshire.  Th£ophile  de  1'Anger  was  made  Vicar 
of  Tenterden,  Rector  of  Shargate,  and  Minister  of  Good- 
mestone — in  fact,  a  pluralist,  as  was  also  his  son,  John 
Maximilian,  who  obtained  the  rectories  of  Danbury  and 
Woodhamferrier,  and  was  also  Minister  of  Goodmestone. 
Pierre  Dresincourt,  whose  grandfather  was  either  a  shoe- 
maker or  soap-boiler,  was  given  the  archdeaconry  of  Leigh- 

287 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

ton,  and  the  rectory  and  deanery  of  Armagh.  He  be- 
queathed £500  to  the  French  Church  in  Dublin,  £700  to 
a  charity  school  in  Wales,  •£ 800  to  a  hospital  in  Dublin, 
£1,000  for  charities  in  Armagh,  £2,000  to  his  own  and  his 
wife's  relations.  His  only  child,  Anne,  married  Viscount 
Primrose.  John  Armand  du  Bourdieu  was  given  the  rectory 
of  Sawtry- All-Saints  in  Huntingdonshire. 

Jacques  Jerome  was  presented  to  the  vicarages  of  Mullingar 
and  Rathconnell,  and  then  to  the  rectories  of  Churchtowne 
and  Piercetowne,  and  finally  to  the  rectories  of  Clonegan 
and  Newtownclenan.  Jacques  Sartres,  a  native  of  Mont- 
pellier,  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London  in  1684,  and 
in  1688  was  made  Prebendary  of  Westminster.  Daniel 
Amiard,  another  French  refugee,  was  accorded  the  rectory 
of  Holdenby,  and  was  given  a  canonry  in  Peterborough 
Cathedral. 

Antoine  Ligonier,  a  pastor,  became  a  military  chaplain  in 
Britain,  and  retired  with  a  pension  of  35.  4d.  a  day  in  1702. 

The  Barbaulds  were  refugees.  One  of  them  was  the  father 
of  Theophile  Louis,  who  was  presented  by  George  II.  to 
the  rectory  of  St.  Vedast  in  London.  His  son  reverted  to 
Calvinism,  and  became  a  Dissenting  preacher.  The  wife  of 
this  latter  was  the  at  one  time  famed  Anna  Lsetitia  Barbauld, 
nee  Aikin.  She  visited  Geneva  in  1785,  and  saw  there 
Calvinist  worship  as  appointed  by  the  founder  of  the  religion  : 
"  As  soon  as  the  text  is  named,  the  minister  puts  on  his  hat, 
in  which  he  is  followed  by  all  the  congregation,  except  those 
whose  hats  and  heads  have  never  any  connection  (for  you 
well  know  that  to  put  his  hat  upon  his  head  is  the  last  use 
a  well-dressed  Frenchman  would  think  of  putting  it  to). 
At  proper  periods  of  the  discourse  the  minister  stops  short 
and  turns  his  back  upon  you  to  blow  his  nose,  which  is  a 
signal  for  all  the  congregation  to  do  the  same  ;  and  a  glorious 
concert  it  is  if  the  weather  is  already  severe  and  people  have 
got  colds.  I  am  told,  too,  that  he  takes  this  time  to  refresh 
his  memory  by  peeping  at  his  sermon,  which  lies  behind  him 
in  the  pulpit." 

Bernard  Majendie  was  a  Calvinist  preacher  at  Orthez. 

288 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

His  son  Andre,  born  in  1601,  was  pastor  at  Sauveterre ;  the 
brother  Jacques  came  to  England  and  was  naturalized  in 
1704,  and  had  a  son,  who  was  made  Canon  of  Worcester. 
The  Canon's  son  became  Bishop  of  Chester  in  1809.  James 
Saurin,  a  descendant  of  Jean  Saurin,  Sieur  de  la  Blaquier, 
was  made  Bishop  of  Dromore  in  1819.  The  Very  Reverend 
Daniel  Letabliere,  Dean  of  Tuam,  Vicar  of  Laragh- Brian,  a 
Prebendary  of  Maynooth,  who  died  in  1775,  was  the  son  of 
Rene  de  Lestables,  who  on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  escaped  to  Ireland.  Dean  Gabriel  James  Mathurin 
was  grandson  of  the  pastor  Gabriel  Maturin,  a  foundling 
who  was  picked  up  in  the  streets  of  Paris  by  the  coachman 
of  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Maturin.  Archdeacon  Fleury  of 
Waterford,  Prebendary  of  Kilgobenet,  was  descended  from 
the  pastor  Louis  Fleury  of  Tours.  Daniel  Augustus  Beau- 
fort, Archdeacon  of  Tuam,  was  the  son  of  a  pastor  to  French 
congregations  in  London.  Archdeacon  Jortin  was  son  of 
Rene*  Jortin,  a  refugee.  Isaac  Thellusson  was  a  refugee  at 
Geneva.  His  son  Peter  came  to  London  to  better  his  position. 
He  prospered,  and  purchased  the  Manor  of  Broadsworth  in 
Yorkshire.  His  eldest  son  was  created  Baron  Rendlesham. 
Peter  Thellusson,  whose  will  is  dated  1796,  left  £4,500  a 
year  in  landed  property  and  £60,000  of  personal  estate. 
Andrew  Boevy,  a  native  of  Courtrai,  came  to  England,  and 
became  a  merchant  in  London.  His  son  William,  who  died 
in  1661,  left  £30,000  in  real  estate  and  personality.  James 
Boevy  and  his  brother  William  in  1647  bought  Flaxley  Abbey 
in  Gloucestershire,  now  the  residence  of  the  Baronet  Crawley- 
Boevy.  Theodore  Janssen  was  a  refugee;  he  was  created 
a  Baronet  by  Queen  Anne.  He  brought  with  him  to  England 
£20,000,  which  he  improved  to  £300,000  in  1720,  but,  being 
involved  in  the  South  Sea  Company,  lost  £220,000,  nearly 
half  of  his  then  real  estate.  Richard  Chenevix,  of  another 
refugee  family,  was  given  the  bishoprics  of  Waterford  and 
Lismore,  and  he  at  once  began  to  provide  in  the  Irish  Church 
for  other  descendants  of  refugees. 

A  Trenche  was  created  Lord  Ashtown  ;  another  was  made 
Archbishop  of  Tuam. 

289  T 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 


Of  later  beneficed  clergy  of  Huguenot  descent  it  is  not 
necessary  to  write.  I  may  but  name  Archbishop  Chenevix- 
Trench,  Huguenot  on  both  sides  ;  Turton,  Bishop  of  Ely  ; 
Lefroy,  Dean  of  Norwich  and  Bishop  of  Lahore ;  and  Dean 
Pigou. 

When,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,,  the  Tories  came  into 
favour,  there  was  a  fear  entertained  by  the  refugees  that  they 
would  not  be  favoured  and  pampered  as  they  had  been,  and 
a  certain  number,  but  not  many,  returned  to  their  native 
land.  But  the  majority  found  themselves  far  too  comfortable 
in  the  positions  they  had  acquired  through  favour,  or  by 
their  own  merits  and  abilities,  and  with  the  accession  of 
William  of  Orange  there  was  another  rush  of  foreign  Calvinists 
to  England.  With  George  I.  there  came  in  many  more. 
Industrious  and  inventive,  they  did  much  to  enhance  the 
manufacturing  and  mercantile  prosperity  of  England,  and 
although  at  first  they  ousted  many  of  our  native  men  of 
business  and  workmen  from  their  places,  eventually  they 
proved  of  material  and  intellectual  advantage  to  the  country 
of  their  adoption. 

Numerous  well-to-do  county  families  derive  from  Huguenot 
refugee  ancestors.  Beside  those  already  mentioned  are 
Layard,  Barclay,  Pigou,  Chamier,  Carpenter  -  Gamier, 
Garrett,  Jeune,  Papillon,  Blanchard,  Blondell,  Boileau, 
Bourdillon,  Boyer,  Brocas,  Bulmer,  Champion,  Courtauld, 
Cramer,  Daubney,  Cazenove,  Riviere,  Gambier  -  Parry, 
Hassard,  La  Touche,  Le  Fanu,  Luard,  Martineau,  Morrell, 
Ouvry,  Sperling,  Lefevre,  Houblon,  and  many  more  names 
known  in  banks,  manufactures,  and  trades. 

During  the  reign  of  William  III.  many  Dutch  were 
naturalized  who  were  not  in  any  way  refugees  from  persecu- 
tion ;  they  came  to  make  their  fortunes  in  England.  In 
France,  moreover,  persecution  had  come  to  an  end  about 
1688,  but  Huguenots  continued  to  drift  over  in  considerable 
numbers,  hearing  that  their  kinsmen  and  coreligionists  were 
having  "  a  good  time  "  in  England,  and  settling  in  green 
pastures.  In  fact,  in  one  day — July  3,  1701 — as  many  as 
303  persons  were  naturalized. 

290 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

For  complete  lists  of  refugees  and  naturalized  foreigners, 
see  the  Camden  Society  volume,  "  Lists  of  Foreign  Pro- 
testants and  Aliens  resident  in  England,  1618-1688  "  (London, 
1862) ;  Agnew  (D.),  "  Protestant  Exiles  from  France  in  the 
Reign  of  Louis  XIV."  (London,  1871-1874);  Burn  (J.  S.), 
"  History  of  French,  Walloon,  Dutch,  and  other  Foreign 
Protestant  Refugees  settled  in  England "  (London,  1846) ; 
and  the  third  volume  of  Weiss's  "  Histoire  des  ReTugies 
Protestants  de  France  "  (1854). 

In  looking  through  these  lists,  one  is  struck  with  a  number 
of  names  included  in  them,  such  as  Lambert,  Godfrey,  Gilbert, 
Gervase,  Michael,  Martin,  Roger,  Charles,  and  the  like, 
that  would  become  English  at  once  without  any  alteration. 
But  there  are  others  with  which  we  are  familiar  :  Percy 
occurs ;  Roussell  repeatedly.  Dherby,  an  immigrant  in  1684, 
would  drop  the  h  and  become  Derby.  There  are  several 
Smiths  in  the  lists,  presumably  arriving  from  the  Netherlands. 
The  old  Norman  name  of  Houssaye  comes  in  several  times ; 
so  do  Hardy,  More,  Hayes,  Faulconier,  Rose,  Mercer, 
Marchant,  Courtis,  Carr,  Emery,  Nisbet,  Neel,  Ogelby, 
Paget,  Paulet,  Boyd,  Blondell,  Cooke,  Pratt,  Pain,  Lee,  King, 
Wildgoose,  Johnson,  Stockey,  Jay,  Davies,  Best,  Kemp, 
Wilkins,  Pryor,  Dove,  Fox,  Hudshon  (soon  to  shed  the  h), 
White,  Bush,  Greenwood,  Highstreet,  etc. 

Langue  would  speedily  become  Lang,  and  Boreau  become 
Borough  ;  Gr  angler  be  converted  into  Granger,  and  Goudron 
into  Gordon;  Guillard  would  become  Gillard,  and  Blond  be 
written  and  pronounced  Blunt.  How  some  of  the  names 
given  above  that  seem  to  be  distinctly  English,  as  Green- 
wood and  Highstreet,  come  into  the  lists  is  puzzling,  and 
we  can  only  suppose  that  the  immigrants  translated  their 
French  names  into  the  corresponding  English,  as  Boisvert 
into  Greenwood,  and  Hauterue  into  Highstreet. 

A  large  number  of  names  of  the  refugees  still  remain 
among  us,  recognizable  ;  nevertheless,  a  large  percentage  has 
disappeared.  Either  these  fugitives  translated  or  anglicized 
their  names,  or  else  dropped  them  altogether  and  assumed 
such  as  were  purely  English.  Some,  again,  have  become  so 

291  T  2 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

corrupted  that  there  is  no  discovering  what  they  originally 
were  without  reference  to  parochial  registers,  in  which  the 
modification  and  final  transformation  may  be  traced.  On 
the  whole,  we  may  be  thankful  for  the  infusion  of  vigorous 
Huguenot  blood.  The  Conquest  had  brought  some  fresh- 
ness into  what  was  dull  Saxon  life,  and  this  new  importation 
helped  further  to  salt  the  soup.  Although  a  good  many  of 
those  who  came  to  England  bore  territorial  names,  with 
De  this  or  that,  and  accounted  themselves  to  be  nobles,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  a  French  noble,  unless  of  the  highest 
class,  was  on  a  level  with  an  English  squire.  Not  even  that 
always.  There  were  in  France,  as  also  in  Germany,  two 
classes,  the  noblesse  and  the  bourgeoisie,  beside  the  peasants. 
Only  the  noblesse  had  any  right  to  a  coat  of  arms,  and  every 
son,  grandson,  great-grandson,  of  some  petty  De  considered 
himself,  and  was  considered,  a  member  of  the  class  of  nobles. 
In  England  it  was  always  quite  different.  The  wars  in  which 
France  was  constantly  engaged  killed  off  a  host  of  the  junior 
scions  of  nobility ;  but  for  that,  they  would  have  swarmed 
like  flies.  For  these  needy  offshoots  of  scrubby  plants  con- 
sidered themselves  too  good  to  soil  their  fingers  with  trade 
or  commerce.  There  were  but  three  professions  open  to 
them  as  gentlemen — the  Army,  the  Law,  and  the  Church. 

"  The  unfortunate  custom  in  France,"  says  White  in  his 
"  History  of  France,"  "  which  made  all  the  members  of  a 
family  as  noble  as  its  chief,  so  that  a  simple  Viscount  with 
ten  stalwart  and  penniless  sons  gave  ten  stalwart  and  penni- 
less Viscounts  to  the  aristocracy  of  his  country,  had  filled 
the  whole  land  with  a  race  of  men  proud  of  their  origin, 
filled  with  reckless  courage,  careless  of  life,  and  despising  all 
the  honest  means  of  employment  by  which  their  fortunes 
might  have  been  improved.  Mounted  on  a  sorry  horse,  and 
begirt  with  a  sword  of  good  steel,  the  young  cavalier  took 
his  way  from  the  miserable  castle  on  a  rock,  where  his  noble 
father  tried  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  daily  dinners  and 
wondered  how  in  the  world  all  his  remaining  sons  and 
daughters  were  to  be  clothed  and  fed,  and  made  his  way 
to  Paris.  There  he  pushed  his  future,  fighting,  bullying, 

292 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

gambling,  and  was  probably  stabbed  by  some  drunken  com- 
panion and  flung  into  the  Seine." 

We  must  not  be  dazzled  by  the  pretensions  of  some  of 
the  Huguenot  pastors  to  be  members  of  noble  families. 
That  meant  very  little — no  more  than  that  they  were  not 
descendants  of  honest  tradesmen.  Some  needy  second,  third, 
or  fourth  son  of  a  starved,  ragged  Count  or  Viscount,  or  even 
Marquis,  found  that  he  could  still  remain  a  gentleman  if  he 
became  a  pastor,  which  suited  him  better  than  to  be  a  cure, 
debarred  from  marriage.  The  titled  class  in  France  did  not 
by  any  means  represent  the  corresponding  class  in  England. 
After  the  time  of  Louis  XI.  the  representatives  of  the  old 
feudal  aristocracy  were  few  and  far  between.  They  were  left 
like  pillars  in  an  almost  universal  inundation,  and  were 
themselves  finally  sapped  and  overthrown  by  the  force  of 
the  prevailing  tide.  A  second  aristocracy  arose  among  the 
descendants  and  survivors  of  the  English  and  Italian  wars. 
They  claimed  their  rank  as  proprietors  of  petty  estates. 
Three  thousand  acres  of  sandy  soil  or  barren  limestone  were 
ample  to  invest  the  owner  with  the  title  of  Marquis.  A  third 
aristocracy  also  came  up,  the  creation  of  Court  favour — 
possessors  of  a  nominal  rank  without  lands,  and  without 
corresponding  duties. 

Enriched  tax-gatherers,  or  others  who  had  fattened  on  the 
royal  favour,  ascended  above  their  original  position  by  the 
purchase  of  lands  that  were  recognized  or  assumed  as  carrying 
with  them  a  title,  and  this  became  so  general  that  at  last  an 
edict  was  passed  to  deprive  them  of  a  pre-eminence  derived 
solely  from  the  purchase  of  these  lands. 

Among  the  "  nobles  "  who  came  over  there  were  very  few 
indeed  who  left  behind  them  anything  of  any  value,  and  the 
merchants  managed  to  sell  their  businesses,  as  appears  from 
the  large  sums  of  money  they  brought  over  with  them  ;  and 
they  had  previously  well-established  relations  with  substantial 
firms  in  England. 

In  the  end  of  February,  1744  (N.S.),  the  merchants  of  the 
City  of  London  presented  a  loyal  address  to  the  King  in 
consequence  of  His  Majesty's  message  to  the  Houses  of 

293 


THE  HUGUENOT  REFUGEES 

Parliament  regarding  designs  "  in  favour  of  a  Popish  pre- 
tender to  disturb  the  peace  and  quiet  of  your  Majesty's 
kingdom,"  declaring  themselves  resolved  to  hazard  their 
lives  and  fortunes  "  in  defence  of  your  Majesty's  sacred 
person  and  government,  and  for  the  security  of  the  Pro- 
testant succession  in  your  Royal  Family."  Among  the  542 
signatures  are  those  of  ninety-four  French  names,  chiefly 
Huguenot.  I  give  these,  as  of  interest,  in  the  Appendix. 


294 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NICK-    AND   DESCRIPTIVE   NAMES 

ALMOST  invariably  in  the  nursery  a  child  is  given  by  brothers 
and  sisters  some  name  which,  if  not  a  contraction  of  the 
baptismal  name,  bears  no  relation  to  it.  Margaret  is  indeed 
crumpled  into  Maggie,  Mary  reduced  to  May,  Elizabeth  to 
Bett'y  or  Lizzie,  Catherine  to  Kate ;  William  is  contracted 
and  altered  to  Bill,  Harry  to  Hal,  Richard  to  Dick,  and 
Robert  to  Bob.  But  often  the  names  given  are  capricious 
and  unaccountable,  as  Bunchy,  Pirn,  Stubbly,  Topsy,  Dott, 
Tittums.  If  they  escape  this  in  the  nursery,  they  do  not  do  so 
at  school,  where  personalities  often  rule  the  giving  of  a  name, 
as  Ginger,  Carrots,  from  the  hair  ;  Snout,  Beak,  Nosey,  from 
the  nose  ;  Goggles,  from  the  eyes ;  Bat,  from  the  projecting 
ears  ;  Frowsky,  from  indifference  to  outdoor  sports. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  easy  to  get  rid  of  such  a  name.  A  girl 
known  at  home  to  parents,  as  well  as  to  brothers  and  sisters 
and  cousins,  by  a  pet  name  carries  it  with  her  to  her  husband's 
house,  and  the  boy  leaving  school  and  entering  the  army  is 
saluted  with  his  nickname  at  the  regimental  mess.  A  Colonel 
Smith  was  spending  a  winter  in  a  certain  German  town.  He 
possessed  a  daughter  who  went  in  the  family  by  the  name  of 
Jack  Spratt.  This  she  acquired  as  a  little  child  by  her  revul- 
sion against  fat  with  her  meat ;  and  as  the  nursery  rhyme 
avers : 

"Jack  Spratt  could  eat  no  fat, 

His  wife  could  eat  no  lean  ; 

And  so  between  them  both 

They  licked  the  platter  clean." 

295 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

She  grew  up  to  woman's  estate,  and  neither  parents  nor 
brothers  and  sisters  had  shaken  off  the  habit  of  calling  her 
Jack  Spratt,  although  her  Christian  name  was  Isabella. 

When  aged  twenty-three  she  became  engaged  to  a  gentle- 
man who  was  visiting  in  the  aforesaid  German  town.  On  his 
return  to  England  he  wrote  to  her ;  and  as  lovers  fall  into 
strange  lunes,  he  addressed  his  letter  to  her — Miss  Jack  Spratt ! 

Two  days  later  a  messenger  arrived  at  Colonel  Smith's 
door  with  a  summons  to  attend  at  the  post-office  next  morn- 
ing, between  8  a.m.  and  noon.  He  obeyed,  and  found  that 
it  concerned  the  letter.  Who  was  Jack  Spratt  ?  How  long 
had  he  been  an  inmate  of  the  Colonel's  house  ?  No  intima- 
tion of  such  a  person  had  been  sent  to  the  police,  and,  accord- 
ing to  law,  no  stranger  could  reside  for  over  three  days  in  the 
town  without  legitimation  by  the  police.  The  Colonel  in 
broken  German  explained  that  his  daughter  was  familiarly 
known  as  Jack  Spratt.  He  was  requested  to  take  a  seat 
whilst  the  police  were  communicated  with.  Half  an  hour 
later  the  head  of  the  police  arrived,  and  the  matter  was  dis- 
cussed between  him  and  the  postmaster.  The  former  then, 
turning  to  the  Colonel,  stated  that  he  had  the  paper  of 
legitimation  of  Miss  Isabella  Smith,  but  not  of  Jack  Spratt. 
In  vain  did  Colonel  Smith  reiterate  his  statement  that  this 
was  a  joke.  German  officials  do  not  comprehend  jokes,  and 
it  was  finally  concluded  that  the  letter  must  be  opened  to 
ascertain  to  whom  it  actually  was  addressed.  An  interpreter 
was  introduced.  The  letter  was  opened,  and  began  : 

"  MY  DEAR  JACK, 

"  You  are  a  regular  ripper " 

When  this  was  translated,  the  face  of  the  Oberpolizei 
became  grave. 

"  Der  wahrhaftige  Aufschneider  !"  he  exclaimed.  "We 
have  at  last  obtained  a  clue  to  the  discovery  of  the  criminal 
who  a  few  years  ago  committed  such  atrocious  acts  in 
London,  and  who  has  been  the  author  of  similar  cases 
recently  in  Berlin." 

The  Colonel  explained  that  ripper  was  a  term  of  admira- 

296 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

tion  and  endearment  much  affected  by  lovers  and  young 
ladies. 

The  police-officer  assumed  a  still  sterner  expression. 

"  Herr  Oberst,"  said  he,  "  this  passes  everything — that  a 
person  calling  himself  a  gentleman  should  address  to  a  lady 
delicately  brought  up  a  disgusting  and  horrible  epithet 
derived  from  the  acts  of  Jack  the  Ripper  as  a  term  of  endear- 
ment and  commendation.  Herr  Oberst,  you  must  under- 
stand that,  under  the  circumstances,  your  house  must  be 
subjected  to  a  domiciliary  visit !" 

The  employment  of  nicknames  is  so  common  among 
navvies  that  they  know  each  other  solely  by  them.  It  is  the 
same  with  colliers. 

An  attorney's  clerk  was  employed  to  serve  a  process  on  a 
collier.  After  a  great  deal  of  inquiry  as  to  the  whereabouts 
of  the  fellow,  he  was  about  to  abandon  the  search  as  hope- 
less, when  a  young  woman  who  had  witnessed  his  labour 
volunteered  to  assist  him. 

"  Oy  say,  Bull'yed,"  cried  she  to  the  first  person  they  met, 
"  does  thee  know  a  man  named  Adam  Green  ?" 

The  bull-head  was  shaken  in  token  of  ignorance. 

"  Loy-a-bed,  dost  thee  ?" 

Lie-a-bed's  opportunities  of  making  acquaintances  had 
been  limited,  and  she  could  not  resolve  the  difficulty. 

Stumpy  (a  man  with  a  wooden  leg),  Cowskin,  Spindle- 
shanks,  Cockeye,  and  Pigtail  were  severally  invoked,  but  in 
vain,  and  the  querist  fell  into  a  brown  study,  in  which  she 
remained  for  some  time.  At  length,  however,  her  eyes 
suddenly  brightened,  and,  slapping  one  of  her  companions 
on  the  shoulder,  she  exclaimed  triumphantly  : 

"  Dash  my  wig!  whoy,  he  means  my  feyther  !"  And  then, 
turning  to  the  gentleman,  added  :  "  Ye  should  'a  ax'd  for  Ole 
Blackbird." 

A  correspondent  of  Knight's  Quarterly  Magazine  wrote : 
"  I  knew  an  apothecary  in  the  collieries  who,  as  a  matter  of 
decorum,  always  entered  the  paternal  names  of  his  patients 
in  his  books — that  is,  when  he  could  ascertain  them.  But 
they  stood  there  only  for  ornament;  for  use  he  found  it 

297 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

necessary  to  append  the  sobriquet,  which  he  did  with  true 
medical  formality,  as,  for  instance,  *  Thomas  Williams,  vulgo 
diet.  Old  Puff.'  " 

Precisely  the  same  is  found  elsewhere.  A  writer  in  Black- 
wood's  Magazine  in  1842  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
peculiarities  of  nomenclature  among  Scottish  fisherfolk :  "The 
fishers  are  generally  in  want  of  surnames.  There  are  seldom 
more  than  two  or  three  surnames  in  a  fish-town.  The 
grocers,  in  *  booking  '  their  fisher  customers,  invariably  insert 
the  nickname,  or/^-name,  and,  in  the  case  of  married  men, 
write  down  the  wife's  along  with  the  husband's  name.  Un- 
married debtors  have  the  names  of  their  parents  inserted 
with  their  own.  In  the  town  register  of  Peterhead  these 
signatures  occur  ;  Elizabeth  Taylor,  spouse  to  John  Thom- 
son, '  Souples '  ;  Agnes  Farquhar,  spouse  to  W.  Findlater, 
*  Stonttie.'  It  is  amusing  enough  to  turn  over  the  leaves  of 
a  grocer's  ledger  and  see  the  fee-names  as  they  come  up  : 
Buckie,  Beauty,  Barn,  Biggelugs,  Collop,  Hilldom,  the  King,  the 
Provost,  Rockie,  Stoatie,  Sillerton,  the  Smack,  Snipe,  Snuffers, 
Toothie,  Todlowrie.  Among  the  twenty-five  George  Cowies 
in  Buckie  there  are  George  Cowie  '  Doodle,'  George  Cowie 
'  Carrot,'  and  George  Cowie  *  Nap.'  " 

In  1844  Jonn  Geddes,  alias  Jock  Jack,  was  indicted  at 
the  assizes  in  spring  at  Aberdeen  for  assaulting  John  Cowie, 
alias  Pum.  Some  of  the  witnesses  were  Margaret  Cowie 
"  Pum,"  daughter  of  the  person  assaulted ;  John  Reid,  alias 
Joccles ;  James  Green,  alias  Rovie ;  John  Geddes,  alias  Jack- 
son ;  Alexander,  alias  Duke,  and  John  Reid,  alias  Dey — all 
described  as  fishermen.  The  only  trace  in  this  list  of  a  nick- 
name developing  into  a  surname  is  in  the  case  of  Margaret 
Cowie,  who  was  called  "  Pum,"  as  well  as  her  father. 

Among  primitive  peoples,  as  already  said,  nicknames  were 
employed  to  conceal  the  real  name  of  a  person,  lest  an 
enemy,  by  getting  hold  of  it,  should  work  mischief  on  the 
owner  of  the  name  by  magical  arts. 

But  this  fear  of  the  name  being  misused  must  have  soon 
died  away,  whereas  the  notion  remained  that  by  invoking 
the  name,  not  of  a  saint  only,  but  of  some  man  of  renown, 

298 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

help  would  come  from  the  person  so  called  on.  There  are 
several  such  instances  in  the  Icelandic  sagas — as  when,  in  a 
storm,  an  Icelander  invoked  King  Olaf,  who  was  still  alive ; 
then  Olaf  responded  by  appearing  and  tendering  his 
assistance. 

Among  the  Kings  nicknames  were  common,  as  Ethelred 
the  Unready,  Edmund  Ironside,  Harold  Harefoot,  Henry 
Beauclerk,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  John  Lackland,  Edward 
Longshanks,  Richard  Crookback.  The  Welsh  Princes, 
moreover,  had  descriptive  epithets  attached  to  their  names, 
as  Calcfynedd  the  Whitewasher,  Lauhir  Longhand,  Mynfaur 
the  Courteous.  Sometimes  a  nickname  displaced  a  baptismal 
mame.  Thus,  Brendon  the  Voyager  was  christened  Mobi ; 
but,  because  there  was  an  auroral  display  at  his  birth,  he 
was  known  through  life  as  Brenain.  St.  Patrick  had  four 
names,  of  which  Succat,  Cothraigh,  and  Magonius  were  the 
others.  Cadoc's  real  name  was  Cathmael. 

Roger  de  Amandeville,  Seneschal  of  Remigius,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  (one  of  the  compilers  of  Domesday),  and  by  him 
endowed  with  four  Lincolnshire  manors,  for  some  unaccount- 
able reason  called  himself  Humfine,  and  the  head  of  the 
family  was  so  named  for  several  generations.  What  the 
meaning  and  how  it  originated  we  cannot  tell. 

Hugh  d'Avranches,  the  Earl  of  Chester,  went  generally  by 
the  name  of  Hugh  Lupus  (the  Wolf),  and  bore  on  his  banner 
a  wolf's  head  arg.  on  a  blue  field. 

Richard  d'Avranches,  the  father  of  Hugh  Lupus,  went  by 
the  name  of  Le  Goz  or  Le  Gotz,  a  name  borne  by  the  family 
long  after  its  significance  had  been  forgotten.  It  was 
actually  a  name  designating  the  ancestor,  who  had  come 
over  with  Rollo,  as  a  Gothlander,  a  native  of  that  southern 
portion  of  Sweden  which  lies  as  a  belt  across  it,  and  included 
the  Wener  and  Wetter  lakes.  Rollo's  companions  were 
otherwise  Norwegians.  But  although  the  family  spoke  of 
themselves  as  Gotzes,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  assumed 
this  designation  as  a  fixed  surname. 

Among  the  Scandinavians  descriptive  names  were  common. 
A  Danish  King  was  Harald  Bluetooth ;  another  Harald  was 

299 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

called  Wartusk ;  another,  called  Ivar,  was  known  as  Wide- 
fathom,  from  the  stretch  of  his  extended  arms. 

Harald  of  Norway  vowed  that  he  would  not  suffer  his  hair 
to  be  clipped  or  combed  till  he  had  forced  all  the  petty  Kings 
in  the  land  to  fly  the  country,  or  had  killed  them.  At  the 
time  he  went  by  the  designation  of  Shockhead ;  but  when  he 
had  brought  the  whole  of  Norway  under  his  sway,  he  sub- 
jected his  poll  to  a  treatment — become,  on£  would  suppose, 
indispensable — and  thenceforth,  from  the  beauty  of  his 
golden  locks,  was  named  Fairhair. 

Harald  II.  had  his  Court  near  the  sea,  where  was  a  haven. 
One  day  a  vessel  belonging  to  some  chapmen  came  to  harbour 
from  England,  laden  with  grey  felt  cloth,  very  stout  and 
serviceable,  but  not  showy.  No  one  would  buy,  so  the  chap- 
men complained  to  the  King.  "  I  will  soon  satisfy  you,"  he 
said,  and  went  to  the  vessel  and  purchased  a  sufficient 
supply  of  the  cloth  to  make  several  suits  for  himself.  At 
once  the  fashion  was  set ;  the  courtiers  hastened  to  buy, 
and  the  vessel  was  cleared  of  its  burden.  Thenceforth 
Harald  was  known  as  Greyfell. 

His  brother  Eric,  who  became  for  a  short  while  King  of 
Northumbria,  was  called  Bloodaxe.  He  burned  his  half- 
brother,  Bjorn  the  Chapman,  and  all  his  company  in  a 
wooden  house,  because  he  coveted  his  petty  realm.  Bjorn 
was  the  only  one  of  the  brothers  who  pursued  a  quiet  life, 
and,  because  he  traded,  acquired  the  name  of  Chapman. 

Among  the  Swedes  nicknames  were  also  given.  One  King 
was  Illrede,  one  Eric  the  Victorious ;  another  Eric  was 
named  Windhat. 

Usually,  when  a  nickname  was  given,  it  was  customary 
for  the  giver  to  make  a  present  to  the  man  thus  furnished,  as 
a  "  name-fastener." 

Hrolf,  son  of  Helgi,  was  sent  to  the  Court  of  the  Swedish 
King  to  demand  certain  dues  that  were  in  arrears,  claimed 
by  the  King  of  Zealand.  The  mission  was  perilous,  and 
Hrolf,  on  reaching  Upsala,  drew  his  hood  over  his  face.  As 
he  sat  in  the  royal  hall,  a  man  came  up  to  him,  and,  noticing 
his  dark  face  under  the  shadow  of  the  hood  and  his  pro- 

300 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

truding  nose,  exclaimed  :  "  Whom  have  we  here — a  crow  ?" 
"  You  have  given  me  a  nickname ;  give  me  also  a  name- 
fastener,"  said  Hrolf. 

"  Alas  !"  replied  the  man,  "  I  am  poor  as  a  rat ;  but  what 
I  will  give  you  is  my  promise  that,  should  you  die  a  violent 
death,  I  will  avenge  you." 

"  I  accept  that  with  the  name,"  said  Hrolf,  and  thence- 
forth he  was  known  as  Kraki.  Nobly  and  faithfully  did  the 
man  fulfil  his  undertaking. 

But  none  of  these  nicknames  were  hereditary :  they  died 
along  with  the  men  who  bore  them.  The  sole  instance  to 
the  contrary  with  which  I  am  acquainted  is  that  of  Ragnar 
Lodbrog  and  his  descendants. 

Ragnar  acquired  the  descriptive  epithet  of  Shaggy- 
brogues,  from  his  having  fashioned  for  himself  a  pair  of 
gaiters  of  coarse  wadmal,  sopped  in  pitch,  and  hardened. 
He  died  in  or  about  the  year  794.  He  had  sons  with 
nicknames — Bjorn  Ironside,  Sigurd  Worm-i'-th'-eye,  Ivar  the 
Boneless,  and  Whitesark,  all  known  as  Lodbrog's  sons.  But 
some  seventy  to  eighty  years  later  we  know,  from  the 
English  and  Norman  Chronicles,  that  Lodbrog's  sons  were 
harrying  the  coasts.  Two  of  them,  Hingvar  and  Hubba, 
put  Edmund,  King  of  the  East  Angles,  to  a  cruel  death  in 
870,  and  Ingvar,  or  Ivar,  became  King  of  Dublin,  and  ruled 
from  871  to  873.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  that  these  can 
have  been  the  sons  of  the  original  Lodbrog,  and  we  are  driven 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  name  of  Shaggy-brogues  had 
become  hereditary. 

We  see  in  early  characters  that  nicknames  were  common 
in  England,  but  not  that  they  were  hereditary.  Among 
those  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  several  bore 
nicknames,  as  Humfrid  Vis-de-lew  (Wolfs-face),  Rudolf 
Tortemains  (Twisted-hands),  Roger  Deus-salvet-dominas 
(God-save-the-ladies).  There  was  Front-de-bosuf  (Oxbrow) 
and  Peche"  (the  Man-of-sin).  Pinel,  who  obtained  a  great 
barony  from  William  I.,  we  may  suppose  shed  his  name  of 
Pinel — that  signifies  one  devoid  of  means — when  it  ceased 
to  apply. 

301 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

"The  naked  file 

Distinguishes  the  swift,  the  slow,  the  subtle, 
The  housekeeper,  hunter,  everyone, 
According  to  the  gift,  which  bounteous  Nature 
Hath  in  him  closed,  whereby  he  does  receive 
Particular  addition  from  the  bill 
That  writes  them  all  alike." 

Macbeth,  II.  I. 

These  descriptive  names  applied  to  the  individual  only, 
and  in  rare  instances  descended  to  their  sons  and  grandsons. 
One  Anglo-Saxon  instance  of  Hatte  has,  however,  been  given 
in  the  first  chapter,  and  we  have  instanced  one  of  Hairy- 
brogues  among  the  Scandinavians.  Some  also,  as  that  of 
Louvel,  became  hereditary  among  the  Norman  settlers  in 
England.  Whether  all  the  Fennels  derive  from  the  Baron 
Pinel,  or  whether  the  description  of  "  needy  men  "  was 
applied  all  round  to  several  who  were  impecunious,  we 
cannot  say. 

In  the  Peterborough  Chronicle  we  read  :  "  Ronald, 
monk,  had  made  his  brother  Hugh  a  monk  when  he  was 
a  boy.  This  Hugh  had  suffered  from  a  bloody  flux  when  a 
child,  and  he  was  consequently  called  Hugh  White,  because 
he  was  so  pale  and  good-looking."1 

When  Archbishop  Henry  de  Londres  took  possession  of 
the  See  of  Dublin,  he  called  together  the  tenants  of  the 
see  to  show  the  nature  of  their  tenures  ;  and  after  they  had 
produced  their  evidences,  he  ordered  the  charters  of  the 
villeins  to  be  burnt.  Thereupon  he  acquired  the  nickname 
of  Scorch-villeins. 

Among  those  who  made  grants  to  Battle  Abbey  occur 
such  names  as  these  :  Walter  le  Boeuf,  John  God-me-fetch, 
Bartholomew  le  Swan,  Roger  le  Bunch. 

Naturally,  many  nicknames  are  unintelligible  to  us,  as  we 
know  nothing  of  the  circumstances  which  induced  their 
application.  They  were  given  out  of  mere  caprice,  out  of 
scorn,  or  were  pet-names. 

In  "  Cocke-Lorell's  Bote,"  a  satirical  poem  printed  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  we  have  this  : 

1  Leland,  "Collectanea,"  i.,  p.  15. 
302 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

"  The  Pardoner  sayd,  I  will  rede  my  roll, 
And  ye  shall  here  the  names  poll  by  poll. 
*  *  *  *  * 

Pers  Potter  of  Brydgewater, 

Saunders  Sely,  the  Mustard-maker, 

With  Jenkyn  Jangler. 

Here  is  Jenkyne  Berward  of  Barwyke, 

And  Tom  Tombler  of  Warwick, 

With  Phylypp  Fletcher  of  Ffernam  [Farnham]. 

Here  is  Wyll  Wyly  the  Millpecker, 

And  Patrycke  Pevysshe  Beerbeter, 

And  lusty  Harry  Hangeman. 

Also  Matthew  Toothe-drawer  of  London, 

And  Sybby  Sole,  milkwyfe  of  Islington, 

With  Davy  Drawelacke  of  Rockyngam." 

There  are  many  more  lines  to  that  effect.  Although  these 
are  the  names  of  imaginary  persons,  they  are  framed  in  the 
mould  of  nomenclature  then  in  process  of  shaping ;  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  passed  from  father  to  son.  In 
most  of  the  registers  in  which  offensive  nicknames  occur 
such  names  were  entered  for  identification  by  the  scribe,  and 
were  probably  not  accepted  by  the  bearer.  If  we  look  into 
the  episcopal  registers  of  the  Middle  Ages  for  the  names  of 
ordinands  and  of  clergy  inducted  into  livings,  we  encounter 
none  of  these  nicknames,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  the 
parsons  there  enrolled  named  themselves,  and  were  not 
named  by  others.  In  these  registers  the  clergy  are  usually 
designated  by  the  place  of  their  birth,  or  as  the  son  of 
So-and-so. 

When  the  beasts  were  brought  before  Adam,  he  gave 
them  names,  from  the  characteristics  observable  in  each. 
And  there  is  something  of  the  Adam  in  every  man.  He  is 
not  disposed  to  call  one  of  his  fellows  by  that  name  which 
he  gives  himself,  but  to  invent  and  apply  one  of  his  own 
devising.  Caius  Caesar  was  known  to  his  dying  day  as 
Caligula  (Little  Boots),  the  name  given  to  him  by  the 
soldiers  at  Cologne. 

Daniel  Finch,  Earl  of  Nottingham,  had  such  a  dark  com- 
plexion and  so  solemn  a  face  that  he  went  by  the  name  of 
Don  Dismallo.  John  Sheffield,  Earl  of  Mulgrave,  was 
commonly  spoken  of  as  Lord  Allpride. 

303 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

When  and  how  nicknames  as  well  as  other  names  became 
fixed  and  hereditary  must  now  be  considered.  In  1538 
King  Henry  VIII.  ordered  that  in  every  parish  should  be 
kept  a  register  of  the  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  that  took 
place  therein,  with  the  Christian  name  and  the  surname  of  the 
parties.  The  result  must  have  been  a  precipitation  of  names 
hitherto  fluid  and  in  suspense.  Now  let  us  suppose  cases 
that  must  have  occurred  in  every  parish  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land : 

John,  a  humble  rural  village  labourer,  required  the  parish 
priest  to  baptize  his  child  and  call  it  Philip.  As  the  god- 
parents and  nurse  are  about  to  leave  the  church,  the  parson 
recalls  them. 

"  There  is  a  new  law  published :  we  have  to  enter  every 
baptism,  and  give  the  father's  Christian  name  and  surname." 

The  peasant  scratches  his  head. 

"  I  don't  reckon  I  have  any  other  than  John,  sir." 

"  But  by  the  law  you  must  have  one.  You  are  an  honest 
man.  What  say  you  to  being  called  Goodman  ?" 

"  As  your  reverence  wishes.  I  don't  understand  about 
these  matters." 

So  Philip,  the  son  of  John  Goodman,  is  registered,  and 
thence  come  all  those  of  that  name  in  England. 

Peter  and  Margery  appear  before  the  altar  to  be  married. 
All  goes  smoothly  enough  in  the  service  :  "  I,  Peter,  take 
thee,  Margery,  to  my  wedded  wife,  to  have  and  to  hold  from 
this  day  forward,  for  better  for  worse,  for  richer  for  poorer, 
in  sickness  and  in  health,  till  death  us  do  part."  But  when 
they  retire  to  the  vestry,  and  the  new  book,  with  parchment 
leaves,  bound  in  calfskin,  is  produced,  along  with  the  ink- 
horn,  then  the  difficulties  begin.  Neither  bridegroom  nor 
bride  has  a  surname.  "  They  do  call  me  sometimes  Snout," 
says  the  former,  colouring,  "  because  I  have  a  big  nose, 
but  I  shouldn't  like  that  to  be  written  down  in  the  book." 

"Then,  what  am  I  to  call  you  ?" 

Both  are  at  a  nonplus.  The  priest  endeavours  to  help 
them  out  of  their  difficulty. 

"  Peter,    your    father    is    the    village    blacksmith,    and 

304 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Margery,  you  are  the  daughter  of  the  tinman  or  whitesmith. 
Suppose  that  I  enter  you,  Peter,  as  son  of  James  Black- 
smith, and  Margery  as  daughter  of  Simon  Whitesmith  ?" 

"Aren't  the  names  a  bit  long  ?"  protests  the  bridegroom. 

"  Perhaps  so.  Well,  we  will  cut  them  down  to  Black 
and  White." 

Digory  the  fuller  has  just  buried  his  father.  He  is 
summoned  by  the  parson  to  have  his  old  parent  duly 
registered : 

"  What  was  his  name  ?" 

"  Roger,  your  reverence." 

"  I  mean  his  surname." 

"  He  had  none." 

"Then,  what  was  your  grandfather's  name  ?" 

"  Digory." 

"  Shall  I  enter  him  as  Roger  Digoryson  or  Digges  ?" 

"  That  will  not  do,  axing  your  pardon,  as  it  will  seem  as 
though  you  had  buried  my  son  Roger  instead  of  the  old 
man  ;  and  my  Roger  is  bad  with  the  thrush,  and  giving  my 
wife  a  deal  of  trouble  just  now,  but  will  pull  through  all 
right." 

"  Then,  what  shall  I  call  him  ?" 

A  dead  silence  and  much  pondering.  Presently  Digory 
brightens  up,  and  says  : 

"  My  wife  always  did  say  that  dad  was  an  old  penny  fat  her 
[screw]." 

"  Very  well,  I  have  registered  him  as  Roger  Pennyfather. 
Now,  mind  you,  Digory,  any  child  you  may  have  in  future 
will  have  to  be  recorded  as  that  of  Digory  Pennyfather  ;  and 
when  you  are  buried,  it  will  be  under  that  name." 

"  Lord  ha'  mercy  on  my  soul !  I  don't  want  that.  Can't 
I  change  it  and  call  my  father  by  the  trade — Fuller  ?" 

But  the  parson  is  a  martinet.  "  What  I  have  written  I 
have  written.  Pennyfather  you  remain  till  the  Judgment 
Day." 

Some  such  scenes  must  have  occurred  again  and  again  on 
the  first  introduction  of  parish  registers.  Maybe,  in  a  careless 
mood,  some  man  put  down  his  not  very  complimentary  nick- 

305  u 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

name,  without  a  thought  that  thereby  he  was  riveting  it 
upon  generations  yet  unborn.  Some  dull  minds  were 
content  to  be  called  after  their  fathers — as  Thomson  and 
Johnson — and  some  after  their  place  of  residence — as  Leigh 
or  Coombe — and  others,  again,  after  their  trade  or  after  the 
sign  that  swung  over  their  shop. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  Emperor  Joseph  II. 
required  all  Jews  throughout  the  Empire  to  assume  surnames. 
Hitherto  they  had  had  none,  and  were  so  slippery  that, 
when  the  law  desired  to  lay  hold  of  a  Hebrew,  he  generally 
succeeded  in  gliding  away.  At  once  throughout  Germany 
the  Israelites  had  to  give  themselves  surnames,  so  as  to 
be  enrolled  upon  a  certain  day.  Some,  with  florid  imagina- 
tions, adopted  such  names  as  Rothschild  (Red  Shield), 
Lilienthal  (Vale  of  Lilies),  Rosenberg  (Mountain  of  Roses), 
or  such  as  pertained  to  heraldic  beasts — Hirsch,  Lowe,  Wolf. 
Others,  less  ambitious  and  less  rich  in  fancy,  contented 
themselves  with  being  stereotyped  as  Lazarus,  Levi,  and 
Samuel.  Others,  again,  took  appellations  from  their  places 
of  residence,  as  Bamberger,  Augsburger,  Feldberger ;  and  a 
few  from  their  trade,  as  Goldschmidt. 

What  took  place  in  Germany  in  1782  was  much  like 
what  had  taken  place  in  England  in  1538.  In  the  latter 
country,  however,  the  process  had  begun  some  time  before. 

But  nevertheless  there  remained  a  good  deal  of  un- 
certainty in  family  names.  Some  bore  two  simultaneously, 
as  Jones  alias  Vallence  and  Gilbert  alias  Webber.  At  the 
present  day  is  to  be  found,  in  the  parish  of  Cheriton  Bishop 
in  Devon,  an  ancient  yeoman  family  named  Lambert  alias 
Gorwyn. 

The  original  name  of  the  family  to  which  John  Hooker 
(d.  1601),  the  first  Chamberlain  of  Exeter,  and  his  famous 
nephew,  Richard,  "the  judicious  Hooker,"  belonged,  was 
Vowell ;  but  in  the  fifteenth  century  members  of  it  called 
themselves  Vowell  alias  Hooker,  or  Hoker,  and  in  the 
sixteenth  century  the  original  name  was  gradually  dropped. 
John  Veysey,  or  Voysey  (d.  1554),  alias  Harman,  adopted 
the  name  of  Veysey,  but  he  was  actually  the  son  of 

306 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Richard  Harman.  Anthony  A  Wood  asserts  that  this  was 
done  in  compliment  to  a  member  of  the  Veysey  family 
who  had  educated  him. 

A  writer  in  Devon  Notes  and  Queries  observes  that  in 
the  registers  of  Parkham  a  family  is  entered  as  Tenant 
alias  Penington.  Other  such  names  were  Mortimer  alias 
Tanner,  Uphill  alias  Helman,  Combe  alias  Bidlake. 

Some  four  or  five  centuries  ago  persons  did  change 
their  family  names  without  a  grant  from  the  crown,  if  no 
property  were  involved,  and  the  law  regarded  such  a  pro- 
ceeding with  complacency.  Lord  Coke  says  :  "  It  is  required 
that  a  purchaser  be  named  by  the  name  of  baptism  and  his 
surname,  and  that  special  heed  be  taken  to  the  name  of 
baptism,  as  he  may  have  divers  surnames."  And  again  :  "  It 
is  holden  in  our  ancient  books  that  a  man  may  have  divers 
names  at  divers  times,  not  divers  Christian  names." 

The  following  anecdote,  given  by  Mr.  Lower  from  the 
life  of  Lackington,  will  serve  to  show  how  easily,  even  in 
modern  times,  a  nickname  may  usurp  the  place  of  the  family 
name :  "  The  parish  clerk  of  Langford,  near  Wellington, 
was  called  Red  Cock  for  many  years  before  his  death  for 
having  one  Sunday  slept  in  church,  and  dreaming  that  he 
was  at  a  cock-fighting,  he  bawled  out,  *  A  shilling  upon  the 
Red  Cock  ! '  *  And  behold,'  says  Lackington, '  the  family  are 
called  Red  Cock  to  this  day.'  " 

Considerable  caution  has  to  be  observed  in  fixing,  as  such, 
names  that  appear  to  be  nicknames,  for  not  infrequently 
they  are  so  in  appearance  only.  Thus,  as  shown  above, 
White  and  Black  are  not  necessarily  to  be  taken  as  expressive 
of  the  colour  of  the  person,  nor  is  Brown  ;  for  these  are  con- 
tractions of  Whitesmith,  Blacksmith,  and  Copper-  or 
Brownsmith.  Hoare,  or  Hore,  is  not  indicative  of  a  grizzled 
head ;  it  may  come  from  the  Norse  hdr,  tall.  A  man  was 
not  Green  because  so  named,  but  because  he  was  wont  to 
represent  the  Jack-in-the-Green  on  May  Day,  or  because  he 
was  the  taverner  under  the  sign  of  the  Green  Man.  Tallboys 
was  a  name  not  given  to  a  family  of  gaunt  brothers.  The 
name  is  from  taillebois,  woodcutting,  which  was  their 

307  u  2 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

trade.  The  Hansoms  do  not  take  their  name  from  great 
personal  beauty  ;  it  is  a  corruption  of  a  Norman  place-name. 
Nor  were  the  Thynnes  remarkable  for  their  meagreness  of 
aspect ;  they  derive,  so  it  is  said,  from  John  de  Botteville,  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  who  studied  in  one  of  the  Inns  of 
Court,  and  acquired  thence  the  designation  of  John-o'-th'- 
Inne,  or  John  Thynn.  The  Quicks  were  not  necessarily 
lively  individuals,  rapid  in  their  movements.  Quick  is  but 
a  form  of*  wick,"  from  the  Latin  vicus,  and  its  equivalents  are 
Wyke  and  Weekes.  Nor  was  a  man  named  Fleet  because 
swift  of  foot,  but  because  he  lived  at  Fleet,  on  a  tidal  river. 
Mr.  Lower  supposes  Dmnmerel  or  Dumbril  to  signify  a  silent 
person,  but  it  is  really  an  anglicizing  of  D'Aumerle.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  names  that  are  expressive  of  bodily  or 
mental  characteristics,  that  have  lost  their  signification  in 
English,  or  at  all  events  in  Modern  English.  Thus,  Wace  is 
from  the  Norse  hvasi,  and  signifies  keen  or  quick.  Who 
would  have  supposed  that  Bishop  Bonner  derived  his  name 
from  Le  Bonair,  kind  or  gracious.  The  Cornish  name 
Bolitho  signifies  Big  Belly,  and  Eldridge  is  Oldish.  Some 
Welsh  expletives  have  formed  names  on  the  marches,  as 
Gam,  crooked,  Goch,  red,  Gwyn,  white,  and  Danish  terms 
have  attached  themselves  to  persons  in  Northumbria  and 
East  Anglia,  as  Gamel  and  Bloed,  foolish,  the  origin,  probably, 
of  the  name  of  Blood.  So  from  the  French  :  Blount  is 
Le  Blond,  Camoys  is  one  with  a  turned-up  nose,  Courtenay  is 
Short  Nose.  Allfraye  is  Le  Balafre,  the  scarred.  Bright 
does  not  signify  a  lively  personage,  but  is  a  title  (A.S.  brytta, 
from  breotan),  the  man  who  dispensed  the  bread  and  other 
food  among  the  thralls,  and  he  was  a  headman  over  them.1 
Arberh&s  no  connection  with  an  arbour ;  it  signifies  an  heir, 
from  the  A.S.  arb,  Gothic  arbi. 

As  I  have  pointed  out  elsewhere,  in  entries  made  by  men 
themselves,  as  in  lists  of  ordinands  and  clerics  instituted  to 
livings,  nick-  and  descriptive  names  are  conspicuously  absent. 
In  probably  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  where  a  surname  seems  to 
be  descriptive  of  personal  characteristics,  it  is  a  corruption 
— that  is  to  say,  when  it  has  become  hereditary. 
1  Munch,  "Der  Norskefolks  Historic,"  iii.  965. 
308 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Strange  and  ill-understood  names,  and  even  ordinary 
words,  get  altered.  Asparagus  is  rendered  Sparrow  Grass, 
Cucumber  is  rendered  Cowcumber.  I  have  heard  Chocolat 
Me"nier  spoken  of  as  Chocolate  Manure. 

A  servant-girl  got  a  fortune  left  her.  In  high  exultation 
she  exclaimed :  "  Now  I  shall  have  a  house  with  indecent 
[incandescent]  lights,  and  a  damnation  [Dalmatian]  dog,  and 
a  cloak  lined  with  vermin  [ermine].  But  " — her  face  fell — "  I 
fear  I  shall  not  live  long  to  enjoy  it  all,  for  I  get  the  brown- 
titus  [bronchitis]  every  winter,  I  have  an  ulster  [ulcer]  in  my 
stomach,  and  the  doctor  said  I  had  slugs  in  my  liver  [a 
sluggish  liver].  However,  I  intend  to  enjoy  life  while  I  have 
it,  and  eat  blue  mange  [blancmange]  every  day." 

An  old  woman  received  a  letter  from  a  son  in  the  tropics, 
in  which  he  complained  of  the  mosquitoes.  "Dear  life!" 
she  exclaimed,  "  how  forward  young  women  are  in  foreign 
parts !  My  Tom  has  to  shut  his  windows  every  night  against 
the  Miss  Kitties  who  try  to  get  in  to  him." 

I  had  an  illiterate  gardener,  who  informed  me  he  was 
getting  up  a  lot  of  lumbago  [plumbago].  "  I  wish,  gardener, 
you  would  give  it  to  my  worst  enemy/'  "  I'm  rearing,  also, 
a  lot  of  citizens  [cytisus],"  he  added.  "Bless  me  !"  said  I, 
"  how  shocking!  I  was  unaware  that  you  were  married." 

Surnames  have  been  treated  in  precisely  the  same  manner, 
and  have  been  adapted  to  something  understood  by  the 
people;  and  as  those  who  bore  these  names  were  often 
illiterate  and  uneducated  themselves,  they  have  accepted  the 
alteration  without  compunction. 

We  will  now  take  some  of  the  principal  character- 
istics of  man — physical,  moral,  and  mental — that  may  have 
given  to  some  their  surnames. 

We  find  such  as  Long  and  Short  and  Shorter,  but  we 
cannot  predicate  that  Long  or  Short  are  not  contractions  of 
some  place-names,  such  as  Longacre  and  Shortridge.  Dark 
is  formed  from  D'Arcques  ;  but  we  have  .F^V,  that  stands  for 
Phayre  and  Motley ;  but  this  latter  may  be  due  to  the  first 
who  assumed  the  name  legally  having  been  a  clown  : 

"  Motley  is  the  only  wear." 
309 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

The  jester  has  contributed  other  surnames,  as  Patch,  from 
his  patchwork  garment : 

"  The  patch  is  kind  enough." 

Also  Pye,  from  his  pied  suit. 

Rottx,  le  Roux,  Redman,  and  in  some  cases  Ruddiman, 
Redhead,  come  from  the  colour  of  the  hair  or  complexion. 
Reid,  Reed,  Read,  are  all  forms  of  Red.  Chaucer  speaks  of 
"  houses  both  white  and  rede."  Scarlett  perhaps  is  from  the 
habit  usually  worn.  Blakelock  is  not  a  black-headed  man,  but  a 
black  and  lock  smith.  Longman  probably  means  tallness, 
or  long-hand.  Snell  is  the  Norse  snjall,  the  quick;  King 
Halfdan  was  so  designated.  Basset  signifies  a  man  of  stunted 
growth.  Fairfax  is  one  fair-headed.  Giffard  is  a  ready 
giver.  Trottman  is  a  man  of  trust,  and  not  a  trotter.1  We 
have  also  Brightman,  Goodman,  Goodchild,  Goodfellow,  All- 
good,  Best,  Goodenough,  Toogood,Joliffe,  joyous,  and  Doughty. 
Hussey  is  no  good-for-nothing  girl ;  the  name  comes  from 
Houssaye  in  Normandy,  and  is  found  in  the  Roll  of  Battle 
Abbey.  Crookshanks,  Sheepshanks,  denote  infirmity.  Cockayne 
is  the  French  coquin,  a  rascal.  Kennard  is  the  French 
caignard,  "you  hound  !"  a  sordid  rogue.  Penny  father  is,  as 
already  said,  a  miser.  Moody  may  be  Le  Maudit,  the  accursed 
or  excommunicated  one.  A  good  many  names  come  from  the 
upper  ranks  of  society,  given  to  men  whose  ancestors  never 
enjoyed  any  place  so  high  as  that  of  a  tradesman,  as  King, 
Duke,  Earl,  Baron,  Knight,  Squire ;  also  Pope,  Bishop,  and 
Parson. 

When  names  had  to  be  registered,  and  poor  country  folk 
beat  about  for  some  by  which  to  call  themselves,  we  may 
well  suppose  that  some  men  would  be  inclined  to  indemnify 
themselves  for  their  humble  position  in  life  by  assuming  a 
name  indicative  of  a  high  position  in  the  State,  in  Society,  or  in 
the  Church.  How  else  are  we  to  account  for  the  multitude 
of  Kings  we  come  across  everywhere  ?  Or  some  pompous 
fellow,  full  of  bluff  in  the  alehouse,  may  have  acquired 

1  From  the  same  source  come  Troyte,  Trott,  Trout,  possibly  Trood, 
unless  this  comes  from  Atte  Rood,  one  living  by  the  Cross. 

310 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

among  his  fellows  the  sobriquet  of  the  Duke  or  the  Squire, 
and,  when  he  came  to  register  his  son,  was  but  too  pleased 
to  adopt  the  name  accorded  to  him  in  the  parish.  Another 
source  of  these  names  was  the  morality  plays,  when  strolling 
actors  assumed  the  parts  of  Kings,  Dukes,  and  Angels  ;  and 
when  obliged  to  record  their  full  appellations,  Christian  name 
and  surname,  the  whole  company,  instead  of  entering  them- 
selves as  John  and  Harry,  Bill  and  Timothy,  Player,  adopted 
the  titles  of  their  parts,  and  wrote  themselves  down  as  John 
King,  Harry  Duke,  Bill  Earl,  and  Timothy  Angel. 

The  acting  in  mysteries  belonged  largely  to  certain 
families,  and  parts  were  probably  hereditary,  just  as  in 
Oxfordshire  and  the  Midlands  to  this  day  remain  certain 
families  of  hereditary  morris-dancers,  whose  ancestors  have 
bedizened  themselves  and  capered  for  some  four  or  five 
hundred  years ;  and  much  as  in  Ober-Ammergau  and  other 
Alpine  villages  special  parts  in  miracle  plays  remain  in 
certain  families. 

That  the  term  Bastard  should  have  been  accepted  without 
demur  as  a  surname  is  not  so  surprising  as  might  appear. 
William  the  Conqueror  in  his  charters  did  not  shrink  from 
describing  himself  as  William  the  Bastard.  The  name  has 
been  borne  by  an  ancient  and  honourable  family  in  the 
West  of  England.  Lie/child  is  a  love-child,  a  provincialism 
for  one  that  is  illegitimate.  Parish  was  a  name  often  given 
to  a  child  that  was  a  foundling,  and  brought  up  by  the 
community  in  a  village.  Parsons  may  designate  the  child  of 
the  parish  priest  before  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  was 
suffered,  or  even  when  it  was  a  new  thing,  and  not  relished 
by  the  people.  But  in  most  cases  it  is  a  corruption  of 
Pierson,  or  Peter's  son,  The  name  Burrell  comes  from  the 
Old  English  word  employed  by  Chaucer  for  a  layman.  But 
why  one  layman  out  of  all  the  parish  should  assume  this 
title  to  himself  is  due  to  this:  that  Burrell  is  a  contraction  for 
Borelclerk,  a  lay  clerk  in  a  cathedral  or  collegiate  church. 

Child,  as  already  said,  was  a  title  applied  to  the  eldest  son 
of  a  King,  or  noble,  or  knight ;  thus  we  have  "  the  child  of 
Elle."  On  Dartmoor  is  a  cross  of  granite  called  Childe's 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

grave.  At  some  time  that  is  uncertain,  a  Childe  of  Plym- 
stock  was  hunting  on  the  moor,  where  he  was  overtaken  by 
a  snowstorm ;  and  unable  to  find  his  way  to  habitable  country, 
and  suffering  from  the  cold,  he  cut  open  his  horse,  crept 
inside,  and,  with  his  finger  dipped  in  blood,  scribbled  on 

a  stone : 

"  He  who  finds  and  brings  me  to  my  grave, 
My  lands  of  Plymstock  he  shall  have." 

When  the  monks  of  Buckland  and  those  of  Tavistock 
heard  of  this,  each  sent  forth  a  party  to  secure  the  body. 
Those  of  Tavistock  were  successful,  and  till  the  Dissolu- 
tion Plymstock  was  a  priory  attached  to  the  Abbey  of 
Tavistock. 

Some  names  bearing  on  social  relations  came  out  oddly 
enough.  Mr.  Lower  quotes  the  following  from  the  news- 
paper : 

"  Died  on  Tuesday  week,  Mr.  Young  of  Newton, 
aged  97. 

"  Died  on  the  loth  instant,  Miss  Bridget  Younghusband, 
spinster,  aged  84. 

"  Birth.  Mrs.  A.  Batchelor,  of  a  son,  being  her  thir- 
teenth." 

Some  names  that  seem  plain  enough  do  not  really  mean 
what  they  seem.  Thus,  Summer  or  Summers  is  from  Somner, 
as  already  stated,  and  Winter  is  perhaps  a  vintner,  a 
publican.  Day,  as  already  pointed  out,  is  used  of  a  dairy- 
maid. So  Dull  says  of  Jacquenetta :  "  For  this  damsel,  I 
must  keep  her  at  the  park.  She  is  allowed  for  a  day-woman." 
Gaunt  is  not  descriptive  of  a  rawboned  figure ;  it  signifies  "  of 
Ghent."  I  know  a  carrier  whose  name  is  Death.  This  does 
not  describe  him  as  one  who  conveys  man  to  his  long 
home.  It  is  really  De  Ath.  And  we  cannot  be  sure  that  a 
Leeman  derives  from  a  female  of  light  character,  as  the  name 
may  come  from  Le  Mans.  When  men  were  suddenly  called 
upon  to  find  a  surname  for  themselves,  in  their  perplexity 
they  laid  hold  of  the  days  of  the  week,  or  the  month,  or  the 
seasons  of  the  Church,  and  this  has  given  rise  in  some  cases 
— but  these  are  not  certain — to  the  Mondays,  or  Mundays,  and 

312 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Simdays,  to  the  names  of  Noel  or  Christmas,  Paschal,  Easter, 
and  Middlemas,  or  Michaelmas,  and  to  Holiday  and  Hockaday. 
Crabbe,  in  his  "  Parish  Register,"  says  that  foundlings 
were  named  after  the  day  of  the  week  in  which  they  were 
picked  up.  After  agreeing  that  the  child  should  be  christened 
Richard,  the  vestry 

"  Next  enquired  the  day  when,  passing  by, 
Th'  unlucky  peasant  heard  the  stranger  cry. 
This  known,  how  food  and  raiment  they  might  give 
Was  next  debated,  for  the  rogue  would  live. 
Back  to  their  homes  the  prudent  vestry  went, 
And  Richard  Monday  to  the  workhouse  sent." 

In  Iceland,  one  of  the  first  to  embrace  Christianity  was 
Thorkell  Krabla.  He  was  a  foundling,  and  he  received  his 
nickname  of  Krabla  from  this  circumstance:  that  when 
picked  up  as  a  babe  he  had  scrabbled  the  linen  cloth  over 
his  face  above  his  mouth,  so  that  his  screams  became  audible 
for  a  long  way  round.  But  Thorkell  Krabla  did  not  pass 
on  his  nickname  to  his  children,  whereas  Richard  Monday 
would  do  so. 

Mr.  Lower  says  :  "  There  resided  in  1849,  a*  no  grea-t 
distance  from  Lewes,  a  farmer  whose  family  name  was 
Brookes,  to  which  the  odd  dissyllable  of  Napkin  was  prefixed 
as  a  Christian  name.  Both  these  names  he  inherited  from 
his  grandfather,  a  foundling,  who  was  exposed  at  some  place 
in  Surrey,  tied  up  in  a  napkin,  and  laid  on  the  margin  of  a 
brook,  and  who,  as  no  traces  of  his  individual  parents  could 
be  found,  received  the  very  appropriate  though  somewhat 
cacophonous  name  of  Napkin  Brookes." 

A  family  in  Sussex  bears  the  name  of  By  the  Sea,  because, 
according  to  tradition,  the  first  of  it  was  discovered  as  an 
infant  lying  on  the  beach. 

How  names  were  given  that  were  purely  applied  to  one 
person  appears  from  the  case  of  William  Faber.  He  had 
been  in  the  service  of  William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  and  he 
acquired  the  name  of  Faber  (the  Smith)  from  this  circum- 
stance :  As  he  was  one  day  hunting  with  the  Duke,  the  party 
fell  short  of  arrows,  and  thereupon  recourse  was  had  for 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

more  to  the  nearest  smith,  who  proved  to  be  unacquainted 
with  this  branch  of  his  trade.  William,  the  attendant,  there- 
upon seized  the  tools,  and  presently  made  an  arrow,  where- 
upon he  was  named  Faber.  Afterwards,  changing  his  pro- 
fession, he  became  a  monk  of  Marmoutier;  but  it  is  quite 
possible,  had  he  remained  in  the  world,  and  married,  and  left 
a  posterity,  that  the  posterity  would  have  continued  to  bear 
the  name  of  Faber  given  to  the  ancestor  by  Duke  William. 

One  might  suppose  that  the  Loveday  forefather  was  so 
designated  from  his  being  a  child  of  light.  But  it  was  not  so  ; 
he  came  from  Loudet,  in  Haute  Garonne,  during  the  English 
domination  of  Guienne. 

Bacon  is  not  of  the  pig,  piggy,  but  comes  from  Bascoin,  the 
amily  name  of  the  Seigneurs  of  Molai.  Anchetel  Bascoin 
before  the  Conquest  made  grants  of  his  lordship  of  Molai  to 
Ste.  Barbe-en-Auge ;  and  William  Bacon,  Lord  of  Molai,  in 
1082  founded  Holy  Trinity,  Caen;  in  1154  Rogier  Bacon 
is  mentioned  as  of  Ville-en-Molai,  who  held  as  well  estates  in 
Wiltshire. 

In  Domesday  are  many  nicknames  among  the  English 
tenants,  but  such  names  perished  with  the  bearer,  they  were 
never  handed  on  to  his  descendants. 

The  Magni  Rotuli  Saccarii  Normanniae  (twelfth  century) 
contain  numerous  nicknames.  Men  are  noted  for  their  good 
looks,  and  doubtless  were  gratified  to  be  called  Belhomme,  Bel- 
teste,  Bellejamb,  De  Bella  Visa,  Le  Merveilleux,  and  he  with 
the  handsome  beard,  Bellebarbe  (we  have  already  had  among 
those  who  were  at  Hastings  Barbe  d'Or,  the  golden-bearded 
man).  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  men  named  for  their 
ugliness :  Vis  de  Chien  ;  Vis  de  Loup ;  the  badly  shaped 
man,  Maltaille  ;  the  pushing  man,  Tireavant ;  the  solemn 
man,  "  Qui  non  Ridet  ";  the  short  man,  Petitsire,  Courte- 
cuisse ;  the  man  who  cocked  his  cap,  Tortchapel ;  the  man 
with  twisted  neck,  Tortcol,  or  hands,  Tortemains  ;  the  man 
of  doubtful  lineage,  Sansmesle ;  the  grasping  man,  Prens- 
tout.  Moral  characters  are  named  as  Preuxhomme,  Le 
Malvenu,  Sanschef  (Brainless).  OEil  de  Larun  was  a  thief; 
others  are  CEil  de  Boeuf,  Bat  les  Boes  (Beat  the  Oxen), 

3M 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Folenfant  (Foolish  Child),  Peu  de  Lit,  Ammerherbe  (Bitter- 
herb),  Embrasse  Terre,  Bailleabien,  Escorcheboeuf  (Skin- 
flint, doubtless),  and  many  more. 

Sir  Robert  Umfraville,  Knight  of  the  Garter  and  Vice- 
Admiral  of  England,  had  a  nickname,  as  Stowe  tells  us  "  he 
bought  such  plenty  of  clothes  and  corn  and  other  valuable 
commodities  from  Scotland  that  he  was  called  Robin  Mend- 
market.  Other  writers  say  that  he  sold  the  Scots  round 
pennyworths  of  their  own  goods  taken  in  plunder." 

Can  we  doubt  that  Miss  Mowcher  derived  her  name  from 
an  ancestor  who  created  great  amazement  in  his  village  by 
breaking  away  from  the  primitive  method  of  blowing  his 
nose  with  his  fingers,  and  using  instead  a  mouchoir  ? 

Duncalf  is  a  corruption  of  Duncroft ;  Goodlad  of  Good 
Lathe — i.e.,  a  good  barn.  Monkey  stands  for  Monkhaugh, 
and  Giltpen  is  a  miswritten  and  misunderstood  Gilpin.  Half- 
naked  is  derived  from  Half-an-acre,  tenanted  by  the  nominal 
ancestor,  who  went  by  the  name  of  the  Half-an-acred, 
whence  the  transition  was  easy.  Greatraikes,  or  Greatrex, 
and  Raikes,  by  no  means  indicate  that  the  founder  of  the 
family  was  a  scamp  ;  it  is  from  "  raik,"  a  cutting  or  sheep- 
track  in  the  fells  in  the  North  of  England.  The  surname 
Graygoose  is  an  anglicizing  of  Gregoise.  My  father  had  a 
coachman  named  Pengelly,  whom  we  took  with  us  when 
driving  to  the  South  of  France.  The  French  invariably 
gallicized  his  name  to  Pain-au-lait,  and  in  like  manner  we 
have  altered  French  names. 

Godliman  is  a  corruption  of  Godalming.  Golightly,  also 
found  as  Gelatley,  has  nothing  to  do  with  a  trippant  toe,  but 
signifies  the  ley  of  some  Geljat.  Midwinter  probably  means 
a  mead-vintner,  and  Midnight  a  mead-knecht,  or  servant  who 
served  out  the  mead.  A  Medlar  is  not  an  obtrusive  person, 
but  one  who  came  from  a  township  of  that  name  in  Kirkham, 
Lancashire.  Luckman  does  not  imply  peculiar  good  fortune — 
the  name  signifies  the  serving-man  of  Luke  ;  and  Littleboys  is 
the  French  Lillebois,  as  pronounced  by  English  tongues. 
Spittle  is  the  name  of  one  who  had  a  house  at  the  spital,  or 
hospital. 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

The  habit  of  leering  at  the  ladies  was  not  hereditary  in  the 
family  of  the  Ogles;  it  comes  from  the  Norse  Ogvaldr. 

John  de  Grandisson  was  Bishop  of  Exeter  between  the 
years  1327  and  1369.  During  his  tenure  of  the  see  there 
were  1420  incumbents  in  this  diocese  in  Devon.  Of  these 
the  vast  majority  bore  place-names.  They  give  de  this  place 
or  that,  or  atte  some  other  place,  or  else  bore  a  simple  place- 
name  without  a  prefix.  A  few — a  very  few — had  trade 
names,  as  Baker  or  Pistor,  that  has  the  same  meaning,  or 
Carpenter,  Bolter,  Farman,  Gardiner,  Hawker,  Page,  Piper, 
Ridler,  Sumpter,  Ward,  Warriner,  Woodman,  but  nicknames 
are  most  rare.  The  few  that  exist  in  the  record  are  Coup- 
gorge,  Besta  (that  is  doubtful),  Dieudonne,  Foot,  Fox,  Gambon, 
Kene,  Maidgood,  Malay  set,  Merrey,  Peticrue,  Rake,  Short,  Swift, 
Tryst,  Whitehead,  Wolf,  and  Young. 

In  the  Cornish  portion  of  the  diocese  there  were  597 
institutions.  Almost  all  instituted  bore  place-names;  the 
few  exceptions  were  a  Tailor,  a  Taverner,  a  Le  Soor,  a  Le 
Conk.  The  sole  nicknames  are  Mackerel,  Fox,  and  one 
William  Jaime  de  Trebursy,  appointed  Dean  of  Crantock 
1348  ;  a  Truwe,  a  Strong,  a  Rover,  and  a  Prechour.  If  we 
look  among  the  patrons  of  livings  in  Devon  and  Cornwall  in 
the  same  Bishop's  tenure  of  the  see,  the  only  nicknames  that 
appear  are  Taundefer  for  Dent-de-fer,  Prouz,  Gambon,  and 
Inkepenne;  but  as  this  last  is  preceded  by  a  de,  it  must  be  a 
place-name.  And  such  it  is :  Inkpen  is  a  parish  in  Berk- 
shire. 

Everything  goes  to  show  that  we  must  be  very  cautious  in 
accepting  the  face  signification  of  a  name  that  looks  and 
sounds  as  a  nickname. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  such  names 
did  get  taken  up  and  became  accepted  hereditary  family 
appellations.  Such  were  Barfoot,  Crookshanks,  Sheep- 
shanks, Halfpenny,  etc. ;  but  many  were  French  sobriquets 
applied  by  French  men-at-arms  and  domestics  to  English- 
men with  whom  they  were  brought  in  contact,  and  accepted 
without  any  comprehension  as  to  the  meaning.  Thus  we 
have  the  surname  of  Bunker  from  Boncreur,  Bunting  from 

316 


NICK-  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES 

Bonnetin  ;  Pettifer  is  Pied-de-fer,  and  Firebrace  is  Ferrebras. 
Joseph  Centlivre  was  cook  to  Queen  Anne;  but  the  name, 
translated  into  Hundredpounds,  occurs  in  1417,  when  a  William 
of  that  name  was  Mayor  of  Lynn.  Possibly  enough  the 
original  name  Centlivre  was  a  mistake  for  St.  Livaire,  who 
is  venerated  at  Metz.  We  should  look  to  every  other 
source  for  the  interpretation  of  a  grotesque  surname  before 
accepting  it  as  a  genuine  nickname. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PREFIXES   AND   SUFFIXES 

A  NAME  without  a  prefix  is  like  a  cup  without  a  handle — at 
least,  it  is  so  in  general  estimation — but  a  suffix,  instead  of 
enhancing  the  worth  of  a  name,  generally  derogates  from  its 
value,  and  is  often,  accordingly,  dropped  or  disguised. 

Prefixes  were  introduced  by  the  Normans,  but  they  were 
of  a  simple  description,  and  consisted  of  de  or  le.  The 
article  had,  indeed,  been  employed  in  Anglo-Saxon  nick- 
names, but  had  never  been  handed  down  with  the  to-name 
to  a  son. 

De  always  preceded  the  name  of  a  place  whence  the  Nor- 
man came,  and  where  he  had  a  castle  or  an  earthwork 
crowned  by  a  wooden  structure,  in  which  he  and  his  family 
lived.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest  very  few  nobles  and 
knights  had  stone  dwellings.  It  sufficed  him  to  throw  up 
a  tump— in  French  motte — and  to  crown  it  with  a  house 
built  of  wood,  reached  by  a  ladder,  little  better  than  a  hen- 
roost. It  accommodated  himself  and  his  wife  and  children 
— no  more — and  his  men-at-arms  lived  in  hutches  below  in 
the  basse-court  —  hutches  not  much  superior  to  pigsties. 
But  when  these  ruffians  came  over  with  William,  they 
swaggered  as  great  nobles,  and  called  themselves  De  This 
and  De  That,  after  those  fowl-houses  perched  on  top  of  a 
mound ;  and  the  simple  English  whom  they  trampled  on 
supposed  that  the  places  after  which  their  masters  called 
themselves  were  like  the  stone  castles  William  and  his 
Barons  set  to  work  to  build  on  English  soil  so  as  to  keep  the 
natives  down. 

318 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

A  good  many,  but  not  all,  of  these  adventurers,  De  Pierre- 
pont,  De  Mortaigne,  D'Evreux,  or  from  wherever  they  came, 
on  obtaining  estates  in  England,  assumed  the  names  of  their 
English  estates,  with  the  De  prefixed,  as  De  Newmarch 
(Newmarket),  De  Ford,  De  Ashburnham,  De  Newton, 
for  on  them  they  were  able  to  cut  a  very  different  figure  from 
that  they  had  borne  in  the  mouldy  burghs  in  Normandy, 
Flanders,  and  Bretagne. 

After  a  while,  when  these  foreigners  bearing  such  names 
had  become  thoroughly  anglicized  and  spoke  English,  they 
let  slip  the  De,  and  called  themselves  simply  Ford,  Ash- 
burnham, and  Newton. 

But  of  late  years  it  has  become  the  fashion  to  reassume  the 
De,  sometimes  where  it  does  not  pertain.  We  may  instance 
De  Foe.1  Such  a  use  of  the  De  is  an  affectation,  and  is 
absurd,  unless  prefixed  to  a  place-name.  The  Frenchman 
would  make  a  fool  of  himself  by  calling  himself  De  Grosjean 
or  De  Rouge.  It  is  otherwise  in  Germany,  with  the  ennobling 
of  burghers,  so  that  we  there  do  meet  with  a  Von  Schneider, 
Von  Schaffer,  and  a  Von  Schornsteinfeger — Of  Tailor,  Of 
Shepherd,  Of  Chimney-sweep.  Of  a  Von  Falkenstein  or  a 
Von  Rabeneck,  one  may  predicate  that  they  can  boast  that 
their  names  have  been  inscribed  in  history,  probably  in 
letters  of  blood ;  but  of  a  Herr  von  Pumpernickel  nothing  is 
known  save  that  his  forbears  ate  black  bread  from  the  days 
of  Arminius,  and  were  honest  peasants,  plundered  and  mal- 
treated by  the  Vons  periodically. 

In  cases  where  the  place-name  began  with  a  vowel,  the 
De  adhered  to  it  so  closely  as  to  defy  being  ripped  away, 
and  thus  we  have  Danvers  (D'Anvers),  Devreux,  Daubigny, 
Darcy,  and  Dawney. 

A  man  was  often  named  after  his  place  of  birth,  irrespec- 
tive of  his  having  any  land  there.  Thus,  William  of  Wyke- 
ham's  father  was  surnamed  Long,  and  William  Waynflete 
was  the  son  of  Richard  Fallen,  also  called  the  Barber. 

So  of  late  years,  when  the  painter  Schnorr  made  himself 
a  name  in  Germany  as  a  clever  limner,  he  elected  to  sub- 
scribe himself  Schnorr  von  Carolsfeld. 

1  Daniel  Defoe  was  the  son  of  James  Foe,  a  butcher. 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

There  was  a  certain  linden-tree  at  Seckendorf  under  which 
the  villagers  met  and  watched  the  youngsters  at  their  sports. 
In  950  the  Emperor  Otto  arrived  there  on  his  return  from 
Italy,  seated  himself  beneath  the  tree,  and  watched  the 
young  villagers  disporting  themselves.  The  day  was  hot 
and  the  flies  troublesome,  so  Otto  asked  for  a  branch  where- 
with to  fan  his  face  and  brush  the  insects  away.  At  once 
a  young  peasant  climbed  the  tree  and  returned  to  the 
Emperor  with  a  bough,  which  he  tendered  with  such  grace, 
and  with  a  speech  so  well  turned,  that  Otto  said  :  "  I  dare 
be  sworn  that  you  are  as  ready  with  your  hand  as  you  are 
glib  with  your  tongue.  I  will  take  you  into  my  service  !" 
Such  was  the  origin  of  the  illustrious  family  of  Seckendorf, 
that  bore  the  name  of  the  native  village  of  the  founder,  who 
owned  not  so  much  soil  in  it  as  he  could  put  his  foot  upon 
and  call  it  his  freehold. 

The  Le  introduced  by  the  Normans  was  the  prefix  before 
a  descriptive  name  of  a  trade  or  else  of  a  functionary,  or 
expressing  some  personal  characteristic  :  Le  Roux,  he  of 
the  ruddy  complexion  or  with  red  hair ;  Le  Portier,  the 
doorward.  L'Estranger  has  suffered,  like  the  White  Cat, 
with  the  loss  of  its  head ;  it  has  become  Stranger.  With  its 
tail  cut  off  it  is  L' Estrange.  Le  also  preceded  the  designa- 
tion of  a  man  from  foreign  parts,  as  Le  Brabazon,  Le  Breton. 
The  prefix  still  remains  in  some  names,  as  Le  Neveu,  Legard, 
Lenoir,  Legatt.  Sometimes  it  has  fallen  away,  like  Brune 
for  Le  Brun  and  Neeves  for  Le  Neveu. 

In  England  generally  the  took  the  place  of  le,  and  a  trades- 
man was  called  John  the  Smith,  William  the  Cook,  Hal  the 
Baker.  But  the  definite  article  was  speedily  dispensed  with. 
In  the  second  part  of  "  Henry  IV."  we  have  Justice  Shallow 
say  to  his  steward  Davy :  "  A  couple  of  short-legged  hens,  a 
joint  of  mutton,  and  any  pretty  little  tiny  kickshaws,  tell 
William  Cook." 

In  1479  Robert  Ricart  was  elected  Town  Clerk  of  Bristol, 
and,  at  the  instance  of  the  Mayor,  William  Spencer  wrote  a 
Chronicle  or  Mayor's  Kalendar  of  Bristol.1  He  gives  a  list 

1  "  The  Maire  of  Bristowe  is  Kalender,"  ed.  Camden  Society,  1872. 

320 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

of  the  Mayors,  Provosts,  and  Sheriffs  of  the  town  from  1217, 
and  this  list  is  of  interest,  as  it  shows  us  the  formation, 
modification,  and  transformation  of  surnames.  At  first  the 
majority  are  either  at,  de,  a,  le  :  Adam  le  Page,  Philip  le 
Cok  (Cook),  Thomas  le  Spycer,  Thomas  le  Chalnere 
(Chaloner),  Henry  le  Cheynere  (chain-maker)  ;  also  David  le 
Wight  (White),  John  le  Longe,  Thomas  le  Roux,  Robert  le 
Bele  (le  Bel,  the  Good-looking) ;  also  Walter  le  Fraunceis 
and  Henry  le  Walleys  (the  Welshman).  But  de  prevails  : 
Richard  de  Bury,  William  de  Chiltone,  Elyas  de  Axbridge, 
and  many  more.  We  have  also  Richard  atte  Ok  (at  the 
Oak),  Radulph  atte  Slupe,  John  at  Wall,  John  at  Knolle, 
Robert  at  Woode,  Robert  at  Welle.  But  sometimes  the  at 
is  omitted,  as  Thomas  Upditch,  Hugh  Upwell ;  and  also  the 
le  occasionally  falls  away,  as  William  Clerk,  Robert  Par- 
menter,  Galfredus  Ussher. 

But  what  is  especially  interesting  with  regard  to  the  de 
and  le  is  that  both  totally  disappear  after  1355,  when 
Richard  le  Spycer  was  Mayor,  and  Richard  de  Dene  was 
Bailiff.  After  that  date  we  have  Reynold  French,  Walter 
Derby,  Robert  Chedder,  John  Slow,  John  Kene,  Richard 
Spicer,  William  Draper,  John  Fisher,  Richard  Hatter,  and 
the  like. 

The  episcopal  registers  of  the  thirteenth  century  show 
us  that  the  clergy  who  were  ordained,  and  those  inducted 
into  livings,  were  known  by  the  villages  and  manors  whence 
they  came.  Almost  invariably  they  bore  place-names.  It 
was  with  extreme  rarity  that  they  bore  such  names  as  were 
indicative  of  trade.  Not  but  that  many  of  them  may  have 
been  the  sons  of  tradesmen  or  of  officials,  but  that  trade  and 
official  names  had  not  become  surnames  to  those  who  were 
not  in  trade  or  office.  The  register  of  Bishop  Brondescombe 
of  Exeter  (1257-1280)  contains  one  name  only  indicative  of 
an  office  in  a  couple  of  pages  of  entries  :  it  is  that  of  Le 
Botillere.  Farther  on  we  get  one  of  a  trade,  almost  an 
unique  instance — Le  Teinturier  (the  Dyer),  Prior  of  Laun- 
ceston — and  no  nicknames  whatsoever  ;  but  what  it  does 
reveal  to  us  is  that  many  names  that  now  appear  to  us  as 

321  x 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

nicknames  are  actually  corruptions,  usually  of  place-names. 
They  ceased  to  be  generally  understood,  and  were  assimi- 
lated to  some  name  more  or  less  phonetically  equivalent,  as 
Greenhorn  for  Grenoven,  a  place  near  Tavistock ;  Parrott  for 
Pierrot ;  Loveless  for  Lovelace  ;  Vairshield  became  Fairchild. 
Vair  is  an  heraldic  tincture. 

Now  we  pass  on  to  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  and 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to  the  register  of  Stafford, 
Bishop  of  Exeter  (1395-1419).  We  shall  find  that  the 
condition  of  affairs  as  touching  surnames  is  completely 
changed.  De  and  le  have  fallen  away  altogether,  and  there 
are  fewer  place-names  and  a  considerable  number  of  trade- 
names. 

In  like  manner  the  de  falls  away,  but  atte  lingers  on. 
Atte  Ford,  Atte  Haye,  Atte  Mill,  Atte  Stone,  Atte  Water, 
Atte  Well,  Atte  Wood,  soon,  however,  to  be  incorporated 
into  the  name,  as  Atwell,  Atwood,  and  Aston,  or  to  fall  away 
altogether,  and  leave  Ford,  Haye,  Stone  as  surnames. 

Some  demur  has  been  raised  relative  to  the  termination 
"cock"  and  "cox,"  as  signifying  "the  cook."  Mr.  Lower 
— and  after  him  Dr.  Barber — will  have  it  that  this  is  a 
diminutive  ;  according  to  the  latter,  brought  in  by  the 
Flemings.1 

But  le  Coq  occurs  at  the  time  of  the  Conqueror,  and 
wherever  the  termination  does  occur,  it  is  conjoined  to  an 
abbreviated  Christian  name,  as  Willcox,  Hancock  (John), 
Badcock  (Bartholomew),  Sander  cock  Alexander),  Simcox  and 
Simcoe  (Simon  the  Cook). 

Indeed,  William  Bitton,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  who  died  in 
1307,  in  his  will  leaves  a  bequest  "  Symoni  Coco  "  ;  and 
Richard  de  Gravesend,  Bishop  of  London,  who  died  in  1303, 
makes  a  bequest  to  "  Magistro  Johano  Coco."  Stephen  le 
Cokke  was  Provost  of  Bristol  in  1261,  and  James  Cokkys 

1  Pott  (" Personen-namen  ")  does  not  recognize  "cock"  as  a  diminu- 
tive in  the  Germanic  languages.  Quoting  Ehrentraut's  "Frisische 
Archaeologie,"  i.  3,  he  points  out  that  many  Dutch  surnames  are 
trade-names,  and  that  the  article  has  fallen  away,  as  Hinrek  Kok.  The 
numerous  Koks  found  in  the  Netherlands  are  descendants  of  cooks 
(pp.  547,  548). 

322 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

Bailiff  in  1407.  We  can  hardly  doubt  that  Symon  Coc 
would  become  Simcox,  and  James  Cokkis  be  turned  into 
Jacocks.1  Chaucer  spells  "  Cook  "  as  Cok.  Le  Coq  is  still 
a  surname  in  Normandy  and  Brittany ;  indeed,  it  is  the 
name  of  a  banker  at  Dinan.  In  a  nobleman's  house  the 
official  in  the  kitchen  was  William  le  Coq,  but  that  of  the 
English  squire  was  William  the  Cook ;  so  we  get  both  names, 
Willcock  and  William  Cook. 

But  the  termination  cox  or  cock  does  not  always  represent 
a  professor  of  the  culinary  art,  for  it  is  occasionally  used  in 
place  of  cott.  Glasscock  is  from  Glascote,  in  Tamworth 
parish.  Woodcock  is  really  Woodcott.  Cottswold  as  a 
surname  has  become  Coxwold,  and  Cottswell  is  turned  into 
CoxwelL  Geoffrey  le  Coq  has  left  us  his  name  in  both 
forms,  Jeff  cot  and  Jeffcock. 

I  have  spoken  elsewhere  of  the  prefixes  O'  and  Mac,  and 
will  say  no  more  about  them,  or  of  the  Welsh  ap,  that  has 
given  us  such  names  as  Bunyan  (ap  Einion),  Price  (ap  Rice), 
Bevan  (ap  Ewan),  Bowen  (ap  Owen),  etc. 

Sometimes,  where  the  original  name  began  with  th,  it  has 
been  altered  by  the  employment  instead  of  st,  as  Sturgess  for 
Thurgis — i.e.,  Thorgisl,  the  hostage  of  Thor.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  s  initial  letter  has  more  frequently  fallen 
away.  Spigurnell  has  become  Pickernell,  and  Pillsbury 
stands  for  Spillsbury. 

Ph  has  taken  the  place  of  /,  or  the  reverse.  Physick  stands 
for  Fish  wick,  and  Philbrick  for  Felbrigg  in  Norfolk.  Filpott 
stands  for  Phillipot,  and  Phillimore  for  Finmoor. 

Ch  has  taken  the  place  of  j.  Thus  Job  has  become  first 
Jubb,  and  then  Chubb  and  Chope.  Choice  is  another  form  of 
Joyce,  and  Challandof  Jalland ;  that  also  is  found  in  Yelland. 
V  and  /  are  interchangeable  in  the  West  of  England,  as 
Facey  for  Vesci,  Vowell  for  Powell,  and  Vowler  for  Fowler. 
Indeed,  among  the  Devonshire  peasantry  no  distinction  is 
made  between  the  letters.  Yokes  is  the  same  as  Foulkes,  and 

1  When  we  get  such  an  entry  as  Joannes  Alcokson,  1379,  it  certainly 
looks  as  though  John  were  the  son  of  Allen  the  Cook.  So  also  William 
Wilkocson,  1379,  is  William  the  son  of  Will  the  Cook. 

323  X  2 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

Venner  as  Fenner.  At  and  atten,  as  prefixes,  have  been 
spoken  of  sufficiently.  The  suffix  ot  has  also  been  mentioned 
as  a  diminutive  brought  from  Normandy.  Jeanot  signifies 
Little  John ;  Mariot  is  Little  Mary.  Shakespeare  uses  Carlot 
as  a  diminutive  of  Churl.  Some  difficulty  has  been  found 
in  discovering  the  origin  of  the  name  Piggot.  It  has  been 
supposed  to  stand  for  picote,*one  small  pox-marked.  The 
famous  family  of  Pegotty,  no  doubt,  did  thence  derive  its 
name,  but  we  cannot  suppose  that  so  early  as  the  Conquest 
the  final  syllable  of  picote  had  already  fallen  away.  It  is 
more  probable  that  the  surname  was  derived  from  pigge,  the 
Scandinavian  for  a  girl,  and  that  the  family  descended  from 
some  captive  wench,  the  prey  of  a  Norse  settler. 

From  Margot,  the  diminutive  of  Margaret,  comes  M argot- 
son.  The  termination  ot  is  a  common  French  diminutive : 
archerot  is  a  small  archer,  augelot  a  little  ditch.  Baggot  may 
be  a  diminutive  of  bague,  and  designate  the  man  with  the 
small  gold  ring. 

Another  diminutive  is  the  termination  et.  We  speak  of  a 
leaflet,  a  hamlet,  a  ringlet.  And  Harriett  is  the  feminine, 
but  actually  the  diminutive,  of  Henry.  So  Hamlet  is  that  of 
Hamo,  and  Paulett  of  Paul.  But  of  this  more  presently. 

The  Normans  affected  changing  an  ending  in  elle  into  eau, 
and  al  into  aux.  Isabelle  became  Isabeau,  and  this  was 
turned  in  English  into  Isbet  and  Ebbet,  whence  our  surname 
Ibbotson. 

The  ot  is  sometimes  softened  down  to  y.  Thus  Polliot 
becomes  Pawley,  Lancelot  is  reduced  to  Lancey,  and  Hallet  to 
Halley. 

Another  diminutive  is  et.  Thus  Corbett  from  corbeau,  and 
we  have  the  name  Hewett  for  Little  Hugh,  and  Marcett  for 
Little  Mark. 

The  suffix  ing  signifies  "the  son  of"  or  "descendants 
of."  This  fact  has  been  pretty  well  worked  to  death  by 
Mr.  Kemble  and  Mr.  Ferguson.  The  former  makes  out  some 
220  tribes  to  have  colonized  England,  solely  deducing  this 
from  the  termination  ing  or  ingas  found  scattered  over  the 
country.  But  Glaestingabyrg  (Glastonbury)  does  not 
draw  its  name  from  any  imaginary  Saxon  family  of 

324 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

Glaestingas,  but  from  Glasynys,  the  British  for  "  Green 
Island."  Carlingham,  Fotheringay,  Warrington,  Pockling- 
ton,  may  very  possibly  derive  from  the  settlements  of  the 
sons  of  Carl,  Fothere,  Ware,  and  Folko ;  but  ing  as  a  termina- 
tion often  enough  has  the  signification  of  "  dwellers  at." 

Again,  ing  takes  the  place  of  win.  Golding  replaces  Gold- 
win,  Gunning  stands  for  Gunnwin,  Harding  for  Hardwin, 
Browning  for  Brunwin.  So  that  we  must  not  be  peremptory 
in  grouping  all  the  names  ending  in  ing  as  tribal  designa- 
tions. But  this  has  been  already  shown. 

The  termination  ey  or  y  often  signifies  an  island;  but 
not  always.  It  is  occasionally  a  softening  of  eg,  edge. 
Anstey  is  Atten-steg,  at  the  stile.  The  y  or  ie,  again,  is  a 
diminutive,  as  Baby  for  Babe,  Brandy  for  Brand  (burnt 
wine).  In  Scotland  the  ie  takes  the  place  of  the  English  y. 
Dick  becomes  Dixie  ;  in  English  it  would  be  Dicky.  Hankey 
is  the  diminutive  of  Hans,  or  John,  and  Sankey  of  Alexander. 
Wilkie  is  the  same  of  William.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  in 
place-names,  ey  and  ay  as  an  ending  represents  hey  or  hay,  a 
hedge,  as  Fotheringay,  Goldingay. 

Lin  or  lyn  is  equivalent  to  the  German  lein,  and 
becomes  ling  at  the  end  of  a  name.  Hamelin  is  a  diminutive 
of  Hamo.  Wakeling  stands  for  Wakelin,  Little  Wake.  Kin 
or  kyn  corresponds  to  the  German  chen.  Peterkin  is  Small 
Peter,  and  a  pipkin  is  a  little  pot.  In  an  old  poem  entitled 
"  A  Litol  soth  Sormun  "  it  is  said  of  the  maiden  Malekyn 
(Little  Male  or  Mary)  and  Janekyn  : 

"  Masses  and  matins 
Ne  kepeth  they  nouht, 
But  Wilekyn  and  Watekyn 
Be  in  their  thouht." 

Kin  as  a  termination  has  nothing  to  do  with  kindred. 
Kin  and  kins  often  get  abbreviated  to  iss  and  es.  Hence 
Perkins  becomes  Perkiss,  and  finally  Perks ;  Tonkins  is  re- 
duced to  Tonks,  Dawkins  to  Dawkes.  In  Anglo-Saxon  there 
were  two  endings  for  the  genitive  case.  When  a  name 
ended  in  a  or  e,  it  took  w,  and  became  an  or  en  in  the  posses- 
sive ;  otherwise  it  took  s.  Thus  Puttenham  and  Tottenham  were 
the  homes  of  Putta  and  Totta.  But  we  cannot  say  that 

325 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

Sydenham  was  the  home  of  Syd,  or  even  that  it  was  a 
southern  homestead,  for  sid  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  for  un- 
enclosed land,  and  a  Sydenham  is  a  Newtake. 

The  termination  by,  for  a  farm  or  dwelling,  in  Normandy 
became  bceuf,  as  Elbceuf,  in  English  rendered  Elbow,  the 
name  of  one  of  Shakespeare's  foolish  constables.  Volney, 
the  French  traveller,  had  for  his  real  name  Chassebceuf,  but 
was  so  afraid  lest  it  should  be  said  of  him  that  he  was 
descended  from  a  bullock-driver,  that,  like  a  snob,  he  altered 
his  name.  The  termination  el  is  found  in  German  diminu- 
tives, as  Handel,  Mendel,  Hirschell ;  but  the  ending  does  not 
always  imply  a  German  origin,  as  in  Coterell  and  Cockrell. 

The  termination  ard  is  usually  Norman-French,  as 
Camisard,  pillard.  Hence  we  have  Hansard,  Collard, 
Ballard,  Cowlard.  Another  termination  is  iff.  Some  French 
names  ending  in  val  become  vau,  and  van  in  English 
becomes  iff.  Joliff  stands  for  Jollivau.  We  might  suppose 
Stiff  was  a  corruption  of  Estivau,  if  we  did  not  hold  it  to  be 
an  abbreviation  of  Stephen. 

Sop  is  a  corruption  of  "  hope,"  as  Blenkinsop  for  Blenkin's- 
hope,  or  hill.  This  I  have  already  shown.  Allsopp  for  Ellis 
(or  Elias)  hope.  Skog  (forest)  is  often  reduced  to  scoe,  as  Briscoe 
and  Jellicoe,  for  the  scog  of  Giolla  and  of  Brice. 

Ship,  again,  is  a  corruption  of  hope,  as  Nettleship  for 
Nettlehope. 

White  also  is  a  corruption  of  Thwaite,  Applewhite.  We 
have  both  forms  Hebblethwaite  and  Hebblewhite,  denoting 
a  clearing  for  apples.  Musslewhite  is  Musslethwaite,  the  same 
as  Micklethwaite. 

Thorpe,  as  already  pointed  out,  becomes  throp  or  thrup — 
Winthrop  for  Winthorpe.  Thrupp  is  no  other  than  Thorpe. 

The  suffix  man  has  four  or  five  distinct  meanings : 

i.  Usually  it  is  given  as  the  equivalent  of  "  servant."1 
Thus,  Higman  is  the  serving-man  of  Hick,  or  Richard ; 
Merriman  is  the  servant  of  Mary ;  Pulman,  that  of  Paul ; 

1  In  some  cases  merely  devotional  surnames,  formed  like  Gill-Christ, 
Gill-Patrick.  He  who  assumed  the  name  was  by  no  means  necessarily  a 
domestic  servant,  but  one  who  placed  himself  under  the  protection  of 
a  saint. 

326 


PREFIXES  AND  SUFFIXES 

Houseman  is  a  house  domestic.      Kingsman  or  Kinsman  is 
the  King's  servant. 

2.  It  signifies  also  the  dweller  at  a  certain  place :  Heath- 
man  is  the  dweller  on  the  heath ;  Woodman  may  be  either 
he  who  lives  in  the  wood  or  he  who  is  a  woodcutter  by  his 
trade ;  Bridgeman  may  be  the  man  who  lives  by  the  bridge 
or  the  toll-taker  on  the  bridge ;  Yeatman  is  he  who  occupies 
a  cottage  by  the  gate. 

3.  It  also  represents  an  occupation,  as  Cheeseman,  a  cheese- 
monger ;    Portman,  the  gatekeeper  or   porter  ;    Palfreyman, 
the  stableman  in  charge  of  the  ladies'  palfreys ;  Stoneman, 
the  stonecutter ;  Bateman,  the  bear-baiter. 

4.  It  is  as  well  a  corruption  of  the  termination  ham  in 
place-names.     Tottman    stands    for    Tottenham  ;    Packman 
alike  for  the  packer  by  trade  and  for  him  who  comes  from 
Pakenham  ;  Gillman  may  well  be  a  corruption  of  Gillingham. 
Heyman  is  either  the  man  who  looked  after  the  hay  or  is  a 
corruption  of  Highnam  in  Gloucestershire.     High  is  very 
generally   pronounced   by   countryfolk  hey,   as    Hightor   is 
called  Hey  tor.     Lyman  is  Lyneham. 

5.  It  stands  as  a  modification  of  mond  in  personal  names, 
as  Gorman  for  Gormund,  Wyman  for  Wymond.     Again,  it  is 
not  infrequently  a  corruption  of  ham.     Deadman  may  stand 
equally  for  a  corruption  of   Debenham  and  for  a  dudman 
(old  clothes  man). 

Hewer  as  a  suffix  resolves  itself  intojy.  Woody er  is  properly 
wood-hewer.  Sometimes  even  that  letter  falls  away,  as 
Stoner  for  Stone-hewer,  and  Flesher  for  Flesh-hewer,  a 
butcher.  But  y  is  often  introduced  for  euphony,  as  Lockyer 
for  Locker,  Sawyer  for  Sawer,  Bowyer  for  Bower. 

Wright  occasionally  gets  altered  into  richy  as  Woodrich  for 
Woodwright ;  Kenwright  is  changed  into  Kendrick. 

Son  as  a  termination  has  sometimes  displaced  ston  or 
stone,  thus  converting  a  local  into  a  personal  name,  as 
Baldison  for  Balderston  or  Balderstone,  Shillson  for  Shil- 
ston,  and  Kilson  for  Kelston.  Shakerley  has  become  a 
personal  name — Shakelady.  S  is  occasionally  added  to  a 
monosyllabic  place-name,  as  Stokes  for  "  of  Stoke." 

327 


CHAPTER    XVI 

NAME    STORIES 

A  GENTLEMAN  attending  service  at  St.  Andrews,  Wells 
Street,  London,  for  the  first  time,  at  the  conclusion  inquired 
of  the  churchwarden  what  was  the  name  of  the  preacher. 

"  Mr.  Stonewig." 

"  And  of  the  clergyman  who  sang  the  Office  ?" 

"  Mr.  Griffinhoof." 

"  Sir,"  said  the  stranger,  flushing  red,  "  I  asked  for  in- 
formation, and  not  to  be  insulted." 

Actually  these  were  the  names  of  two  curates  at  that  time. 
Griffinhoof  was  an  English  rendering  of  the  name  Greifen- 
clau,  borne  by  a  noble  and  distinguished  family  in  Germany, 
derived  from  the  possession  by  it  of  a  narwhal's  tooth,  which 
it  fondly  believed  to  be  the  claw  of  a  griffin  slain  by  an  an- 
cestor in  deadly  conflict.  A  member  of  this  house  settling 
in  England  had  translated  its  name  into  corresponding 
English.  Stonewig  is  probably  also  a  version  of  the  German 
Steinveg,  which  would  be  more  properly  rendered  Stoneway 
or  Stanway. 

At  a  great  Court  ball  given  in  Vienna,  where  all  were 
masked,  appeared  a  stately  and  graceful  youth,  who  danced 
several  times  with  one  of  the  Princesses.  The  Emperor, 
marvelling  who  he  was,  bade  him  unmask,  when  he  was 
recognized  as  the  hangman's  son.  "  You  have  come  to 
Court  as  a  rascal,  and  as  a  rascal  dared  to  dance  with  my 
daughter,"  said  the  Kaiser,  "  and  the  name  of  a  rascal  you 
shall  bear !  Kneel  down.  It  ill  behoves  a  Princess  to  have 

328 


NAME  STORIES 

a  common  citizen  as  partner.  I  ennoble  you  as  Schelm 
[rascal]  of  Bergen."  The  family  died  out  in  the  male  line 
in  1844. 

A  considerable  number  of  family  names  have  legends 
attaching  to  them  that  attempt  to  explain  their  origin.  The 
name  is  due  to  some  incident  in  the  story  of  the  founder, 
or  else  is  a  clumsy  fabrication  to  account  for  the  device  on 
the  crest  or  coat  of  arms.  There  are  comparatively  few 
English  families  that  have  stories  connected  with  their 
names ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  Scotch,  and  such 
tales  are  common  enough  on  the  Continent.  In  a  few  in- 
stances the  traditions  may  have  a  substantial  basis.  For 
instance,  as  Elizabeth  of  Hungary  was  on  her  way  to 
Thuringia  to  be  married  to  the  Margrave  Louis,  one  day 
the  cavalcade  passed  a  pale,  half-starved  woman,  with  a  babe 
at  her  breast  and  a  lean  boy  at  her  side.  She  begged  for 
food,  but  the  knights  swept  by,  disregarding  her  appeal,  and 
all  the  squires  exhibited  a  like  indifference,  save  one,  who 
gave  to  the  beggar-woman  his  day's  portion  of  bread  and 
wine.  Elizabeth  was  so  pleased  that  she  called  him  to  her 
side,  knighted  him  on  the  spot,  and  bade  him  thenceforth  be 
Schenk  (butler)  at  the  Wartburg. 

She  further  favoured  him  by  obtaining  from  Louis  of 
Thuringia  a  grant  of  land,  and  Schenk  became  the  progenitor 
of  a  knightly  family  that  assumed  the  title  of  "  butler  "  as  a 
surname  and  occupied  the  castle  of  Schweinsburg. 

Snooks,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  not  a  beautiful  name,  yet 
it  has  a  sufficiently  respectable  origin.  A  male  child  was 
found  deserted  by  his  mother  at  Sevenoaks.  It  was  taken 
up  by  kindly  people,  who  reared  it,  and  eventually  put 
it  out  in  life,  after  having  it  baptized  with  the  name  of 
William,  and  called  it  Sevenoaks,  after  the  place  where 
found.  William  de  Sevenoaks  became  Lord  Mayor  of 
London  in  the  sixth  year  of  Henry  V.,  was  knighted,  and 
died  in  1432.  He  left  benefactions  to  his  native  place,  that 
were  doubtless  misused,  as  was  his  name  when  degenerated  to 
Snooks. 

In  the  county  of  Devon,  on  the  Exe,  lived  for  many 

329 


NAME  STORIES 

generations  a  yeoman  family  of  the  name  of  Suckbitch.  It 
has  but  recently  become  extinct  in  the  male  line.  A  story 
accounts  for  this  remarkable  name. 

A  West  Saxon  chief  was  hunting  in  the  forest  one  day 
when  he  discovered  a  male  child  in  the  wood,  with  none  near 
it  save  a  large  bitch,  that  was  suckling  it.  The  parents  could 
not  be  discovered.  The  chieftain  accordingly  adopted  the 
child  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Suckbitch,  which  it  and  all  its 
descendants  were  to  bear,  and  he  further  conferred  upon  it 
an  estate  near  the  Exe  where  it  was  found. 

Before  it  became  extinct  some  of  the  family  altered  the 
designation  to  Suckbury. 

Many  a  legend  explaining  the  derivation  of  a  name  is  an 
afterthought.  A  story  has  been  invented  to  account  for  what 
seemed  peculiar. 

Thus  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name  Napier  is  dis- 
tinctly a  fabrication.  Napier  comes,  as  already  said,  from  a 
napper,  the  official  at  Court  who  looked  after  the  nappery, 
or  table-linen.  But  this  did  not  please  the  family,  so  the 
following  tale  was  invented  and  promulgated : 

"  One  of  the  ancient  Earls  of  Lennox  in  Scotland  had 
issue  three  sons :  the  eldest  succeeded  him  in  the  earldom  ; 
the  second,  whose  name  was  Donald ;  and  the  third  named 
Sillchrist  (probably  Gilchrist).  The  then  King  of  Scots, 
having  wars,  did  convocate  his  lieges  to  the  battle.  Amongst 
them  that  were  commanded  was  the  Earl  of  Lennox,  who, 
keeping  his  eldest  son  at  home,  sent  his  second  son  to  serve 
for  him  with  the  forces  under  his  command.  The  battle 
went  hard  with  the  Scots,  for  the  enemy,  pressing  furiously 
upon  them,  forced  them  to  lose  ground,  until  at  last  they 
fell  to  flat  running  away,  which,  being  perceived  by  Donald, 
he  pulled  his  father's  standard  from  the  bearer  thereof,  and, 
valiantly  encountering  the  foe  (being  well  followed  up  by  the 
Earl  of  Lennox's  men),  he  repulsed  the  enemy,  and  changed 
the  fortune  of  the  day,  whereby  a  great  victory  was  got. 
After  the  battle,  as  the  manner  is,  everyone  advancing  and 
setting  forth  his  own  acts,  the  King  said  unto  them  :  '  Ye 
have  all  done  valiantly,  but  there  is  one  amongst  you  that 

330 


NAME  STORIES 

hath  na  pier  /'  [no  equal] ;  and  calling  Donald  into  his 
presence,  commanded  him,  in  regard  of  his  worth,  service, 
and  augmentation  of  his  honour,  to  change  his  name  from 
Lennox  to  Napier,  and  gave  him  lands  in  Fife  and  the  lands 
of  Goffurd,  and  made  him  his  own  servant."  This  story  is 
as  old  as  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  for  it  occurs  in  a  manuscript 
written  by  Sir  W.  Segar,  Garter  King-of-Arms. 

Equally  fabulous  is  the  legend  of  the  origin  of  the  name 
of  Hay,  borne  by  the  Earl  of  Errol.  It  is  related  that  the 
founder  of  that  family,  with  his  two  sons,  held  successfully 
the  pass  of  Lancarty  against  the  Danes  in  942  by  shouting 
as  he  smote  the  invaders,  "  Hay  !  hay !  hay !"  Actually,  the 
name  came  from  a  hedged-in  enclosure. 

The  tale  circulates  that  once  upon  a  time  a  Yorkshire 
gentleman,  being  about  to  let  slip  a  brace  of  greyhounds  to 
run  after  a  hare,  held  them  so  unskilfully  as  to  strangle  the 
hounds  ;  whence  he  obtained  the  sobriquet  of  Maleverer — 
in  Latin,  Malus  Leporarius,  the  bad  hare-hunter,  whereas 
actually  the  name  comes  from  Malus  Operarius,  the  bad 
workman.  It  occurs  in  Domesday  in  Essex:  "Terra  Adamis 
filii  Dusandi  de  Malis  Operibus  "  (Durand  of  bad  deeds  ;  in 
fact,  a  ne'er-do-weel). 

Of  the  great  family  of  the  Corvini  in  Rome  it  was  related 
that  on  a  certain  occasion  a  Tribune,  Marcus  Valerius,  was 
challenged  by  a  Gaul  to  single  combat.  He  accepted  the 
challenge.  At  the  moment  of  conflict  a  crow  appeared  and 
attacked  the  eyes  of  the  Gaul,  and  so  distracted  him  that 
he  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  Roman.  The  story  was  invented 
to  explain  the  fact  that  the  crow  was  a  totem  of  a  family  in 
the  Valerian  gens. 

A  very  important  family  among  the  first  settlers  in  Iceland 
was  that  descended  from  Kveldulf  (the  evening  wolf).  How 
he  got  that  designation  is  explained  by  a  legend.  He  was 
said,  as  soon  as  the  sun  set,  to  change  his  character  from 
one  of  good-humour  to  that  of  wolfish  ferocity.  On  one 
occasion,  in  the  evening,  his  son,  a  mere  child,  offended  him, 
and  he  rushed  to  slaughter  him,  when  the  nurse  interposed, 
and  old  Kveldulf  literally  tore  her  to  pieces. 


NAME  STORIES 

The  legendary  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  family 
name  of  Ayre,  or  Eyre,  is  altogether  absurd. 

"  The  first  of  the  family  was  named  Truelove,  but  at  the 
Battle  of  Hastings,  October  14,  1066,  William  was  flung 
from  his  horse  and  his  helmet  beaten  into  his  face,  which 
Truelove  observing,  pulled  it  off  and  horsed  him  again.  The 
Duke  told  him  :  '  Thou  shalt  hereafter  from  Truelove  be 
called  Eyre  [or  Air],  because  thou  hast  given  me  the  air  I 
breathe.'  After  the  battle  the  Duke,  on  inquiry  respecting 
him,  found  him  severely  wounded  (his  leg  and  thigh  having 
been  struck  off),  and  ordered  him  the  utmost  care,  and  on 
his  recovery  gave  him  lands  in  Derby  in  reward  for  his 
services,  and  the  leg  and  thigh  in  armour  cut  off  for  his  crest, 
an  honorary  badge  still  worn  by  all  the  Eyres  in  England."1 

The  story  is  obviously  apocryphal.  There  is  no  Truelove, 
an  English  and  not  a  Norman  name,  in  the  Roll  of  Battle 
Abbey,  and  the  tale  supposes  William  the  Bastard  to  have 
spoken  English,  a  language  of  which  he  understood  not  one 
word.  The  tale  has  been  made  up  to  account  for  the  name 
and  the  crest. 

Very  different  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name 
Lockhart.  This  may  be  true :  that  a  follower  of  James, 
Lord  Douglas,  who  accompanied  him  to  the  Holy  Land, 
was  requested  by  his  master,  who  died  in  the  Crusade,  to 
convey  his  heart  back  to  Scotland,  and  this  the  retainer  did 
in  a  locked  casket.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  family  bears 
as  its  arms  a  heart  clasped  by  a  padlock.  That  the  story  is 
possibly  true  is  due  to  the  fact  that  at  the  period  of  the 
Crusades  it  was  by  no  means  unusual  for  the  hearts  of 
knights  and  nobles  dying  abroad  to  be  conveyed  home. 
There  are  not  a  few  "  heart-stones "  in  the  churches  of 
England ;  there  is  one  at  Molland  in  Devon,  containing  the 
heart  of  a  Courtenay,  and  the  heart  of  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion  is  preserved  at  Rouen  in  the  museum. 

Fabulous   is   the   story  of  the   Osbornes.     This   name   is 

Scandinavian,  and  signifies  the  Bear  of  the  Aesir,  the  Divine 

ancestors  of  the   Norse   race.     But  all    knowledge  of  the 

1  Thorpe,  "  Catalogue  of  the  Deeds  of  Battle  Abbey." 

332 


NAME  STORIES 

signification  was  lost  in  the  days  when  Christianity  had 
been  accepted,  and  a  story  was  invented  to  explain  the 
origin  of  the  name.  Walter,  a  Norman  knight,  playing  at 
chess  with  William  the  Bastard  one  summer  evenihg  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ouse,  succeeded  in  every  game.  The  King 
threw  down  the  board,  saying  that  he  had  no  more  stakes  to 
risk.  "Sir,"  said  Sir  Walter,  "here  is  land."  "There  is 
so,"  said  William,  "and  if  thou  beatest  me  in  this  game 
also,  thine  shall  be  all  the  land  on  this  side  of  the  burn 
which  thou  canst  see  from  the  seat  on  which  thou  art  now 
seated."  Sir  Walter  again  defeated  the  Conqueror,  and 
William,  clapping  him  on  the  shoulder,  said  :  "  Henceforth 
thou  shalt  be  called  Ouseburne." 

This  story  labours  under  the  same  defect  as  that  which 
accounts  for  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Eyre. 

The  Thirlwalls  are  said  to  be  so  called  from  an  ancestor, 
a  Saxon  chief  named  Wade,  who  built  a  fort  upon  the 
Roman  wall  which  he  thirled  or  broke  through. 

A  legendary  tale  is  attached  to  the  name  of  Montmorris : 
that  it  was  borne  by  a  Moor  who  lived  in  the  mountains — 
the  Atlas,  we  suppose — and  that  he  joined  Charlemagne  and 
became  a  good  Christian  and  a  paladin.  This  is  nonsense. 
The  name  comes  from  Mont  St.  Maurice.  St.  Maurice  was 
an  exceedingly  popular  saint  among  knights,  as  he  was  a 
soldier  martyr. 

The  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Field-Marshal 
Blucher  is  this :  His  ancestor,  serving  under  Prince  Borwin 
of  Mecklenburg  against  the  pagan  Wends,  on  one  occasion 
single-handed  defended  a  chapel  against  them  when  they 
sought  to  desecrate  it.  When  succour  arrived,  he  was  found 
covered  with  blood,  and  he  handed  the  keys  of  the  chapel  to 
the  Prince,  who  thereupon  bade  him  assume  the  name  of 
Blutiger,  or  the  Bloody,  and  adopt  the  keys  as  crest  and 
coat  of  arms.  Blutiger  has  been  corrupted  to  Blucher. 

The  noble  family  of  Bojanowsky  in  Poland  was  originally 
called  Baran  (sheep),  but  it  changed  its  name  to  Jundisza 
(bridegroom).  One  day  a  Baran  was  going  to  the  altar  with 
his  bride  when  he  received  summons  to  attend  his  Prince 

333 


NAME  STORIES 

immediately.  He  at  once  obeyed,  leaving  his  bride  in  the 
church.  In  commemoration  of  this  prompt  obedience,  his 
name  was  changed  from  Sheep  to  Bridegroom. 

The  family  of  Turnbull  is  supposed  to  derive  from  an 
ancestor  Ruel,  who  saved  Robert  Bruce  from  being  gored 
in  Stirling  Park  by  catching  the  bull  by  its  horns  and  turning 
it  about.  Actually  Turnbull  comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Trumbold. 

In  1003  the  family  of  Wrschowcen  in  Bohemia  formed  a 
plot  to  murder  the  reigning  Duke,  so  as  to  win  the  ducal 
throne  for  one  of  themselves.  To  attain  this  object  some  of 
the  brothers  lured  the  young  Duke  Jaromir  into  the  forest  to 
hunt,  and  drawing  him  from  his  retinue,  bound  him  to  an 
oak,  and  were  proceeding  to  shoot  him,  when  a  common 
forester,  named  Howorra,  emerged  from  the  bushes.  The 
brothers  at  once  seized  and  bound  him  to  a  lime-tree,  to  kill 
him  also,  lest  he  should  betray  them.  Before  his  arm  was 
fastened  he  begged  to  be  suffered  to  sound  his  horn.  This 
was  granted.  He  blew  so  loud  a  blast  that  the  Duke's 
retainers  came  up  before  the  brothers  had  put  their  plot  into 
complete  execution.  The  Duke  and  the  huntsman  were 
released  and  the  brothers  slain.  In  reward  for  what  he  had 
done,  Jaromir  ennobled  the  man,  who  had  two  sons,  and  one 
was  named  Duba  (an  oak)  and  the  other  Lippa,  or  Laba  (a 
lime-tree),  and  they  bore  on  their  shield  two  boughs  crossed 
— the  one  of  an  oak,  the  other  of  a  lime. 

Equally  fabulous  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name  of 
Purseglove.  In  one  of  the  commotions  in  the  North  of 
England  a  gentleman  deemed  it  advisable  to  fly  his  country, 
and  he  did  so  with  such  precipitation  that  he  took  no  money 
with  him.  He  would  have  fared  badly  but  that  he  managed 
to  pick  up  on  the  highway  a  purse  in  a  glove.  This  he  took 
to  himself,  and  settled  in  the  South,  and  there  founded  a 
family.  Deeming  it  well  to  keep  his  original  name  a  secret, 
he  called  himself  thenceforth  Purseglove.  There  was  a 
Thomas  Pursglove,  or  Purslow,  Bishop  of  Hull.  Purslow  is 
in  Shropshire,  and  Purslow  is  probably  the  correct  form  of 
the  name,  the  low  being  the  tumulus  of  one  Brusi. 

334 


NAME  STORIES 

Camden  relates  that  a  certain  Frenchman  who  had 
craftily  smuggled  one  Crioll,  a  feudal  lord  in  Kent,  out  of 
France  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  when  he  was  in  great  danger 
of  imprisonment,  if  not  of  his  life,  and  brought  him  over  the 
Channel  into  his  own  county,  received  from  the  nobleman  in 
return  for  his  services  the  estate  of  Swinfield,  and  on  account 
of  the  finesse  displayed  by  him  on  this  occasion,  he  adopted 
the  surname  of  Finesse,  originating  that  of  Fynnes. 

Between  the  Waag  and  the  Moldau,  Prince  Pirwina  was 
hunting  and  lost  his  way.  A  poor  bird-snarer  gave  him 
shelter  for  the  night  and  food.  Next  day  the  Prince  granted 
him  the  land  on  which  stood  his  hut  as  far  as  to  the  bank  of 
the  Moldau,  and  dubbed  him  knight.  As  the  fellow,  whose 
name  was  Welen,  was  going  about  his  acquired  estate,  he 
climbed  a  hill,  on  which  he  thought  he  might  build  a  castle. 
He  was  barefooted,  and  struck  his  toe  against  a  stone,  and  it 
bled.  "  Ha !"  thought  he,  "  henceforth  I  need  go  no  longer 
barefoot  "  (go  nedger  boskowice).  Thenceforth  he  took  Bos- 
kowice,  or  Barefoot,  as  his  family  name. 

The  Crivelli  family  pretend  that  in  the  reign  of  Augustus 
an  ancestress  was  a  vestal  virgin  at  Rome.  She  was  accused 
of  having  broken  her  vows.  She  offered  to  prove  her  inno- 
cence by  carrying  water  from  the  Tiber  in  a  sieve.  She 
performed  this  feat.  Afterwards,  when  her  time  as  a  vestal 
had  expired,  she  married  and  founded  the  Crivelli  family, 
which  in  its  name  (Ital.,  crivallo,  a  sieve)  and  in  its  arms 
recalls  the  story  of  its  origin. 

The  following  story  may  possibly  be  true : 

In  the  disturbances  in  Bohemia  in  1212,  when  the  Chan- 
cellor Scornir  was  driven  out  of  the  country,  the  people 
raged  against  his  family,  burnt  his  castle,  and  massacred  his 
sons.  One  of  these  latter  alone  was  saved,  a  little  boy,  whom 
his  nurse  concealed  in  a  hole  that  is  still  shown  in  the 
chimney  of  the  castle  of  Chudenitz.  When  the  rioters  had 
departed  he  was  drawn  forth,  and  was  so  covered  with  soot 
that  he  was  passed  off  as  Czerny  (black),  because  it  was 
still  unsafe  for  it  to  be  known  that  he  was  a  Scornir.  As 

335 


NAME  STORIES 

this  latter  name  long   remained   hateful   in   the   land,  the 
descendants  of  this  lad  elected  to  call  themselves  Czerny. 

The  name  of  Fortescue  is  said  to  have  been  bestowed  on 
Sir  Richard  le  Fort,  one  of  those  who  attended  William  the 
Bastard  to  England.  In  the  Battle  of  Hastings  he  pro- 
tected his  chief  from  the  arrows  of  the  English  archers  by 
extending  his  shield  before  him,  whereupon  the  Conqueror 
said  :  "  Forte  scutum  salus  Ducum  "  (a  strong  shield  is  the 
safety  of  commanders),  and  the  family  has  preserved  this  as 
their  motto,  and  call  themselves  no  longer  Le  Fort,  but 
Fortescue. 

Not  one  of  those  who  record  the  history  of  the  battle 
mentions  such  an  incident.  Moreover,  in  Normandy  there 
were  two  noble  families,  quite  distinct — one  Le  Fort,  the 
other  Fortescue.  The  story  is  mere  fable. 

The  German  noble  family  of  Kalkreuth  had  its  origin  from 
this  :  A  nobleman  suspected  his  wife  of  being  too  fond  of  his 
page,  and  he  determined  to  have  him  put  out  of  the  way. 
So  he  went  to  his  limekilns,  and  bade  the  burner  throw  in 
the  first  of  his  lord's  servants  who  arrived  and  asked  whether 
he  had  done  his  duty.  Then  he  bade  the  page  go  with  this 
question  to  the  kilns.  Before  leaving,  the  Countess  required 
the  youth  to  enter  a  chapel  on  the  way  and  pray  for  her  son, 
who  was  ill  of  a  fever. 

The  Count  next  despatched  another  servant,  the  man  who 
had  maligned  the  page  to  his  master.  He  passed  the  chapel 
whilst  the  other  was  engaged  in  prayer. 

Presently  the  page  rose  from  his  knees,  went  to  the  kiln, 
and  asked  whether  his  master's  commands  had  been  obeyed. 
The  lime-burner  pointed  to  the  kiln  and  laughed.  "  He  is 
there,"  said  he.  On  his  return  the  Count  recognized  the 
hand  of  God  in  this.  The  page  was  knighted  and  assumed 
the  name  of  Limekiln,  or  Kalkreuth,  and  for  crest  a  kilner 
holding  a  lime-rake  in  his  hand. 

The  name  of  Lepell  is  not  unknown  in  England,  as  one  of 
a  family  that  came  over  with  George  I.  from  Hanover ;  and 
there  is  a  song  on  a  great  beauty  of  that  name,  which  was 
once  in  great  vogue  ;  she  married  Lord  Hervey  : 

336 


NAME  STORIES 

"  Had  I  Hanover,  Bremen,  and  Yarding, 
And  likewise  the  Duchy  of  Zell, 
I  would  part  with  them  all  for  a  farthing, 
To  win  my  sweet  Molly  Lepell. 
Were  I  but  the  King  of  Great  Britain, 
I'd  govern  the  Ministry  well  : 
To  support  the  great  throne  that  I  sit  in, 
I'd  have  none  but  my  Molly  Lepell." 

The  family  originated  in  Pomerania.  In  a  battle  the  nine 
brothers  perished.  Then,  at  the  request  of  the  Sovereign, 
the  Pope  released  the  sisters  from  their  vows  in  the  convent 
where  they  had  been  placed,  and  they  married  ;  but  in  com- 
memoration of  their  brothers  they  assumed  as  the  family 
crest  a  damsel  with  a  hat,  in  the  band  of  which  are  stuck 
nine  spoons  (Loffel,  or,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  Leppel). 

A  Slavonic  knight  went  to  serve  in  Spain  with  a  Moorish 
Prince.  One  day  the  Moorish  Princess  asked  him  to  play 
chess  with  her.  "  What  is  to  be  the  reward  of  the  winner  ?" 
he  asked. 

"  To  smash  the  board  on  the  head  of  the  defeated," 
said  she. 

The  Slavonic  knight  won,  and,  taking  the  board,  banged 
the  Princess  on  the  head  and  made  it  bleed,  so  that  she  was 
obliged  to  bind  it  up  with  a  kerchief. 

After  that  the  knight  thought  it  best  to  get  back  to  his 
native  land,  where  he  assumed  the  name  of  Bretwitz,  or  the 
witty  chessboard-player,  and  the  chessboard  as  his  arms, 
and  as  his  crest  the  Moorish  Princess  with  bound  head. 

Among  the  Anglo-Saxon  families  who  resisted  the  domina- 
tion of  William  was  that  of  Bulstrode.  The  head  of  the 
family  was  despoiled  of  his  estate  by  the  victorious  Norman, 
who  presented  it  to  one  of  his  own  followers,  and  furnished 
him  with  a  body  of  men  to  seize  it  by  force. 

The  Saxon  called  in  the  aid  of  some  neighbours  to 
defend  his  ancestral  acres,  and  entrenched  himself  within  an 
earthwork.  The  besieged  had  no  horses,  so  they  were  fain 
to  bestride  certain  bulls  which  they  had  brought  into  the 
enclosure,  and  thus  mounted  they  made  a  sally  and  routed 
the  Norman  assailants.  William,  on  hearing  of  this  exploit, 

337  Y 


NAME  STORIES 

invited  the  brave  Saxon  to  visit  him ;  so  the  chief  and  his 
seven  sons  once  more  bestrode  their  bulls  and  proceeded  to 
Court.  William  was  so  pleased  that  he  bade  them  remain 
in  undisturbed  possession  of  their  land,  and  ever  after  bear 
the  name  of  Buktrode. 

In  1192,  at  the  Battle  of  Ascalon,  a  young  knight  of  the 
House  of  Arundel,  clad  all  in  white,  fought  with  such  gallantry 
that  when  he  came  out  of  the  battle  his  maiden  armour  was 
bespattered  with  Saracen  blood.  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion 
granted  him  as  arms  a  lion  gules  in  a  field  argent,  between 
six  crosslets  of  the  first,  and  for  motto,  Tinctus  cmore 
Saraceno.  His  descendants  thence  assumed  the  surname  of 
Tynte  (tincti),  and  settled  in  Somerset. 

The  La  Scala  family  derive  both  name  and  arms  from  an 
achievement  in  scaling  a  tower ;  the  La  Saca  from  an 
ancestor  who  always  went  into  battle  with  a  sack  of  pro- 
visions over  his  shoulder.  "  I  cannot  fight,"  said  he,  "  unless 
I  eat.  Fighting  is  hungry  work." 

A  Bavarian  noble  family  is  that  of  Notschaft.  A  knight  of 
Wernberg  went  to  the  Crusades,  and  was  absent  twelve 
years.  When  he  returned  he  was  a  wayworn,  ragged,  and 
grey  pilgrim,  and  none  recognized  him  save  his  old  dog,  that 
wagged  its  tail  and  fawned  on  him.  In  commemoration  of 
this  he  assumed  the  dog's  head  as  his  crest,  and  because  of 
the  need  he  had  endured  he  took  the  name  of  Notschaft. 

The  German  family  of  Fleming  is  not  content  with  the 
reasonable  derivation  of  the  name  from  immigrants  from 
Flanders,  but  pretends  that  their  ancestors  were  Flaminii, 
who  went  to  Britain  when  the  Romans  held  the  isle,  and 
remained  there.  One  branch  passed  over  to  the  land  of  the 
Teutons,  but  other  of  the  Flaminii  hung  on  in  England,  and 
their  descendants  are  the  English  family  of  Flemings. 

The  name  of  Knott  is  common  enough  in  the  North  of 
England.  It  is  the  English  form  of  the  Danish  Knut  or 
Knud,  that  has  been  Latinized  into  Canute.  The  story 
concerns  a  King  of  Jutland.  Gorm  the  Bairnless  found  ale 
such  as  the  Northmen  drank  somewhat  heady,  and  he  had 
acquired  a  liking  for  the  light  wines  of  the  Rhine.  Accord- 

338 


NAME  STORIES 

ingly  he  sent  some  thralls  into  Holstein  to  purchase  for  him 
a  supply.  They  were  on  their  way  back  to  Jutland  with  a 
train  of  horses  laden  with  wine-kegs,  when  they  were  over- 
taken by  night  in  the  Forest  of  Mirkwood. 

Unable  to  proceed  farther,  they  camped  out  under  the 
trees,  lighted  a  fire,  and  cast  themselves  down  to  sleep,  after 
having  tethered  their  horses.  The  moon  shone  and  smote 
through  the  foliage,  forming  patches  of  silver  on  the  sward. 
The  owls  hooted  and  the  night-jars  cried,  but  what  disturbed 
the  men  most  was  the  incessant  wailing  of  a  child,  and  they 
found  that  under  the  circumstances  sleep  was  impossible. 
Next  morning  they  went  in  quest  of  the  babe.  The  under- 
growth was  dense,  and  they  had  to  hack  their  way  through 
thorns,  sloe-bushes,  and  brambles,  till  they  reached  the  spot 
whence  came  the  sobbing.  There  they  found  a  babe  wrapped 
in  fine  linen,  that  was  fastened  in  a  knot  over  the  breast,  and 
in  untying  this  out  fell  three  gold  rings.  Moreover,  the  child 
was  folded  about  with  a  silken  mantle. 

The  little  creature  stretched  out  its  arms,  and  its  cheeks 
were  beblubbered  with  tears.  When  one  of  the  men  took  it 
up,  and  the  babe  laid  hold  of  his  nose  and  sucked  vigorously, 
his  heart  became  so  soft  that  he  protested  the  infant  must 
not  be  left  to  perish.  So  the  thralls  took  the  child  with 
them,  and  conveyed  it  to  King  Gorm. 

To  him  they  excused  themselves  for  being  so  late  by  the 
fact  that  they  had  been  delayed  on  account  of  the  babe. 
They  had  been  obliged  to  feed  it  with  milk.  It  had  a 
ravenous  appetite,  and,  being  unprovided  with  the  natural 
apparatus  for  nourishing  an  infant,  they  had  been  constrained 
to  dip  their  fingers  in  milk,  and  feed  the  child  by  this  slow 
and  unsatisfactory  method. 

King  Gorm  took  the  child  on  his  lap,  liked  its  appearance, 
poured  water  over  it,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Knut,  or  "  the 
knot,"  because  of  the  knotted  linen  on  its  breast  that  had 
contained  the  gold  rings. 

The  fact  of  Gorm  taking  the  child  on  his  knee  constituted 
legal  adoption.  He  now  passed  over  the  little  foundling  to 
women  to  be  nursed,  better  adapted  in  every  way  to  this  end 

339  Y2 


NAME  STORIES 

than  rough  thralls,  or  even  than  a  King  upon  his  throne.  Gorm 
had  the  child  brought  to  him  every  day,  and  became  vastly 
attached  to  it.  "  One  may  be  sure,"  said  he,  "  that  he  comes 
of  a  good  family — he  is  so  beautiful,  and  has  in  his  face  a 
look  of  true  nobility.  Moreover,  the  rings  and  silk  found  on 
him  are  tokens  that  he  is  the  issue  of  no  common  folk." 

As  the  little  Knut  grew  up  he  became  more  handsome  and 
intelligent,  and  wormed  his  way  into  the  innermost  heart  of 
old  King  Gorm.  At  length  the  King  fell  sick,  so  he  called 
his  counsellors  about  him,  and  said  that,  as  he  was  childless, 
it  was  his  intention  to  set  over  Jutland  a  King  to  succeed 
him,  who  would  be  generally  acceptable  to  his  people ;  and 
as  to  the  Overking  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  so  long  as  the 
customary  tribute  was  paid,  he  cared  not  who  was  lord  in  the 
land.  Then  he  named  Knut  the  foundling.  The  people 
assented,  and  when  Gorm  died  Knut  was  accepted  without 
demur. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  King  Knut  was  to  summon  a  Thing, 
or  assembly,  of  the  people,  and  announce  his  intention  to 
reward  liberally  any  man  who  could  enlighten  him  as  to  who 
were  his  parents.  This  was  rumoured  far  and  wide. 

One  evening  two  Saxon  men  arrived  at  the  King's  hall, 
and  asked  to  be  presented  before  King  Knut,  as  they  had 
important  information  to  communicate.  When  introduced, 
they  said  :  "  Is  it  true,  sire,  that  you  have  promised  rewards 
to  those  who  shall  inform  you  whence  you  are  sprung  ?" 

The  King  replied  that  it  was  so. 

Then  said  they  :  "  Will  you  observe  your  promise  to  any, 
whether  they  be  thralls  or  freemen  ?" 

Knut  assured  them  that  their  condition  would  make  no 
difference. 

Then  the  spokesman  said  :  "  In  the  first  place,  King,  I 
must  inform  you  that  I  and  my  comrade  are  thralls  to  an 
Earl  in  Saxon  land;  and,  in  the  next  place,  that  we  are  in  a 
position  to  afford  you  all  the  information  you  desire  to  obtain." 

Then  he  told  a  tale  :  Knut  was  the  son  of  Earl  Arngrim 
of  Holstein,  but  a  scandal  was  attached  to  his  birth,  and  to 
conceal  this  the  Earl  had  bidden  his  two  most  trusted  thralls 

34o 


NAME  STORIES 

to  carry  the  child  away ;  but  before  parting  with  it  he  had 
wrapped  it  in  silk  and  fine  linen,  and  three  gold  rings  were 
knotted  in  the  wrap  upon  its  breast.  They  had  taken  the 
infant  to  Mirkwood,  and  had  deposited  it  there,  hoping  that 
some  good  folk  might  find  and  foster  it.  Then  they  described 
the  rings  and  the  place  where  they  had  laid  the  infant.  On 
investigation  it  was  found  that  this  account  tallied  with  that 
told  by  the  thralls  who  had  rescued  Knut. 

Then  the  King  gave  the  men  money  wherewith  to  purchase 
their  freedom,  and  bade  them  return  to  him.  A  few  weeks 
later  they  reappeared,  and  the  King  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
He  conferred  on  them  dignities,  and  they  speedily  became 
rich  men. 

It  was  by  this  means  that  the  name  of  Knut  came  into  the 
Danish  Royal  Family ;  and  as  Knut  the  Great  became  King 
of  England,  the  name  of  Knott  entered  the  island  with  him , 
and  is  with  us  even  unto  this  day,  indicating  an  unmistakable 
Danish  origin. 

There  was  a  noble  family  in  France — the  De  Levis — who 
pretended  that  they  were  of  the  family  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
descended  from  the  elder  branch,  and  of  the  tribe  of  Levi. 
They  produced  a  pedigree  to  establish  the  descent,  complete 
in  every  stage.  That  Our  Lady  did  not  pertain  to  the  tribe 
of  Levi  was  a  small  matter.  An  old  painting  still  extant 
in  the  Chateau  of  Mirepois  represents  the  ancestor  of  the 
family,  the  kinsman  of  St.  Mary,  taking  off  his  hat  to  the 
Queen  of  Heaven  as  she  sits  enthroned  in  the  clouds. 
"  Couvrez  vous,  mon  cousin,"  says  she.  "  C'est  pour  ma 
commodity,  ma  cousine,"  replies  the  De  Levis,  desirous  to 
be  courteous,  but  careful  not  to  compromise  his  dignity.  As 
a  matter  of  sober  fact,  the  De  Levis  do  not  draw  their  name 
from  any  Jewish  Levi,  but  from  a  Chateau  de  Levis,  near 
Chevreusse. 

The  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name  I' Estrange  is  this : 
William  Peverel  advertised  through  many  lands  a  tourna- 
ment to  be  held  at  his  castle  in  the  Peak,  whereat  he  who 
acquitted  himself  best  should  have  to  wife  his  youngest 
niece,  Meletta,  and  with  her  the  lordship  of  Whittingdon  in 

34i 


NAME  STORIES 

Shropshire.  To  this  tournament  came  Gharin  of  Louvain 
and  the  ten  sons  of  John,  Duke  of  Brittany.  The  knight  of 
Louvain  won  his  bride ;  but  one  the  sons  of  the  Duke  John, 
Guy  by  name,  who  called  himself  "  the  Stranger,"  remained 
in  England,  and  obtained  many  lordships  by  his  sword ; 
and  of  his  issue  are  the  1' Estranges.  The  story  is  utterly 
fabulous.  There  never  was  a  Duke  John  of  Brittany.  They 
actually  derive  from  a  FitzAlan  early  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 

A  story,  not  older  than  the  seventeenth  century,  accounts 
for  the  origin  of  the  name  Fraser  as  follows :  A  certain 
Jules  de  Berri  presented  a  dish  of  strawberries  to  Charles 
the  Simple,  King  of  France,  who  thereupon  bade  him  change 
his  name  from  Berry  to  Strawberry — i.e.,  Praises — and  to 
assume  strawberry  flowers  on  his  arms.  As  it  happens,  the 
Erasers  derive  from  the  family  of  Fresel  in  Normandy,  and 
Simon  Fresel  settled  in  Scotland  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  going  thither  out  of  England. 

Norton  Malreward  is  in  Somersetshire.  It  was,  as  its 
name  implies,  the  seat  of  the  family  of  Mauregard  (Evil 
Eye).  But  the  real  significance  of  the  name  did  not  please 
them,  and  a  story  was  devised  to  give  it  a  different  significa- 
tion. Sir  John  Hauteville  was  a  great  favourite  of  King 
Edward  I.  He  was  a  man  of  prodigious  strength.  The 
King  having  one  day  expressed  a  desire  to  see  the  full  extent 
of  his  power,  the  knight  undertook  to  carry  three  of  his 
lustiest  men-at-arms  to  the  top  of  Norton  Church  tower. 
This  he  effected  by  taking  one  under  each  arm,  and  the  third 
he  sustained  by  his  teeth.  Those  under  his  arms  kicked  and 
resisted,  whereupon  Sir  John  squeezed  the  breath  out  of 
their  bodies,  but  the  third  was  conveyed  safely  to  the  top. 

For  this  feat  of  strength  the  King  gave  Sir  John  all  the 
estate  lying  in  the  parish  of  Norton,  observing  at  the  same 
time  that  it  was  a  mat-reward  for  so  great  an  achievement. 
Thenceforth  the  knight  changed  his  name  from  Hauteville 
to  Malreward.  The  trifling  circumstance  that  two  of  his 
stoutest  men-at-arms  had  been  squeezed  to  death  in  the 
process  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  mind  of  King 
Edward  as  a  matter  of  moment. 

342 


NAME  STORIES 

Once  upon  a  time  a  German  Emperor  of  the  House  of 
Austria  proclaimed  a  tilting  at  the  ring,  and  whoever  proved 
most  successful  was  to  be  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  his 
daughter.  A  knight  without  heraldic  cognizance  proved  the 
victor.  He  carried  off  six  rings.  When  he  came  to  demand 
his  reward,  it  was  found  that  he  was  the  imperial  keeper  of 
the  falcons,  MusegrafF.  So  he  was  ennobled  and  given  the 
Princess,  and  for  arms  six  golden  annulets.  He  came  to 
England  and  founded  the  family  of  the  Musgroves.  Un- 
happily for  the  story,  the  Musgroves  derive  from  Muse  Gros, 
near  Ecouen,  and  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and  the 
annulets  refer  to  the  arms  of  the  De  Viponts,  Barons  and 
hereditary  Sheriffs  of  Westmorland,  under  whom  they  held 
lands. 

The  Skenes  are  said  to  derive  their  name  from  the  follow- 
ing incident :  The  first  of  the  clan  was  a  Robertson  of 
Struan,  who  killed  a  gigantic  wolf,  that  threatened  the  life 
of  Malcolm  III.  in  the  royal  forest  of  Stocket,  with  his  skene 
(dagger).  Hence  the  family  arms  are :  Gules,  three  dirks  or 
skenes,  supported  by  three  wolves'  heads.  The  motto  is, 
Virtutis  regia  merces. 

The  story  of  the  Dalzieh  is  this  :  A  friend  of  one  of  the 
Scottish  Kings  was  caught  in  a  border  raid  and  promptly 
hanged  by  his  captors.  The  King  was  sore  distressed,  and 
exclaimed :  "  Who  will  dare  to  recover  for  me  my  friend's 
body,  that  it  may  be  given  Christian  burial  ?"  Whereupon 
one  of  his  guard  exclaimed:  "I  dare!"  He  crossed  the 
border,  and  cut  down  the  body  from  the  gallows,  flung  it 
across  the  pommel  of  his  saddle,  and  brought  it  to  Scotland. 
Hence  the  motto  of  the  Dalziels  is  "I  dare!"  and  their 
coat  of  arms  a  naked  corpse  suspended  from  a  gallows-tree. 
Of  late  years,  however,  the  gibbet  has  been  discarded.  Ac- 
cording to  the  common  version  of  the  story,  Dalziel  signifies 
in  Gaelic  "I  dare!"  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  does  nothing 
of  the  sort ;  it  means  "  the  yellow  field."  Dal  signify  "  a 
part"  originally,  then  "  a  field."  Dalhousie  is  Dalchoisne,  the 
corner  field,  and  Dalmahoi  the  field  of  the  north. 

The  story  of  the  origin  of  the  name  Forbes  is  that  an 

343 


NAME  STORIES 

ancestor  slew  a  mighty  bear  that  was  a  terror  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  so  he  was  nicknamed  For-beast,  as  he  "  went 
for  "  the  Bruin. 

The  Guthries  were  so  called  from  gutting  three  haddocks 
for  King  David  II.,  his  entertainment  when  he  landed 
hungry  on  the  Brae  of  Bervie  after  his  French  voyage. 
Whereupon  the  King  said  : 

"Gut  three 
Thy  name  shall  be  !" 


344 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   EVOLUTION   AND   DISINTEGRATION    OF   SURNAMES 

I  SHALL  have  in  this  chapter  to  go  over  some  ground  already 
trodden  to  pick  up  threads  and  sum  up  what  has  been  dis- 
cussed. When  Hop-o'-my-Thumb  went  forth  he  strewed 
behind  him  white  pebbles,  and  as  he  came  home  in  the 
evening  he  picked  them  up  again,  and  by  them  returned  to 
the  point  whence  he  had  started. 

If  we  look  over  the  mapped-out  period  of  history  to  that 
beyond  enveloped  in  blue  haze,  and  without  a  hedge  and  a 
cultivated  patch,  and  consider  the  Aryan  stock  before  it 
broke  away  from  its  Asiatic  primeval  seat  and  moved  west, 
dividing  as  it  sped  into  diverse  streams,  we  note  that 
one  system  of  nomenclature  prevailed  before  the  migration 
began,  for  that  same  system  is  found  to  exist  in  all  the 
branches  of  this  remarkable  people. 

The  system  was  this :  The  name  given  to  a  person  was 
formed  out  of  two  words — perhaps  two  nouns  substantive 
glued  together,  perhaps  a  noun  substantive  with  a  qualifying 
adjective.  Thus,  in  Greek  we  have  Stratonikos  (Lord 
Victor) ;  in  Welsh,  Cadwaladr  (Lord  in  Battle),  Aelhaiarn 
(Iron  Brow);  in  Norse,  Arinbjorn  (Eagle-Bear);  in  German, 
Friedrich  (King  Peace) ;  in  Old  Gallic,  Devagnata  (Daughter 
of  God) ;  in  Serb,  Bratogub  (Brother  Dear) ;  in  Sanskrit, 
Devadathas  (Gift  of  God) ;  in  Anglo-Saxon,  Eadward 
(Defender  of  his  Possessions). 

But  the  length  of  some  of  these  names  led  to  their  being 
curtailed,  at  least  in  common  use ;  in  most  cases  this  was 
done  by  retaining  one  member  only  of  the  original  name,  as 

345 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

Zeuxis,  the  famous  painter,  from  Zeuxippos  (the  Horse  of 
Zeus).  So  in  Teutonic  nomenclature,  names  were  clipped 
for  convenience.  Ulf  was  used  for  Arnulf;  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  Edi  for  Eadward ;  and  in  Welsh,  Cattwg  for 
Cathmail.  Another  method  for  avoiding  the  entire  mouth- 
filling  name  was  to  take  one  member  and  tack  on  to  it  a 
diminutive,  as  Wulfila  (the  Little  Wolf)  for  Wulfhild.  The 
other  portion  of  the  name,  having  fallen  away,  had  been 
forgotten.  The  Irish  Moaedan  become  Madoc.  At  the  pre- 
sent day,  in  Germany,  Margaretta  is  contracted  into  Gretli 
or  Gretchen,  and  with  us  into  Maggy.  The  principle  of  a 
component  name  did  not  last  after  a  people  had  become  to 
some  extent  civilized ;  it  was  a  stage  at  the  beginning  of  the 
history  of  nomenclature. 

A  common  but  not  an  invariable  rule  among  the 
Greeks,  Germans,  and  Scandinavians,  was  to  give  to  a  child 
one  of  the  parts  of  the  father's  name,  coupling  with  it  some 
other  expletive,  so  as  to  make  it  resemble,  and  yet  be 
different.  Dinokrates  was  the  son  of  Dinokles  ;  Andronikos, 
the  son  of  Nikokles.  In  German,  Waldbert  and  Wolfbert 
were  the  sons  of  Humbert ;  Winegaud  was  the  son  of 
Winaburgis.  In  Norse,  Arnmod  was  the  son  of  Arnvid ; 
Vigfus  was  the  son  of  Viga-Glum,  in  this  latter  case  the  son 
taking  the  nickname  of  his  father  into  composition.  This 
breaking  up  of  the  paternal  name,  and  the  coupling  it 
with  some  other  word,  often  led  to  the  new  compound 
having  an  incongruous  meaning,  as  Wolf  dag  (Wolf  day)  and 
Fridigund  (Peace- War). 

Early  Greek  names  expressed  some  quality  held  in  high 
estimation,  or  bore  some  reference  to  a  god  whose  protection 
was  solicited,  as  Callimachus  (Exultant  Fighter),  Apollodorus 
(Gift  of  Apollo). 

The  Romans  in  prehistoric  times  followed  the  Indo- 
Germanic  principle  of  nomenclature.  Originally  every  man 
had  his  personal  distinctive  name,  and  no  other ;  but 
already  in  the  time  of  the  Republic  each  man  was  pro- 
vided with  three.  The  nomen  was  that  of  the  gens,  or  clan,  to 
which  he  belonged,  and  which  almost  invariably  ended  in 

346 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

ius,  as  Publius,  Fabricius.  The  prcenomen  went  before  this, 
and  indicated  the  family  in  the  tribe  to  which  the  individual 
belonged.  Lastly  came  his  own  individual  name.  Thus  we 
have  Caius  (prcenomen)  Julius  (nomen)  Caesar  (cognomen),  or 
Marcus  Tullius  Cicero. 

Roman  names  were  less  ambitious  and  far  less  poetical 
than  those  of  the  Greeks.  Agricola  (a  husbandman),  Fabius 
(a  bean),  Lentullus  (the  slow),  Cicero  (a  vetch),  Porcius  (a 
pig-breeder),  Assinius  (asinine).  From  appearance  they 
were  named  Niger,  Rufus,  Flavius,  Livius,  Longus,  Paullus, 
Crassus,  Macer,  Calvus,  Naso,  Paetus,  Balbus,  Claudius,  and 
Plautus  (flat-footed).  Parents,  in  the  barrenness  of  their 
imaginations,  descended  to  numerals,  and  a  father  labelled 
his  sons  as  No.  2,  No.  3,  etc. :  Secundus,  Tertius,  Quartus, 
Quintus,  and  Sextus.  Roman  nomenclature  exhibits  the 
utmost  poverty  of  invention  when  compared  with  that  of  the 
Germans  and  Scandinavians.  An  additional  name,  agnomen, 
was  sometimes  tacked  on  in  commemoration  of  an  heroic 
achievement  or  of  some  military  expedition,  as  Coriolanus, 
Germanicus,  Africanus. 

Among  the  Angles,  Saxons,  Teutons  of  Germany,  and 
Scandinavians,  an  almost  unlimited  variety  of  personal 
names  existed.  These  could  be  formed  with  facility  by 
combinations,  in  which  the  designations  of  gods,  beasts,  and 
birds,  even  of  inanimate  objects,  could  be  made  use  of,  with 
expletives  added. 

The  deities  from  whom  they  drew  their  origin,  who 
reigned  in  Valhalla,  who  ruled  the  course  of  events,  were 
the  ^Esir,  the  singular  of  which  is  As.  Hence  came  such 
names  as  Asbjorn,  Osborn  (the  Divine  Bear) ;  Asmund, 
Osmund  (the  Hand  of  the  God)  ;  Aswald,  Oswald  (the  Power 
of  the  As) ;  Oswin  (the  Friend  of  the  Ancestral  Deity). 

Or,  again,  a  special  deity  was  honoured,  as  Thorr,  the 
Thunderer ;  Thorfrid  is  the  Peace  of  Thor  ;  Thorbjorn,  the 
Bear  of  Thor.  An  Archbishop  of  York  who  died  in  1140 
was  Thurstan — the  Sacrifical  Stone  of  Thor,  across  which 
the  spine  of  the  victim  was  snapped. 

In  the  temples  and  at  religious  feasts  a  caldron  was 

347 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

employed,  filled  with  blood,  that  was  splashed  over  the 
image,  and  which  was  used  as  well  for  boiling  the  horseflesh 
for  the  sacrificial  feast.  This  was  the  kettil,  and  hence  we 
have  Thorketill  and  Osketill.1 

Frey  was  another  god.  Freymund  was  the  Hand  of  God, 
and  Freystan — still  among  us  as  a  surname,  Freestone — the 
Stone  of  Frey. 

Gud  was  a  name  employed  before  Christianity  was  finally 
accepted,  as  a  name  of  God,  without  any  very  fixed  idea 
being  attached  to  it ;  but  when  the  English  were  converted  it 
entered  into  numerous  combinations,  as  Guthfrid  (the  Peace 
of  God),  Guthric  (the  Power  of  God),  Godwin  (the  Friend  of 
God). 

Arn,  the  Eagle  into  which,  according  to  myth,  Wuotan 
had  transformed  himself,  gave  names,  as  Arnor  (the  Eagle 
Arrow),  Arnvid  (the  Eagle  Wood),  Arnkill  (the  sacrifical 
kettle  of  Odin  the  Eagle).  The  Finns,  from  whom  tribute 
was  taken  by  the  Norwegian  Kings,  were  regarded  with  not 
a  little  awe  as  necromancers,  but  marriages  were  entered 
into  with  them,  and  the  name  of  Finn  penetrated  into  the 

1  The  following  passage  from  the  Saga  of  King  Hakon  the  God  is  of 
interest :  "  It  was  an  old  custom  that,  when  there  was  to  be  a  sacrifice,  all 
the  bonders  should  come  to  the  spot  where  the  temple  stood,  and  bring  with 
them  all  that  they  required  while  the  festival  of  the  sacrifice  lasted.  To  this 
festival  all  the  men  brought  ale ;  and  all  kinds  of  cattle,  as  well  as  horses, 
were  slaughtered,  and  all  the  blood  that  came  from  them  was  called 
tout,  and  the  vessels  in  which  it  was  collected  were  called  laut- vessels. 
Laut-branches  were  cut,  like  sprinkling-brushes,  with  which  the  whole  of 
the  altars  and  the  temple  walls,  both  outside  and  inside,  were  splashed 
over,  and  also  the  people  were  sprinkled  with  the  blood ;  but  the  flesh 
was  boiled  into  savoury  meat  for  those  present.  The  fire  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  floor  of  the  temple,  and  over  it  hung  the  kettles,  and  the  full 
goblets  were  handed  across  the  fire  ;  and  he  who  made  the  feast,  and 
was  a  chief,  blessed  the  full  goblets  and  all  the  meat  of  the  sacrifice. 
And  first  Odin's  goblet  was  emptied  for  victory  and  power  to  the  King  ;; 
thereafter  Niord's  and  Frey's  goblets,  for  peace  and  for  a  good  season. 
Then  it  was  the  custom  of  many  to  empty  the  Braga-goblet  ;  and  then 
the  guests  emptied  a  goblet  to  the  memory  of  departed  friends,  called 
the  remembrance-bowl"  (Heiniskrtngla,  saga  iv.,  c.  16).  Customs  die 
hard.  This  was  the  origin  of  drinking  healths. 

348 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

nomenclature  of  the  offspring,  as  Finnlog,  Thorfin ;  or  the 
name  Halfdan  was  employed,  indicative  of  mixed  blood. 

Qualities  also  entered  into  the  composition  of  names, 
as  Ethelburg  (the  noble  stronghold),  Ethelred  (the  noble 
counsellor),  Eadward  (the  defender  of  his  property).  The 
list  might  be  greatly  extended,  but  this  must  suffice. 

Among  the  Christian  Anglo-Saxons  and  Scandinavians, 
no  scruple  whatever  was  felt  in  the  employment  of  names 
redolent  of  paganism,  any  more  than  there  was  hesitation  in 
retaining  the  pagan  designations  of  the  days  of  the  week. 
And  as  such  a  wide  field  existed  for  the  formation  of  personal 
names,  the  necessity  for  surnames  was  not  immediately  felt. 
Individuals  might  have,  and  did  have,  nicknames  applied  to 
them,  but  these  were  ephemeral. 

But  with  the  advent  of  the  Normans  the  conditions 
changed.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  invasion  of 
England  by  William  the  Conqueror  was  a  crusade  carried 
out  in  the  name  of  religion  against  a  people  whom  Rome 
regarded  as  faulty  in  the  faith.  As  Freeman  says :  "  Eng- 
land's crime  in  the  eyes  of  Rome — the  crime  to  punish  which 
the  crusade  of  William  was  approved  and  blessed — was  the 
independence  still  retained  by  the  island  Church  and  nation. 
.  .  .  Rome  was  watchful,  ever  mindful,  had  not  forgotten 
the  note  of  insular  defiance,  when  the  heart  of  England 
spoke  by  the  mouth  of  Tostig,  and  threatened  the  Pontiff  on 
his  throne."  A  Bull  was  published  by  Alexander  II.  author- 
izing the  invasion  of  England.  "The  cause  of  the 
invasion  was  blessed,  and  precious  gifts  were  sent  as  visible 
exponents  of  the  blessing — among  others  a  consecrated 
banner  to  hallow  the  cause  of  fraud  and  usurpation — and  a 
crusade  preached  against  England."  l 

Thenceforth  the  Church  was  Latinized,  and  all  that  spoke 

of  independence  was  hushed,  all  that  recalled  the  past  of 

England  was  frowned  down  as  tainted  with  heresy.     Even 

the  names  of  children  suffered.     The  clergy  pointed  out  the 

duty,  the  necessity,  of  every  Christian  being  given  a  patron 

in  heaven,  and  such  a  patron  could  be  acquired  by  his  being 

1  "  Norman  Conquest,"  ii.  458. 

349 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

furnished  with  the  name  of  a  saint  in  the  calendar.  One 
concession  was  made :  the  application  to  an  English  child  of 
the  name  of  a  Norman  master.  He  must  have  a  patron  some- 
where, either  in  heaven  or  in  the  hall.  In  a  canon  attributed, 
but  falsely,  to  the  Council  of  Nicaea,  but  at  all  events  very 
ancient — for  it  is  mentioned  by  Theodoret  and  alluded  to  by 
St.  John  Chrysostom — parents  were  forbidden  to  give  to  their 
children  the  names  of  their  forefathers,  and  were  required  to 
call  them  after  saints.  The  Roman  Rituale  orders :  "  Let 
the  parish  priest  take  care  that  to  a  child  shall  be  given  no 
name  that  is  obscene,  fabulous,  or  ridiculous;  nor  one 
smacking  of  the  vanity  of  the  gods  or  the  impieties  of  the 
heathen  ;  but  rather,  as  far  as  can  be  enforced,  the  names  of 
saints  by  whose  example  they  may  be  stirred  to  live,  and 
that  they  may  obtain  their  patronage." 

Each  diocese  had  its  own  calendar,  and  such  were  scantily 
provided  with  names.  It  was  not  then,  as  now,  that  the 
Roman  Calendar  and  Martyrology  were  universally  accepted, 
stuffed  as  they  are  with  names,  two,  three,  a  dozen,  for  each 
day  in  the  year.  The  old  English  calendars  were  not  more 
richly  provided  than  is  that  of  the  Anglican  Church  of  the 
present  day.  In  the  Sherborne  Calendar  are  but  nine  names 
in  February,  and  seven  in  March.  Consequently  parents, 
when  naming  their  children,  had  a  limited  range,  and  Johns 
and  Peters,  Philips  and  Thomases,  became  thick  as  black- 
berries, dense  in  a  parish  as  sparrows  in  a  bush.  For  the 
simple  life  of  the  early  centuries,  so  long  as  life  was  limited 
within  a  narrow  compass,  one  name  sufficed  a  person. 
Population  was  stationary,  and  to  a  large  extent  rooted  to 
the  soil.  The  serf,  the  villein,  could  not  leave  it ;  he  was 
adscriptus  glebce.  But  so  also  was  the  Lord  of  the  Manor,  for 
thence  he  drew  all  his  revenue.  Everyone  knew  his  neigh- 
bour, held  his  nose  over  his  neighbour's  chimney-top  and 
knew  when  he  fried  a  rasher,  and  who  sat  round  the  table 
to  eat  it.  There  was  little  migration  from  one  district  to 
another ;  the  only  strangers  who  penetrated  to  it  were  the 
wandering  pedlars  and  gleemen.  Trade  was  insignificant,  as 
most  people  had  small  requirements,  and  such  as  they  had 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

they  were  able  to  supply  themselves  with  at  home.  They 
grew  their  own  kail  and  corn,  wove  their  own  cloth,  and 
made  their  own  pots.  A  second  name  was  as  little  required 
in  a  village  among  peasants  as  in  a  palace  among  Princes. 
But  conditions  altered,  though  not  rapidly.  The  population 
became  dense,  and  at  the  same  time  acquired  fluidity.  The 
Crusades  and  the  French  wars  created  a  different  condition 
of  affairs.  Properties  changed  hands. 

"  Oh,  many 

Have  broke  their  backs  with  laying  manors  on  them 
For  this  great  journey." 

Merchants,  lawyers,  Churchmen,  bought  the  lands  the  knights 
sold  to  furnish  themselves  for  war.  Trade  and  commerce 
increased,  and  contracts  had  to  be  drawn  and  registers  to  be 
kept.  The  single  name  no  longer  sufficed.  This  was  espe- 
cially the  case  in  towns,  the  centres  of  life  and  activity. 
There  the  necessity  for  some  more  particularizing  of  the 
persons  dealt  with  in  commercial  transactions  became 
imperious.  Among  the  minstrales  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne  in  1141,  consisting  of  fifty-nine  individuals,  there 
were  twelve  Hermans.  How  could  the  Elector  summon  one 
to  his  presence  without  giving  him  some  particular  epithet 
to  distinguish  him  from  the  other  eleven  ? 

In  England,  even  if  in  a  village,  a  parent  gave  to  his  son 
a  Norman  in  place  of  a  saintly  name ;  the  number  of  such 
names  at  his  choice  cannot  have  been  great.  He  was 
acquainted  with  only  such  foreign  Christian  names  as  were 
to  be  found  among  his  lord's  children  and  servants.  Thus, 
as  said  above,  a  parish  swarmed  with  men  of  the  same  name, 
and  the  action  of  the  Church  in  treading  out  the  old  English 
nomenclature,  and  forcing  Scriptural  and  foreign  names  on 
the  people,  tended  largely  to  the  adoption  of  surnames. 

In  "The  Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey  " l  we  have  a  list  of  the 
tenants  of  the  Abbey  whilst  it  was  building,  and  this  list  is 
very  instructive,  for  it  shows  us  a  great  number  of  Saxon 
names,  but  also  along  with  them  Norman  names,  not  of 

1  Lower,  M.  A.,  "  The  Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey,"  London,  1851. 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 


knights  and  nobles,  but  of  plain  common  tradesmen,  and 
among  these  latter  is  a  Russell. 

"  The  Leuga  being  brought  into  the  possession  of  the 
abbey,  and  the  building  of  the  abbey  meanwhile  going 
forward,  a  goodly  number  of  men  were  brought  hither  out 
of  the  neighbouring  counties,  and  some  even  from  foreign 
countries.  And  to  each  of  these  the  brethren  who  managed 
the  building  allotted  a  dwelling-place  of  certain  dimensions 
around  the  circuit  of  the  abbey,  and  these  still  remain  as 
they  were  then  first  apportioned  with  their  customary  rent 
or  service." 

The  order  of  the  messuages  is  as  follows  (I  do  not  give 
particulars  in  full) : 


1.  Brihtwin,  who  had  been  20. 

Bedell.  21. 

2.  Reinbald  de  Beche  (Bee  22. 

in  Normandy)  to  pay  23. 

yd.   per   annum,    and  24, 

find  a  man  for  one  day  26. 

only,  to  make  hay  in  27. 

the  meadows  of  Bode-  28. 

ham.  29. 

3.  Wulmer,    also    yd.    and  30. 

like  obligation.  31. 

4.  Malgar  the  Smith.  32, 

5.  ^Ifric  Dot.  34. 

6.  William  the  Shoemaker. 

7.  Edward    Gotcild    (God-  35. 

child). 

8.  Ralph  Ducg.  36. 

9.  Gilbert  the  Weaver.  37. 
10.  Dering  Pionius.  38. 
n.  Legard. 

12.  Elf  win  Trewa.  39. 

13.  Godieve.  40. 

14.  Godwin,  son  of  Colsuein.  41. 

15.  Godwin  the  Cook.  42. 

16.  Edward  the  Scourer.  43. 

17.  Robert  the  Miller.  44, 

18.  Robert  de  Havena.  46. 

19.  Selaf  the  Herdsman.  47. 

352 


Wulric  the  Goldsmith. 
William  Pinel. 
Lambert  the  Shoemaker. 
Orderic  the  Swineherd. 
25.  Sevugel  Cochec. 
Blackeni  the  Cowherd. 
William  Grei  (Grey). 
Robert,  the  son  of  Siflet. 
Seward  Gris  (the  Pig). 
^Elfric  the  Steward. 
Wulfin  Hert  (Hart). 
33.  Lefwi  Nuc. 
Gilbert    the    Stranger 

(P  Estrange). 
^Elfric    de  Dengemareis 

(Dengemarsh). 
Bennet  the  Sewer. 
Maurice. 
Mdric,     who     cast     the 

bells. 
Gunnild. 

Burnulf  the  Carpenter. 
JElfric  Cild  (Child). 
^Eilnod  the  Shoemaker. 
Francefant. 

45.  Mldwin  the  Cook. 
Emma. 
^Elstrild  Nonna(the  Nun). 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 


48.  Peter  the  Baker. 

49,  50.  Sewin. 

51.  Robert  de  Cirisi. 

52.  Mathelgar  Ruff. 

53.  Si  ward  Stigerop(  Stirrup). 

54.  Goldwin. 

55.  Edwin  the  Smith. 

56.  57.  Sevugel  (Sea-fowl). 

58.  Gotseln  (Joscelyn). 

59.  Russell. 

60.  Lambert. 

61.  Ailric  the  Baker. 

62.  ^Eilnod,    the    son    of 

Fareman. 

63.  Gilbert  the  Clerk. 

64.  Lefwin  the  Baker. 

65.  Herod. 

66.  Orgar. 

67.  Chebel  (Keble). 

68.  Bering. 

69.  Leffelm. 

70.  Benwold  Gest  (Guest) 

71.  Wulfric  the  Swineherd. 

72.  Emma. 

73.  Slote. 

74.  Gosfrid  the  Cook. 

75.  Godfrey. 

76.  Lefwin  Hunger. 

77.  Edwin  Knight 

78.  Goldstan. 

79.  Wulbald  Winnoc. 

80.  Brembel. 

81.  Robert  Barate  (Barret). 

82.  Lefflet  Lounge  (Long). 

83.  EdildaTipa. 

84.  85.  Golding. 

86.  ^Elfric  Curlebasse. 

87.  Wulfwin  Scot. 

The  list  is  very  instructive,  and  deserves  to  be  analyzed. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  when  the  Conqueror  came 
over,  his  knights  and  nobles  brought  with  them  their 

353  z 


88.  Hugh  the  Secretary. 

89.  Humfrey  the  Priest. 

90.  Pagan  Peche. 

91.  Durand. 

92.  Juliot  Wolf. 

93.  ^Elfwin  Abbat. 

94.  Siward  Crull. 

95.  Sevugel  Cannarius  (the 

Dog-trainer). 

96.  Brictric  the  Gardener. 

97.  ^Elwin  the  Secretary. 

98.  Cheneward    (the     Dog- 

keeper)  . 

99.  Baldwin  the  Shoemaker. 

100.  Osbert  Pechet. 

101.  Cochard. 

102.  ^Elfwin  Hachet. 

103.  ^Eilnoth  Heca. 

104.  Blacheman  of  Bodeher- 

stegate. 

105.  Reinbald  Genester. 

106.  ^IfricCorveiser  (the 

man    employed     in 
forced   labour). 

107.  Brictric    Barke    (for 

Barker). 

108.  ^Elfwin  Turpin. 

109.  Roger    Braceur   (for 

Brassourthe  Brewer), 
no.  Walter  Ruff  (le  Roux— 

the  Red), 
in.  Humfrey  Genester. 

112.  Godwin  Gisard  (perhaps 

the  Lie-a-bed). 

113.  Siward  Crull. 

114.  Brunreve. 

115.  Wulfwin  the  Carpenter. 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

contingents  of  men-at-arms,  and  that  these  men  could  not 
be  dispensed  with  and  sent  back  to  their  homes  in  Normandy 
and  Brittany  and  Flanders.  They  were  needed  to  control 
the  restless  English.  They  were  employed  to  conquer 
Wales  and  to  devastate  Northumbria.  They  were  retained 
as  garrisons  in  all  the  fortresses  dotted  over  the  land.  Not 
one  of  these  men  brought  with  him  a  hereditary  surname. 
Their  masters  were  only  beginning  to  learn  the  advantage  of 
having  a  family  to-name.  But  William  had  to  do  more  than 
lodge  fighting  men  throughout  the  land.  He  had  to  bring 
over  masons  and  builders  to  erect  castles  and  churches,  for 
the  English  knew  nothing  of  building  fortresses  of  stone,  and 
their  efforts  at  church-building  were  rudimentary. 

That  the  nobles  and  knights  should  bring  as  well  their 
stewards,  butlers,  and  porters  and  huntsmen,  we  can  well 
understand.  But  we  were  not  prepared  to  learn,  as  we  do 
from  the  above  list,  that  various  petty  tradesmen  also  came 
over  and  settled  in  England.  Out  of  the  four  shoemakers 
enumerated,  one  alone  was  English.  There  were  three 
cooks,  but  one  of  these  was  Norman.  The  baker,  the 
brewer,  the  smith,  the  weaver,  the  miller,  were  all  Norman- 
French. 

Out  of  115  householders  in  Battle,  there  were  39  Normans. 
But  that  is  not  all.  Some  of  these  men,  working  at  the 
building  of  this  abbey  or  supplying  the  needs  of  the  workers, 
bear  the  names  of  their  noble  and  knightly  masters  with 
whom  they  had  come  over,  as  William  Pinel,  Paganus  Peche, 
Osbert  Pechet,  Gilbert  1'Estrange,  Madelgar  Ruff  (le  Roux), 
Russell,  Robert  Barret,  Walter  Ruff.  And,  what  is  still  more 
curious,  Siward  twice  occurs  with  the  to-name  of  Crull — i.e., 
Criol,  a  famous  name  among  the  nobles  of  William's  retinue. 
Yet  Siward  is  a  Danish  name,  and  he  seems  to  have  accom- 
modated himself  with  a  French  surname,  so  as  to  identify 
himself  with  the  winning  party. 

Some  of  the  foreign  settlers  at  Battle  were  known  after 
the  place  whence  they  came,  as  Robert  de  Havena,  Robert 
de  Cerise  ;  but  one  of  the  oddest  assumptions  is  that  of 
Ralph,  who  called  himself  Ducq,  or  the  Duke,  perhaps 

354 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

because  he  came  over  in  the  immediate  retinue  of  William 
the  Bastard.  Some  designate  themselves,  or  are  designated, 
as  "  son  of  " ;  but  of  these  there  are  three  only,  as  Battle  was 
a  newly-constructed  village,  and,  of  the  settlers  in  it,  few 
knew  the  parentage  of  their  fellow-settlers. 

One  thing  this  list  teaches  us — that  we  are  not  to  suppose 
that  all  the  bearers  in  this  day  of  Norman  names  were  blood 
descendants  of  the  Barons  who  first  assumed  them ;  they 
may  be  the  issue  of  their  humble  retainers  who  adopted  their 
masters'  names. 

So  as  not  to  be  tedious,  I  will  refer  to  only  a  few  lists  of 
benefactors,  etc.,  to  show  how  gradually  surnames  crept 
into  general  use. 

Here  is  a  list  of  those  who  contributed  to  the  building  of 
the  Franciscan  convent  at  Newgate,  London,  between  the 
years  1225  and  1327. 

John  Ewin,  citizen  of  London,  first  founder  ;  William 
Joyner  built  the  choir,  1225  >  Henry  Walleis  built  the  nave  ; 
Alderman  William  Porter  founded  the  chapter-house ; 
Gregory  Bokesley  made  the  dormitory  ;  Bartholomew  de 
Castello  made  the  refectory;  Peter  de  Helliland  erected  the 
infirmary  ;  Bogo  Bond,  the  herald  King-at-Arms,  built  the 
museum  (sic).  Then  comes  in  a  bevy  of  noble  names.  Next 
William  Taylor,  "  sutor  regis  Henrici  III.,"  gave  the  water- 
supply.  Then,  later,  Richard  Whittington — of  cat  celebrity — 
founded  the  library  in  1429. 

Observe  in  the  list  that  William,  King  Henry's  tailor, 
adopts  Taylor  as  his  surname. 

The  Feet  of  Fines  are  profitable  reading  for  the  pur- 
pose of  elucidating  the  progress  of  nomenclature.  If  I  take 
those  for  the  county  of  Devon  in  1238,  it  will  suffice  to  show 
us  how  the  process  of  acquisition  of  surnames  was  in  pro- 
gression during  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
There  are  several  instructive  features  in  this  catalogue.  The 
first  names  are  those  of  the  plaintiffs,  generally  landowners, 
and  the  defendants  are  tenants. 

In  several  cases  these  landowners  have  no  surnames  at  all, 
but  are  described  as  "son  of"  or  "  daughter  of"  the  father 
who  had  a  Christian  name  alone. 

355  z  2 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

In  the  next  place,  the  tenant  in  a  great  number  of  in- 
stances is  described  as  "  de  "  his  farm,  for  which  he  paid  rent, 
and  from  which  he  might  be  evicted,  and  this  becomes  a 
surname. 

Another  peculiar  feature  is  that  already  in  the  first  half  of 
the  thirteenth  century  some  of  the  best  surnames  are  found 
among  the  tenants.  In  one  case  John  le  English  is  master 
of  the  land,  and  William  Peverel,  with  a  good  Norman 
name,  is  tenant ;  and  again  is  this  the  case  with  John  de 
Langefurlong,  probably  ancestor  of  the  Furlong  family,  and 
Geoffrey  de  Dynant,  a  descendant  of  one  of  those  who  came 
over  with  the  Conqueror.  In  both  cases — and  there  are 
others  like  them — the  old  lords  of  the  land  are  parting  with 
portions  of  their  estates  to  English  yeomen,  and  dropping 
into  the  position  of  tenants.  In  the  case  of  Michael,  son  of 
Godfrey  without  a  surname,  he  acquires  lands  in  Lew 
Trenchard  of  William  Trenchard,  whose  ancestors  had  held 
the  land  as  a  knight's-fee  from  the  Conquest,  "  and  for  this 
Michael  gave  to  William  one  sore  sparrow  hawk."  So  the 
land  went. 

In  the  list  are  few  surnames  that  indicate  professions. 
There  is  a  Cryer,  a  Mason,  and  also  a  Dispenser,  the  latter 
as  a  tenant,  and  only  one  that  may  be  taken  as  a  nickname — 
"  Youngknight."  Any  number  of  documents  might  be 
quoted,  but  they  would  all  tell  the  same  story — the  slow 
progress  made  in  the  adoption  of  surnames. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  thirty-four  first  Archbishops 
of  Canterbury  had  no  surnames.  Ralph  d'Escures  in  1114 
is  the  first  to  whom  a  second  or  to-name  is  accorded,  and 
even  later  there  were  four,  of  whom  Boniface,  in  1246,  was 
the  last  to  remain  undistinguished  by  an  addition  to  his 
Christian  name. 

The  first  thirty-three  Bishops  of  London  had  no  to-names. 
The  first  to  be  designated  as  "of"  a  place  is  Hugh  de 
Orivalle,  in  1075  ;  his  successor  had  but  his  baptismal  name, 
but  after  that  double  names  became  the  rule.  And  yet  we 
cannot  say  of  them  for  some  time  that  they  were  properly 
family  surnames. 

356 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

Further,  in  the  English  Book  of  Common  Prayer  there  is 
no  recognition  of  such  a  thing  as  a  surname  in  either  the 
Baptismal  or  the  Marriage  Service,  or  the  Catechism.  So 
far  as  the  Church  is  concerned,  the  person  is  possessed  of 
none. 

On  February  25,  1909,  a  woman  applied  to  the  North 
London  Police  Court  in  great  perplexity.  On  the  pre- 
ceding day  she  had  been  married,  and  the  man  had  given  in 
registration  a  false  surname.  Was  the  marriage  valid  ?  she 
inquired.  "  Certainly,"  replied  the  magistrate.  "  You  are 
wedded  to  the  man,  and  not  to  the  name.  His  Christian 
name  remains  immutable ;  but  as  to  his  surname,  he  may 
change  it  at  pleasure.  It  is  a  luxury  and  not  a  necessity." 

And  he  was  right  according  to  law.  Law  and  liturgy 
date  from  a  period  when  surnames  were  unfixed. 

Now  let  us  suppose  the  case — and  it  was  a  case  that 
occurred  repeatedly,  almost  universally — of  there  being 
Johns  many  and  Toms  many  in  the  same  parish.  If  not 
distinguished  by  their  trades,  as  John  the  Smith  and  John 
the  Baker,  Tom  the  Brewer  and  Tom  the  Mason,  they 
would  probably  be  differentiated  by  the  place  of  their 
residence — John  of  the  Townsend,  Tom  at  the  Well,  John 
under  the  Wood,  and  Tom  at  the  Ridgeway,  becoming  in 
time  Townsend,  Atwell,  Underwood,  and  Ridgeway.  Now 
let  us  suppose  that  the  families  of  these  respective  Johns 
and  Toms  lived  on  for  several  generations  at  the  Town's 
End,  at  the  Well,  under  the  Wood,  and  by  the  Old  Roman 
Road  or  Ridgeway.  The  personal  names  John  and  Tom 
would  be  replaced  by  others,  and  gradually  the  place-name 
would  adhere  to  the  family ;  and  although  the  descendant  of 
John  at  the  Town's  End  might  move  his  residence  into  the 
middle  of  the  town,  he  would  carry  with  him  the  name  of 
Townsend.  So  the  great-grandson  of  Tom  at  the  Well  may 
have  set  up  shop  in  the  town,  but  he  would  have  come  to 
call  himself  Atwell. 

There  is  a  spur  of  highland  running  into  the  valley  in 
which  I  live;  it  was  once,  and  to  some  extent  it  is  now, 
covered  with  heather ;  and  when  this  is  in  flame  in  the  glow 

357 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

of  the  evening  sun,  the  whole  tongue  of  land  is  crimson. 
Even  when  the  heather  is  out  of  flower,  its  dry  branches  are 
russet,  and  the  hill-spur  has  still  a  red  glow ;  this  is  the  more 
noteworthy  as  it  stands  out  against  green  woods  clothing 
the  other  hills.  Hence  this  ridge  has  the  name  of  Raddon. 
On  it  are  three  farms — one  Upper,  one  Middle,  and  the 
third  Lower,  or  Nether. 

When  the  first  settling  in  the  land  by  the  Saxons  took 
place,  one  boor  planted  himself  at  the  upper  end  of  a  spur 
of  land,  another  in  the  middle,  and  a  third  lower  down  ;  each 
built  his  habitation  of  wood,  and  enclosed  a  patch  of  land 
about  it  with  a  wall,  and  this  patch  of  land  was  manured 
plentifully  from  his  stalls,  and  produced  richer  and  greener 
grass  than  any  of  his  meadow-land.  This  he  called  his  tun  ; 
and  so  came  into  existence  three  farms — an  Upperton, 
Middleton,  and  a  Netherton.  But  if,  instead  of  a  man  of 
some  consequence,  with  servants  under  him,  it  was  a  poor 
villein  who  planted  his  humble  lodge,  then  there  would 
spring  up  an  Upcot,  a  Middlecot  or  Medlicott,  and  a 
Nethercot. 

Or  perhaps  in  level  land  there  were  four  settlements 
roughly  taken  at  the  points  of  the  compass.  One  would  be 
a  Norton  or  a  Northcot,  another  a  Southton  or  Sutton,  or 
a  Southcot,  a  third  an  Easton  or  Eastcot,  and  the  fourth  a 
Weston  or  Westcot,  according  to  who  made  the  settlement, 
a  freeman  or  a  serf.  In  time  the  families  living  in  these 
farms  or  cottages  would  come  to  appropriate  to  themselves 
the  names  of  their  habitations,  or,  rather,  these  names  would 
be  given  to  them  by  their  fellow-parishioners,  as  a  simple 
and  intelligible  way  of  describing  the  families  so  situated. 

The  late  Mr.  Robert  Ferguson,  when  he  mounted  a  hobby, 
rode  it  to  death.  He  wrote  books  to  prove  that  the  majority 
of  English  surnames  were  of  Saxon  origin.  In  our  sim- 
plicity we  believed  that  Seamore  and  Seymour  were  derived 
from  either  the  Old  English  Seamer,  a  tailor,  or  from  the 
Norman  St.  Maur.  But  no  ;  according  to  Mr.  Ferguson,  it 
is  derived  from  the  Teutonic  Sigimar ;  and  so  pleased  is  he 
with  this  derivation  that  he  gives  it  in  five  different  places. 

358 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

There  are  undoubtedly  some  Saxon  names  that  have 
lingered  on ;  others  are  of  late  introduction  from  Germany 
and  Flanders.  A  good  many  Scandinavian  names  have 
filtered  in,  much  altered  through  the  Normans;  other 
Scandinavian  names  remain  little  changed  in  the  land  north 
of  the  Humber. 

But  what  vitiates  his  argument  is  this :  it  presupposes 
that  surnames — and  those  Saxon — were  assumed  and  con- 
tinued from  the  time  of  the  Conquest  to  the  present  day, 
whereas  nothing  of  the  sort  took  place. 

That  there  are  Saxon  and  Norse  names  that  have  become 
surnames  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  it  has  usually  taken  place 
in  a  roundabout  manner.  A  Saxon  or  a  Scandinavian  gave 
his  name  to  a  place ;  then,  when  surnames  began  to  come  in, 
the  family  living  in  this  place  assumed  or  were  accorded  the 
place-name.  By  no  means  infrequently  the  latter  portion, 
signifying  that  it  was  the  thorp,  or  by,  or  ton,  or  cot,  of  the 
original  settler,  fell  away,  and  the  name  of  the  more  modern 
possessor  reverted  to  that  of  the  original  settler.  But  there 
was  no  blood  relationship  in  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
out  of  a  thousand  cases. 

yEgelweard  was  the  name  of  a  Saxon  who  gave  his  name 
to  a  tun,  and  from  yEgelweardestun  came  Aylwardston,  and 
then,  the  place-name  becoming  a  surname,  it  was  contracted 
to  Aylward.  Coton  gave  his  name  to  a  clearing  in  the  forest, 
Cotonesfeld,  and  thence  came  Cottonsfield,  and  finally  the 
surname  Cottonsfield  was  reduced  to  Cotton.  Lidgeard 
built  a  fortress,  Lidgeardesbeork,  and  thence  came  Ledgards- 
boro,  and  at  last,  by  shortening,  Ledgard. 

When  the  Scandinavians  Ormr,  Thoroldr,  and  Viglundr, 
came  to  Northumbria,  there  was  a  fine  threatening  vibration 
of  the  tongue  over  the  final  letter,  that  was  sounded  like  the 
rattle  of  a  snake ;  but  hardly  had  they  settled  themselves  on 
English  ground  than  they  shed  the  rough  r  at  the  end  of 
their  names,  and  became  Orme,  Thorold,  and  Wayland.  Yet, 
strange  to  say,  Olafr  retained  the  r,  but  was  softened  to 
Oliver  or  Olver.  But  this  name  has  wheeled  about  and 
come  over  through  Normandy. 

359 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

Such  an  ending  as  ig — as  Copsig,  Sigtrygg — the  English 
ear  disliked.  Such  names,  whether  they  came  through 
the  Norse  or  through  the  Danes,  were  scraped  and  smoothed 
down. 

Near  Launceston  is  a  farm  that  stands  on  a  rocky  scarp, 
and  bore  the  name  of  Carig;  this  means  rock.  It  was  the 
nursery  of  a  family  that  spread  far  and  wide,  carrying  with 
it  as  its  name  that  of  its  nursery,  as  a  newly  hatched  chicken 
bears  off  part  of  the  shell  upon  its  back.  But  the  name  was 
softened  into  Carey  and  Carew.  The  story  goes  that  two  of 
the  name  appeared  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  members  of 
widely  parted  branches  of  the  same  stock,  and  disputed 
before  Her  Majesty  as  to  the  correct  pronunciation  of  the 
name.  Then  said  the  Queen  to  one :  "  Carey  you  shall  be, 
and  what  care  I  ?"  and  to  the  other  :  "  Carew  shall  you  be, 
and  what  care  you?" 

And  now  see  the  caprice  there  is  in  the  pronunciation  of 
names.  The  present  Sir  Reginald  Pole  Carew  pronounces 
his  name  Poole  Carey.  Wulfsig  in  time  became  Wohey. 
Strange  alterations  have  been  made  in  names  by  the  English 
tongue,  that  has  a  tendency,  it  must  be  admitted,  to  vulgarize 
them.  Stigand  was  a  ferocious  Scandinavian  Viking,  who 
after  rapine  and  murder  settled  down  in  England,  was  bap- 
tized, and  beat  his  sword  into  a  ploughshare.  His  name- 
sake— perhaps  a  grandson — was  Canute's  priest  at  Assan- 
dune,  and  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  where  his  sturdy 
independence  and  contemptuous  refusal  to  obey  citations  to 
Rome  caused  his  excommunication  by  five  successive  Popes, 
and  William  declined  to  be  crowned  by  him,  and  deposed 
him  in  1070. 

Brother  Stiggins,  whose  head  Sam  Weller  held  under  the 
pump,  was  his  nominal  descendant.  But,  oh,  what  a  falling- 
off  was  there !  I  can  recall,  some  fifty  years  ago,  a  London 
sexton,  the  living  prototype  of  Mr.  Snawley  in  Phiz's  picture 
in  "  Nicholas  Nickleby."  Discussing  the  man's  name,  Holy- 
bone,  with  a  friend,  he  conjectured  that  his  ancestor  had  been 
the  guardian  of  some  relic- shrine.  But  Holybone  was  a 
corruption,  in  fact,  of  Hallbjorn,  the  r  having  dropped  away. 

360 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

The  ancestor  of  this  mild  individual  in  semi-clerical  costume, 
with  pompous  manners  and  a  hand  curved  for  the  reception 
of  tips,  had  come  to  England  in  a  dragon-ship,  with  white 
sail  swelling,  and  oars  flashing,  and  the  gilded  figure-head 
flaring  in  the  sun,  to  plunder  and  burn  churches  and  massacre 
priests. 

I  have  already  mentioned  Thustan,  the  Conqueror's  stan- 
dard-bearer. The  name  signifies  the  stone  heaved  and 
"  put  "  by  a  Thus  or  Thurs,  a  Northern  giant.  The  stone 
was  lost  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  the  name  degenerated  to 
Dust.  A  story  is  told  of  a  Miss  Deeks,  who  against  the 
wishes  of  the  family  married  a  man  of  the  name  of  Dust ;  he 
turned  out  to  be  a  good-for-naught,  and  she  repented  of  her 
folly.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  she  returned  to  her 
home,  and  knocked  at  the  door,  soliciting  reception.  Old 
Mr.  Deeks  protruded  his  head  from  the  bedroom  window  and 
refused  to  open.  "  No,  no  !  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  Dust 
shalt  thou  return." 

Mr.  Ferguson  mentions  another  instance  of  the  elision  of 
the  letter  r.  It  occurred  in  a  name  of  Norse  origin,  Bed- 
bjorg,  that  became  first  Bedburg;  and  then  the  English  or 
American  tongue  let  the  r  slip,  and  it  resolved  itself  into 
Bedbug.  Now,  in  America  every  beetle  is  a  bug,  but  there 
can  be  no  disguising  the  objectionable  character  of  one  that 
is  a  bedbug,  and  the  possessor  of  the  name  changed  it. 

In  Wyckliffe's  Bible  the  verse  of  the  psalm,  "The  pesti- 
lence that  walketh  in  darkness,  nor  for  the  sickness  that  de- 
stroyeth  in  the  noonday,"  is  rendered  in  the  first  part  "  the 
bug  that  walketh  in  darkness."  "  Bug  "  remains  as  "  bogie." 
It  is  the  Sclavonic  word  for  God,  and  the  man  who  can  call 
himself  by  the  surname  of  Bugg  can  boast  that  he  is  of 
Divine  origin  as  much  as  any  Angle  or  Saxon  King. 

If  the  English  tongue  be  a  rasp  roughening  some  names, 
it  is  a  smoothing  iron  passed  over  others.  The  name 
Nagle  has  been  turned  to  Nayle.  Wighardt,  dropping  the  r, 
is  Wyatt,  and  Radbod  (the  ferocious)  is  tamed  into  Rabbit. 
Sigebert  we  meet  with  in  Sibthorpe,  the  thorp  of  Sigebert.  I 
see,  in  an  advertisement  of  the  Church  Lads'  Brigade,  Lewis 

361 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

Wigram  as  hon.  treasurer.  The  object  of  the  institution  is 
the  training  of  lads  under  military  discipline.  Salt  of  the 
past  must  remain  in  the  treasurer.  Wigram  signifies  "strong 
in  war."  Honey  bun  comes  from  Honeyburn,  the  r  being 
again  omitted.  Letters  also  are  transposed  to  enable  a  name 
to  slide  past  the  lips  the  readier.  Sir  John  Fastolf  is  altered 
by  Shakespeare  into  Falstaff,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Trum- 
bald,  as  already  mentioned,  has  become  Turnbull.  In  some 
names  ending  in  ulf,  the  wolf  has  been  banished  in  name 
as  in  reality,  and  Godenulf,  the  Divine  Wolf,  is  now  the 
innocuous  Goodenough,  and  Ricenulf,  the  Strong  Wolf,  is 
what  no  man  will  admit  that  he  is,  Richenough. 

The  De  Poers,  a  family  that  issued  from  the  county  of 
Poher  in  Brittany,  of  which  Carhaix  is  the  capital,  did  not 
relish  having  their  name,  when  in  England,  Latinized  into 
Pauper  and  Pauperculus,  and  so  took  to  calling  themselves 
Power. 

The  Malebys  (Mala-bestia),  bad  beasts,  preferred  to  be 
regarded  as  issuing  from  a  malt-house  than  to  be  considered 
evil  beasts,  and  so  entitled  themselves  Maltby.  The  noble 
name  of  Douglas,  on  this  side  of  the  Tyne,  has  been 
vulgarized  into  Diggles.  Ap  Odger  is  now  Podger,  and  Ap 
Roger  Prodger.  St.  Ethelreda  is  turned  into  Audrey  and 
Taudry ;  and  Renshaw,  the  wood  of  the  Norse  Ragnar,  into 
Wrencher.  Beautiful  Bruges  has  given  us  Mr.  Briggs,  the 
butt  of  many  of  Leech's  humorous  sketches  in  Punch. 

Mountjoie  was  a  name  given  to  a  height  whence  the  first 
sight  of  Jerusalem  burst  on  the  Crusaders.  Then  it  became 
a  surname.  I  sent  my  boots  once  to  be  resoled  and  heeled 
by  a  Mungay,  a  cobbler.  As  I  paid  him,  I  looked  hard  in 
his  face,  and  tried  to  think  back  from  this  man  to  the 
ancestor  on  the  height,  crying  "  Joie  !  joie !"  when  the  roofs 
of  Jerusalem  burst  on  his  view,  and  he  threw  up  the  visor 
of  his  helmet  to  obtain  a  good  sight  of  the  object  of  his  long 
journey.  Who  would  not  suppose  that  the  name  Physick 
was  due  to  an  ancestor  having  been  a  physician  ?  Yet  this 
name  is  actually  the  corruption  of  Fishacre.  An  ancient 
house  and  estate  on  the  borders  of  Dartmoor  is  called 

362 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

Colovin ;  by  corruption  it  would  seem  to  have  become  the 
family  name  of  Coffin. 

De  la  Chambre  has  become  in  English  mouths  Deal- 
chamber,  and  Troublefield  represents  De  Tourbeville,  and 
Chaddlehanger  near  Tavistock  gives  Challinger. 

In  Tavistock,  at  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Plymouth  by  the 
Royalists,  Sir  Richard  Grenville — "  Rascal  "  Grenville — had 
his  headquarters.  Ever  since  then  there  have  been  Green- 
fields in  the  town.  One  now  prints  the  Tavistock  Gazette. 
Lord  Lyttleton  and  Earl  Temple  had  a  dispute  relative  to 
the  antiquity  of  their  several  families.  "  Little-town,"  said 
Lord  Lyttleton,  "  must  have  preceded  Grande-ville.  But  if 
you  choose  to  call  yourself  Greenfield,  I  allow  you  greater 
antiquity."  The  name  Mummery  is  a  corruption  of  the  Norman 
De  Momerie.  If  I  remember  aright,  a  few  years  ago  a  Mr. 
Mummery  wrote  strongly  against  Ritualism.  The  list  might 
be  indefinitely  extended.  The  English  tongue  is  impatient  of 
foreign  sounds,  and  insists  on  rounding  or  roughing  them 
into  some  semblance  to  a  known  English  word,  as  Shovell 
out  of  Escoville.  But  even  good  plain  English  names  are 
not  left  alone.  Thus,  Caldwell  has  been  resolved  into  Caudle, 
Comberford  to  Comfort. 

Tricks  have  been  played  with  the  letter  H.  Othere,  the 
traveller,  appeared  before  King  Alfred,  and  gave  him  an 
accurate  account  of  Norway  and  Finland  and  the  White 
Sea.  Othere  has  branched  on  the  one  side  into  Otter,  and 
on  the  other  side  into  Hodder,  the  name  of  an  eminent 
publisher. 

How  names  may  be  assumed  is  shown  by  the  instance 
of  an  Italian  cabin-boy  named  Benito,  who  among  the 
English  sailors  acquired  the  name  of  Ben  Eaton.  He 
accepted  the  change,  was  sent  to  school  in  America,  was 
entered  as  Benjamin  Eaton,  married  and  settled  in  the 
States,  and  now  his  descendants  come  to  England  and  look 
with  fond  admiration  at  the  towers  of  Eaton  Hall,  the 
supposed  ancestral  home  of  the  family. 

It  does  not  by  any  means  follow  that  individuals  found  in 
humble  walks  of  life,  bearing  good  names,  such  as  Courteney, 

363 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

Neville,  Howard,  Champernowne,  are  descendants  in  blood 
of  these  ancient  families,  though  I  am  far  from  denying  that 
in  a  good  many  cases  they  are  such.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  it  was  not  unusual  for  servants,  having  no 
family  names  of  their  own,  to  adopt  those  of  their  masters. 
The  case  will  at  once  occur  to  the  memory  of  the  reader  of 
Shakespeare,  when  Christopher  Sly  called  Cicely,  "  the  maid 
of  the  house  "  to  Marian  Racket,  the  fat  alewife  of  Wincot, 
by  her  mistress's  name,  Cicely  Racket. 
But  it  is  at  the  same  time  most  true  that 

"  Ebbing  men,  indeed, 
Most  often  do  so  near  the  bottom  run 
By  their  own  fear  or  sloth  " 

— either  through  their  own  fault  or  through  misfortune  many 
an  ancient  and  honourable  name  has  been  brought  very  low. 
There  is  a  certain  good  humour  noticeable  in  the  English 
genius.  It  disguises  the  origin  of  names  that  reek  with 
paganism,  so  as  to  escape  the  censure  of  the  clergy.  What 
parson  could  object  to  a  Thorogood?  And  yet  the  origin  of 
the  name  is  Thorgautr,  the  hog  of  Thor  the  Thunderer,  that 
drew  his  car  through  the  storm  as  he  hurled  his  flaming 
bolts.  It  must  have  been  with  a  qualm  of  conscience  that  a 
priest  baptized  a  child  by  the  name  of  Paganus,  when 
making  a  Christian  of  it,  and  it  is  perhaps  due  to  refusal 
to  give  this  as  a  Christian  name  that  we  have  it  as  a 
surname  in  the  form  of  Payne. 

At  the  Restoration  the  name  of  Cromwell  was  odious,  and 
it  underwent  a  slight  change  so  as  to  disguise  it.  But  what 
a  descent  there  is  from  Thomas  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex, 
and  Oliver,  the  Lord  Protector,  to  Mr.  Vincent  Crummels,  in 
whose  company  Nicholas  Nickleby  acted  Romeo. 

A  series  of  Cumberland  names  end  in  staff,  as  Langstaff, 
Wagstaff,  Everstaff.  They  have,  however,  nothing  to  do 
with  quarter-staves  (pace  Twisden  in  The  Tatler,  No.  n, 
1709).  A  more  primitive  form  remains  in  Bickersteth,  and 
the  last  syllable  is  the  Scandinavian  sta  —  the  th  has  in 
many  cases  become  ff.  A  sta — in  German  stadt — is  the 

364 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

Old  English  stead,  a  place  of  abode,  a  farm,  a  settlement. 
Wagstaff  is  the  watch  or  lookout  station,  and  Bickersteth  is 
the  stede  or  stead  of  Beck  or  Bako,  a  name  that  occurs  in 
the  Durham  "  Liber  Vitse,"  and  Everstaff  is  that  of  Ever. 

We  have  seen  how  the  ending  th  has  become  ff  in  Cum- 
berland, but  the  ff  becomes  p  in  some  cases.  In  North 
Devon  lived  a  family  named  Ciitcliff,  named  from  a  cleve 
that  was  cut  as  with  an  axe,  where  it  resided.  But  a 
member  of  the  family  moved  south,  and  enclosed  land  and 
made  a  tun  near  Tavistock,  on  the  edge  of  Dartmoor,  and 
called  the  place  Cutcliffton.  In  process  of  time  this  became 
Cudliptown.  Anyone  might  suppose  at  first  glance  that 
Cudlip,  a  name  now  pretty  widely  distributed  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, was  given  as  a  nickname  to  some  man  owing  to  a 
malformation  of  the  mouth — in  fact,  to  a  harelip — did  we 
not  know  its  real  origin.  Lipton,  again,  is  Cliffton.  We  must 
always  observe  great  caution  in  deriving  surnames  from 
nicknames  of  merely  personal  application,  due  to  some 
peculiarity  of  appearance,  for  such  are  most  unlikely  to 
adhere  to  the  posterity  of  the  man  so  marked.  Usually  such 
a  name  is  a  corruption  of  a  place-name.  I  have  said  this 
before,  and  I  repeat  it.  The  double  /  in  Cliff  in  the  midst 
of  a  name  may  be  altered  into  b,  and  the  preceding  vowel 
changed.  Thus  Cliffbury  has  become  Clobbury.  The  well- 
known  publishing  firm  of  Lippincott,  in  Philadelphia,  derives 
from  an  immigrant  to  America  called  Luffincott,  from  a 
small  parish  in  Devon.  In  German,  our  word  "  cliff  "is 
clippe.  Metcalf  is  the  Middle  Cliff. 

The  name  of  Lamprey  does  not  derive  from  the  fish, 
through  overeating  of  which  Henry  I.  died,  but  from  Land- 
frith  (the  Peace  of  the  Land),  and  there  was  probably  a 
Landfrithstead  ;  but  a  family  living  at  one  time  at  this  stede 
or  stead  left  the  paternal  acres,  and  in  drifting  about  dropped 
the  stead,  and  reverted  to  the  name  of  the  founder  of  the 
settlement.  Vowels  get  strangely  altered.  Clutterbuck  is 
the  same  name  as  the  German  Lauterbach — i.e.,  the  clear 
(A.S.  hlutter)  beck  or  brook.  It  is  of  Dutch  importation. 

In  the  West  of  England  the  ear  cannot  endure  a  harsh 

365 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

conjunction  of  consonants,  and  in  place-names  a  is  inserted 
to  soften  the  sound ;  thus,  Blackbrook  becomes  Blackabrook, 
Woolstone  is  more  pleasant  when  pronounced  Woolaston, 
and  Woolcombe  is  the  name  of  one  family,  and  Wollacombe  of 
another,  both  deriving  from  the  same  combe  and  both 
bearing  the  same  arms. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  word  "  hope,"  employed  mainly 
in  the  North  as  an  opening  in  a  wood  or  in  a  range  of  hills. 
Indeed,  I  have  been  directed  thus  :  "  You  go  straight  along 
the  edge  of  the  wood  till  you  come  to  an  ope  :  turn  up  there." 
Hence  the  name  Hopwood,  but  also  Hopgood,  which  is  not 
Hopegood  or  Goodhope,  but  the  same  as  Hopwood,  an  ope 
in  the  wood.  A  consonant  is  often  misplaced  for  the  sake 
of  smoothness  in  pronunciation.  Thus  Crossford,  Crosswell, 
Crosslake,  become  Kersford,  Kerswell,  and  Kerslake.  A  lake 
is  not  a  sheet  of  water  but  a  lead  or  leat — a  channel  for 
bringing  water  to  a  house  or  a  mine  or  a  mill. 

Some  names  must  always  remain  uncertain  as  to  the 
germ  from  which  they  have  evolved.  Sternhold  has  been 
supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  St.  Arnold,  but  it  may  also  be 
Stjorn  (Star),  the  hauld ;  or  landholder.  A  "  hold,"  or  Norse 
hauld,  was  a  superior  yeoman  holding  allodial  land.1  In 
ancient  Norway  the  churchyards  were  divided  into  four 
circles.  The  innermost  was  reserved  for  the  lender-men,  the 
next  for  the  haulds,  the  third  for  the  freemen,  the  fourth — 
next  to  the  outer  wall — for  the  thralls.  Our  surname  Old 
may  derive  from  a  Hold,  and  may  not  be  descriptive  of  the 
age  of  any  one  member  of  a  family. 

There  is  a  village  in  Oxfordshire  of  the  name  of  Finmore. 
The  name  has  gone  through  changes,  as  Fynemore, 
Phinnemore,  Phillimore.  The  Kentish  family  of  Filmer  is 
clearly  of  the  same  stock. 

The   name   of  Shakespeare  has   probably  nothing   to   do 

with  a  spear.     The  name  is  derived  from  Schalkesboer,  the 

knave's  farm.     Neither  schalk  nor  knave  originally  implied 

anything  but  what  was  honourable.     Schalk  was  a  servant, 

and    enters    into    the    names    Godshalk,    God's     servant. 

1  Harald  Harf.  Saga,  c.  62. 

366 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

Indeed,  the  Anglo-Saxon  scealc  was  used  as  a  designation 
of  a  warrior.  Adrian  IV. — or  Nicolas  Breakspeare,  as  he  was 
called  before  his  elevation  to  the  Papacy — took  his  name 
from  Bragi's-bosr,  the  farm  of  Bragi. 

On  one  side  of  the  Tamar  lived  the  family  of  Monk,  with 
a  pedigree  more  or  less  fictitious,  worked  out  by  the  heralds 
when  George  Monk  became  Duke  of  Albemarle.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  Tamar  was  a  poor  tinminer  named  Lemon. 
In  the  second  generation  after  George,  Duke  of  Albemarle, 
the  Monk  house  went  down  like  a  pack  of  cards.  A  century 
later  the  miner's  family  had  risen  to  affluence,  and  Sir 
Charles  Lemon  was  created  a  Baronet.  But  Lemon  is 
Le  Moine,  the  Monk.  The  ancestor  of  each  was  a  truant 
from  his  monastery,  who  had  trampled  on  his  cowl,  taken 
to  himself  a  wife,  and  founded  a  family. 

Landseer  is  not  a  surveyor,  but  is  TAnsier,  the  handle- 
maker  to  mugs  and  pots.  While  the  potter  moulded  the 
vessel  on  the  wheel,  the  ansier  was  engaged  on  shaping  the 
handles  to  be  affixed  to  them. 

Peascod  is  a  surname  met  with  occasionally,  but  is  not 
common.  But  the  surname  Peascod  has  nothing  in  its 
origin  to  do  with  the  vegetable  kingdom.  It  is  from  the 
Welsh  Pys-coed.  The  ancient  name  of  Tenby  was  Dinbych- 
y-Pyscoed. 

Caprices  of  spelling  have  given  occasion  to  divergencies 
from  a  common  origin.  Some  of  these  have  arisen  un- 
consciously ;  others  are  modern  affectations.  Into  what 
contortions  the  name  Smith  has  been  thrown !  In  the 
register  of  the  University  of  Oxford  is  entered  in  1556 
George  Guldeford,  or  Gilford,  or  Kifford.  How  readily 
would  Kifford  become  Giffard,  and  a  descendant  pose  as  of 
the  Norman  family  of  GifTards. 

Dr.  Barker,  quoting  from  the  register  of  the  parish  of 
Pechletin,  Leicester,  gives  the  variations  of  the  name 
Weewall  between  1735  and  1750.  It  appears  as  Whewaugh, 
Whewvaugh,  Wheeraw,  Weway,  Weewa,  Wheewhal, 
Whewwhaw,  Whealwhal,  Weewall,  Wheewall.  And  these 
are  all  forms  of  the  name  Whewell  borne  by  a  former 
very  pompous  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

367 


THE  EVOLUTION  AND 

An  affectation  is  to  employ  the  letter  y  in  place  of  i,  or 
as  an  interpolation.  Smith  is  made  into  Smythe,  White  into 
Whyte,  Sands  into  Sandys,  Light  into  Lyte.  And  another 
affectation  has  been  the  use  of  the  double  f  as  Ffinch, 
Ffoukes,  Ffrench. 

A  pile  of  fossils  is  placed  before  a  geologist,  and  he  sets  to 
work  to  sort  them  into  several  heaps,  according  to  the  strata 
to  which  they  pertain.  Here  go  those  of  the  Chalk,  there 
such  as  belong  to  the  Greensand.  This  collection  represents 
the  Lias,  and  that  the  Oolite,  and  another  the  Red  Sand- 
stone, and  this  small  accumulation  those  of  the  Silurian 
beds. 

In  like  manner,  out  of  the  great  heap  of  our  English 
nomenclature,  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  the  names  that 
belong  to  the  different  historic  strata.  We  can  put  in 
one  pile  all  the  Anglo-Saxon  names,  heap  up  those  that  are 
Norman  and  Angevin-French — and  this  accumulation  is 
considerable — then  the  few  that  are  Celtic,  mostly  intro- 
ductions from  Ireland  and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and 
from  Cornwall  and  Wales.  Next  comes  a  small  accumula- 
tion of  Flemish  names,  then  a  whole  heap  of  Huguenot 
French  importations,  many  that  are  German,  and  a 
promiscuous  pile  of  odds  and  ends  from  Sweden,  Poland, 
Italy,  etc.  And  we  can  give  an  approximate  date  for  the 
formation  of  these  names  or  their  introduction  into  England, 
for  we  have  our  series  of  records  from  Domesday,  through 
the  Rotuli  Normannorum,  the  Hundred  Rolls,  the  Feet  of 
Fines,  the  charters,  and  innumerable  other  documents,  by 
means  of  which  we  can  see  when  these  names  first  appear, 
and  can  follow  them  in  their  permutations. 

But  the  geologist  does  more  than  determine  the  age  and 
succession  of  the  fossils  in  the  various  strata :  he  arranges 
those  in  each  into  distinct  groups,  according  to  their  kind  or 
genus.  And  we  do  the  same  with  nomenclature.  There  are 
the  four  main  classifications  into  Sire-names,  Place-names, 
Trade-names,  and  Nick-names.  We  can  tell  whether  a 
sire-name  be  of  Norman  or  English  origin ;  in  place-names, 
whether  that  place  be  in  England  or  abroad.  In  trade- 

368 


DISINTEGRATION  OF  SURNAMES 

names  he  can  point  out  that  some  represent  importations 
from  France  or  Germany,  and  others  are  English,  as  Tailor 
and  Marchant  are  French,  whereas  Seamer  and  Chapman  are 
English. 

But  when  all  this  sorting  and  arrangement  has  been 
accomplished,  there  still  remains  a  great  heap  of  names  that 
he  cannot  classify.  In  the  New  Red  Sandstone  are  beds  of 
crushed,  split,  and  pinched  pebbles.  Pressure,  if  it  has  not 
broken  these  rolled  stones,  has  squeezed  them  out  of  shape. 
And  in  English  nomenclature  there  is  a  deposit  of  these 
crushed,  splintered,  and  pinched  names,  the  origin  and 
original  shape  of  which  is  most  difficult  to  determine.  But 
from  these  rubble  beds  of  the  Red  Sandstone  patient 
research  has  been  able  to  track  every  stone  to  the  mountain 
whence  it  was  wrenched,  and  far  from  which  it  has  been  rolled, 
and  so  it  is  possible  by  patient  and  persevering  study  to 
trace  back  every  eccentric  and  distorted  surname  to  its 
origin.  But  that  is  not  a  task  to  be  undertaken  in  such 
a  volume  as  this,  which  aims  only  at  accounting  for  the 
bulk  of  English  names  falling  under  the  four  categories, 
and  such  as  are  uncommon  and  strange  must  be  left  to 
elucidation  by  special  research. 


369  AA 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SCOTTISH   AND    IRISH   SURNAMES 

MOST  tragic  has  been  the  fate  of  the  great  Celtic  race  that 
at  one  time  occupied  the  greater  part  of  Western  Europe — 
France,  the  British  Isles,  Southern  Germany,  Spain,  the 
Alps,  and  Upper  Italy— and  which  even  established  ^itself  in 
Asia  Minor.  Everywhere,  with  a  few  marked  exceptions,  it 
has  abandoned  its  native  tongue.  The  only  places  in  which 
it  lingers  are  Wales,  Brittany,  Ireland,  the  Isle  of  Man,  and 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  ;  and  year  by  year  it  is  being 
driven  back  still  farther,  and  the  doom  of  final  extinction 
hangs  over  it,  overwhelmed  in  Brittany  by  French,  and  else- 
where by  English.  In  Asia  Minor  the  separate  existence  of 
the  intrusive  Gauls  in  Galatia  has  been  locally  forgotten. 

The  language  is  not  all  that  it  has  lost.  Other  national 
characteristics  have  gone  as  well.  Its  tribal  organization, 
so  similar  to  that  of  the  Early  Romans,  has  failed  to  develop 
into  a  higher  form.  The  tribal  condition  is,  and  always  has 
been,  a  stage  in  the  course  of  social  and  political  development 
that  all  peoples  have  gone  through  that  have  reached  the 
nobler  and  more  perfect  organization  of  the  nation.  But 
the  Celts  have  had  their  natural  social  and  political  growth 
arrested,  and  the  organization  went  to  pieces  at  once,  and 
they  have  been  constrained  to  accept  from  outside  what  they 
were  not  suffered  to  reach  from  within  by  an  orderly  and 
natural  process. 

The  organization  of  the  people,  whether  in  Ireland,  Wales, 
or  Scotland,  was  substantially  identical.  The  highest  virtue 
demanded  of  a  tribesman  was  loyalty  to  the  chief,  for  whom 

37o 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

life  and  everything  precious  in  life  was  to  be  sacrificed  when 
required. 

The  chief  was  no  arbitrary  despot.  He  was  controlled  by 
a  council  of  elders.  His  place  of  residence  was  not  his  own 
exclusively  :  it  belonged  to  the  tribe  or  clan.  He  could  not 
shut  himself  within  and  bar  the  door.  Every  clansman  had 
a  right  of  access  and  of  speech  with  the  chief. 

A  race  in  Gaelic  is  slioch  or  siol,  and  the  people  comprising 
it,  supposed  to  be  of  one  blood,  are  termed  cineal,  tuath,  or 
fine,  without  there  being  any  very  fixed  distinction  drawn 
between  these  terms.  A  siol  was  divided  into  clans.  Clan 
signifies  literally  "offspring,  children" — in  Irish  eland,  in 
Welsh  plant.  Latin  writers,  when  describing  clans,  employ 
the  word  filii,  as  Filii  Gadran,  Filii  ^Edan. 

Duncan  Forbes,  in  "  Culloden  Papers,"  says  :  "  A  High- 
land clan  is  a  set  of  men,  all  having  the  same  surname,  and 
believing  themselves  to  be  related  the  one  to  the  other,  and 
to  be  descendants  from  the  same  common  ancestor." 

Thus  the  clan  is  supposed  to  be  the  expansion  of  the 
family.  Each  male  member  of  the  clan  was  called  Mac, 
son  of  the  reputed  ancestor.  Each  member  of,  say,  the 
clan  MacLeod  was  a  MacLeod,  of  the  clan  Aulay  was 
MacAulay.  But  to  distinguish  man  from  man  his  Christian 
name  was  employed.  But  even  that  did  not  suffice,  as  there 
might  well  be  several  lans  in  the  same  clan.  Accordingly, 
some  characteristic  was  added,  as  the  colour  of  his  hair,  or 
the  name  of  his  father,  and  perhaps  also  the  name  of  the 
grandfather  was  brought  in. 

But  simple  and  beautiful  as  the  system  of  the  clan  was,  it 
produced  many  difficulties  in  practice.  As  a  tribe  increased 
in  numbers,  it  inevitably  broke  up  into  septs.  A  great  chief 
had,  let  us  say,  three  sons,  and  each  gathered  about  him  a 
set  of  followers,  ravaged  a  neighbour's  lands,  and  planted 
his  followers  on  the  soil  from  which  he  had  expelled  the 
former  holders.  Then  each  son  became  a  new  head,  giving 
his  name  to  his  followers  and  to  his  descendants,  and  the 
original  clan  was  broken  up  into  three,  at  a  later  period  to 
undergo  further  division. 

371  AA  2 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Thus  the  clan  Alpine  consisted  of  seven  subclans :  the 
MacGregors,  Grants,  Macintosh,  MacNab,  MacPhies, 
MacGarries,  and  MacAulays.  The  ancient  clan  Chattan 
comprised  as  many  as  sixteen,  of  which  the  principal  were 
the  Camerons,  with  their  subsection  clan  MacBean,  the 
clans  Farquharson,  and  MacDuff.  The  clan  Campbell 
has  its  Argyll,  Breadalbane,  Cawdor,  and  Loudon  branches, 
and  also  the  MacArthurs. 

Burt,  in  his  "  Letters  from  a  Gentleman  "  in  1726,  says  : 
"  The  Highlanders  are  divided  into  tribes  or  clans,  under 
chiefs  or  chieftains,  as  they  are  called  in  the  laws  of  Scotland ; 
and  each  clan,  again,  is  divided  into  branches  from  the  main 
stock,  who  have  chieftains  over  them.  These  are  subdivided 
into  smaller  branches,  of  fifty  to  sixty  men,  who  deduce 
their  original  from  their  particular  chieftains,  and  rely  upon 
them  as  their  more  immediate  protectors  and  defenders." 

But  the  notion  that  the  clan  consisted  wholly  of  those 
related  in  blood  was  a  fiction.  An  inner  ring  was  indeed 
so  composed.  But  there  existed  an  outer  circle,  made  up  of 
captives  taken  in  war,  thralls,  and  runaways  from  other 
clans — "broken  men,"  as  they  were  termed,  who  had  been 
excluded  from  their  own  clan  for  some  offence,  and  had 
solicited  and  obtained  admission  into  another.  The  Macraes 
of  Glensheals  were  thralls  under  the  MacLeods ;  but  after 
a  battle,  in  which  most  of  the  men  of  the  MacLeods  had 
fallen,  their  widows  and  daughters  took  to  them  husbands 
of  the  Macraes,  so  as  to  fill  up  once  more  the  depleted  tribe. 
But  that  all  in  the  clan  were  connected  by  blood,  as  they 
were  by  name,  was  a  fiction  that  could  impose  on  few.  An 
Earl  made  a  grant  of  land  to  a  favourite  tenant.  Where- 
upon that  servant  invented  a  tartan,  obliged  all  who  lived 
on  his  land  to  assume  it,  and  call  themselves  his  sons.  The 
ancestor  of  the  Colquhouns  was  Humphry  Kirkpatrick,  who 
was  granted  the  lands  of  Colquhoun  in  the  reign  of 
Alexander  II.  The  first  to  assume  the  name  of  Colquhoun 
was  his  successor  Ingram.  In  this  case — and  this  is  only 
one  among  several — the  clansmen,  who  wore  his  badge,  the 
dogberry,  and  assumed  the  tartan,  had  not  a  drop  of  Kirk- 
patrick blood  in  their  veins. 

372 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Siol  Fhinian  is  the  name  of  the  clan  MacLennan.  It 
was  founded  by  the  son  of  Gillie  Gorm  of  the  Logans,  in 
Ross-shire,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  He  was  deformed, 
and  was  educated  for  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  took 
priest's  orders,  and  had  several  sons,  whom  he  called  Gillie 
Fhinian,  and  from  them  came  the  clan  MacGillelnain, 
now  corrupted  to  MacLennan,  but  we  cannot  suppose  that 
the  entire  clan  is  the  fruit  of  his  loins. 

The  MacNabs  form  a  clan  descended  from  the  Abbot  of 
Glendockart,  who  lived  between  1150  and  1180.  All  his 
lands — plundered  from  the  abbey — were  in  the  valley  of  that 
name.  He  had  sons,  and  they  constituted,  with  the  retainers 
poached  from  the  Church,  the  clan  of  MacNab — i.e.,  sons  of 
the  Abbot. 

Ewan,  grandson  of  the  chief  of  the  clan  Chattan,  in  the 
reign  of  David  I.  became  Abbot  of  Kingussie,  till  1153,  when 
his  elder  brother  died  without  issue,  whereupon  he  obtained 
a  dispensation  from  the  Pope,  married,  and  had  two  sons. 
From  him  rose  the  clan  MacPherson,  or  Sons  of  the  Parson, 
that  is  divided  into  two  branches,  that  of  Cluny  and  that  of 
Invereshie,  to  which  latter  belong  the  Gillieses  and  the 
Gillespies.  But  that  is  not  all.  The  heads  of  some  sixteen 
or  seventeen  clans  are  descended  from  Norman-French  or 
Scandinavian  founders.  But  of  this  more  hereafter. 

Further,  owing  to  subdivision,  many  of  the  clans  cannot 
trace  back  to  a  remote  antiquity.  They  came  into  being  in 
the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  some  even  later  than  that. 
The  MacQueens  were  founded  as  a  clan  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  clan  Matheson  originates  with  John  Matheson, 
a  man  believed  to  have  been  of  foreign  extraction,  who  was 
killed  in  1587. 

The  chief  in  his  dun  was  surrounded  by  functionaries,  and, 
as  Sir  John  Carr  wrote  in  his  "  Caledonian  Sketches,"  1809  : 
"  When  a  chief  undertook  a  journey,  he  used  to  be  attended 
by  the  following  officers  and  servants  :  the  Henchman ;  Bard ; 
Piper's  Gilly,  who  carried  the  pipe  ;  Peadier,  the  spokesman ; 
Gillimore,  the  broadsword-bearer  ;  Gilli-astflue,  to  carry  the 
chieftain,  when  on  foot,  over  the  ford ;  Gilli-constraine,  leader 

373 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

of  the  horse  in  rough  and  dangerous  ways ;  Gilli-trushan- 
urich,  baggage-man." 

The  Highlanders  bore  an  implacable  hatred  towards  the 
Lowlanders,  whom  they  regarded  as  Sassenachs,  who  had 
dispossessed  them  of  their  richest  lands,  and  in  former  days 
one  of  their  main  resources  in  hard  times  was  to  issue  from 
their  passes  and  raid  the  Lowlands. 

But  Sassenachs  the  Lowlanders  were  not ;  the  whole  of 
Bernicia,  that  extended  from  the  Firth  of  Forth,  had  been 
conquered  and  colonized  by  the  Angles,  and  after  that  there 
had  been  an  infusion  among  them  of  Danish  and  Norse 
blood.  The  old  kingdom  of  Scotland  was  of  very  limited 
extent.  It  stretched  from  the  Firth  of  Forth  to  the  Moray 
Firth  in  the  north ;  all  the  west  was  Gaelic  peopled  from 
the  North-West  of  Ireland ;  and  all  Caithness,  Sutherland, 
Argyll,  and  the  Western  Isles,  together  with  Orkney  and  the 
Shetlands,  were  held  by  Scandinavians. 

As  might  be  expected,  in  the  Lowlands  surnames  are 
formed  in  the  same  way  as  those  in  England,  and  resemble 
such  as  are  common  in  Northumberland  and  Durham ;  but 
in  the  Highlands,  where  Gaelic  prevails,  it  is  otherwise. 

How  widely  through  Scotland  foreign  blood  has  flowed, 
and  penetrated  into  even  Gaelic  veins,  may  be  seen  when  we 
look  at  some  of  the  principal  families,  and  even  clans,  in 
Scotland.  Let  us  take  some.  The  Grant  clan  is  purely 
Celtic,  a  branch  of  the  very  ancient  clan  MacAlpine,  and 
carried  the  badge  of  that  clan.  But  the  name  is  unmistak- 
ably Norman — Le  Grand.  Gervase  of  Tilbury,  in  his  "  Otia 
Imperialia,"  tells  us  that  Grant  or  Graunt  was  the  English 
name  for  a  giant  or  monster.  The  story  is  told  of  an  old 
Earl  of  Seafield  who  desired  to  establish  beyond  dispute  the 
antiquity  of  his  family,  and  accordingly  altered  in  the  family 
Bible  one  letter  in  Gen.  vi.  4,  so  that  it  read,  "There  were 
Grants  in  the  earth  in  those  days  "—before  the  Flood.  "  But," 
said  a  sceptical  friend,  "  the  Deluge  came  and  swept  them  all 
away."  The  Earl  fixed  on  him  a  stony  glance,  and  replied 
haughtily :  "  That  verse  has  been  misplaced,  and  should 
have  come  after  the  Flood." 

374 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Cummin  is  from  De  Comines.  William  the  Conqueror 
sent  Robert  de  Comines  to  be  Earl  of  Northumbria,  but  he 
was  killed  by  the  people  of  Durham  in  1069.  A  kinsman 
went  north  beyond  the  Tweed,  and  his  descendants  have 
constituted  a  powerful  clan,  and  wear  the  cummin  as  their 
badge  and  have  their  own  tartan. 

Frazer  is  really  De  Frezel,  a  family  of  Touraine.  Rene 
Frezel's  second  son  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror. 
A  descendant  found  favour  and  land  with  David  I.,  who  was 
a  great  importer  of  Anglo-Norman  blood.  The  Frazers  have 
their  tartan  and  their  badge,  the  yew. 

The  Kerrs,  again,  are  of  similar  origin.  Two  brothers 
settled  in  Scotland  in  the  thirteenth  century.  None  knew 
which  was  the  elder  of  the  two,  and  neither  would  yield 
superiority  to  the  other,  and  this  led  to  such  bitter  animosity 
that  in  1590  Robert  Kerr  of  Cessford  killed  William  Kerr  of 
Ancrum  in  a  dispute  as  to  precedence. 

The  Lindsays,  also,  are  not  of  Scottish  ancestors  ;  they  were 
originally  De  Limesay  from  the  Pays  de  Caux,  near  Pavilly, 
north  of  Rouen.  Radolf  de  Limesay,  thought  to  have  been 
sister's  son  to  the  Conqueror,  was  the  first  of  the  stock  to 
settle  in  England.  David  I.  brought  them  to  Scotland. 

The  Melvilles  derive  their  name  from  Malaville,  in  the  Pays 
de  Caux,  whence  a  William  de  Malaville  is  reported  to  have 
come  to  England  with  the  Conqueror.  Galfrid  de  Maleville 
settled  in  Scotland  under  David  L,  and  was  the  first 
Justiciary  of  Scotland  on  record. 

Oliphant  is  also  an  Anglo-Norman  name.  The  first  to  go 
to  Scotland  was  David,  who  had  served  in  the  army  of  King 
Stephen  against  the  Empress  Maud  in  1141. 

Bruce  is  Norman,  from  Bruys  or  Brix.  Wace  tells  how 
"they  of  Bruys"  accompanied  the  Conqueror  to  England. 

Balliol  is  from  Bailleul,  near  Argentan  in  Normandy. 

Gordon  is  De  Gourdon,  from  a  small  town  on  the  Lime- 
stone Causses  in  Quercy.  The  Gourdons  must  have  come  to 
England  at  the  time  of  the  English  occupation  of  Guienne. 
They  did  wisely  to  abandon  the  sterile  plateau  for  the  lush 
plains  of  England.  The  first  heard  of  is  Adam  de  Gourdon, 

375 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

"the  King's  servant"  under  Richard  I.  The  Scottish 
Gordons,  however,  assert  that  they  derive  from  another 
Anglo-Norman  family  seated  at  Gordon  in  Berwickshire. 
But  Adam  has  been  for  generations  a  Christian  name  in  both 
Gordon  families,  that  in  Scotland  and  that  seated  in  Suffolk. 
Richard  was  Baron  of  Gordon  in  the  Merse  in  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century.  The  Gordons  have  their  tartan  and 
their  badge,  rock-ivy. 

The  Stuarts,  or  Stewarts,  derive  from  a  Norman — Alan,  Lord 
of  Oswestry.  His  son  Walter  was  one  of  the  importations 
into  Scotland  by  David  I.  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  the 
King  granted  him  by  charter  the  burgh  and  lands  of 
Renfrew,  and  Malcolm  IV.  made  the  office  of  High  Steward 
hereditary  in  the  family.  Alan  Dapifer's  son  Walter  was 
content  to  call  himself  Walter  FitzAlan,  and  Walter's  son  was 
called  Alan  FitzWalter,  with  the  addition  of  Seneschallus 
(Scotice,  Steward),  from  his  hereditary  office,  which  soon 
became  the  fixed  surname  of  the  descendants.1  Although 
the  family  was  not  of  Scottish  origin,  almost  immediately 
after  its  settlement  in  Scotland  it  became  completely 
identified  with  the  nationality  of  the  new  country,  to  such  an 
extent  that  Scotland  has  accepted  the  Stuart  badge,  the 
thistle,  as  its  national  emblem.  "  No  Scotchman,"  says 
Sir  Bernard  Burke,  "  should  ever  forget  the  title  to  honour 
and  respect  which  the  family  of  Stewart  acquired  before 
they  began  to  reign,  by  their  undeviating  and  zealous  defence 
of  their  native  land  against  the  wanton  aggressions  of  the 
English.  Wherever  the  banner  of  freedom  was  unfurled,  it 
was  sure  to  be  bravely  defended  by  the  Lord  High  Steward 
and  all  the  nobles  of  his  race." 

Leslie  is  descended  from  a  chief  of  Norman  descent,  a 
De  1'Isle.  The  first  of  the  name  heard  of  in  Scotland  is  in 
the  reign  of  William  the  Lion  (1165-1214). 

Maitland  is  actually  Mautalent,  "  Little-wit,"  or;  to  be  more 
exact,  Bad-wit. 

1  The  arms  assumed  by  the  Stuarts  two  generations  after  their  settle- 
ment in  Scotland  were  the  fess  chequy  (the  checquer,  used  for  computing 
before  the  introduction  of  Arabic  numerals),  in  allusion  to  their  office  at 
the  Exchequer  table. 

376 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Hay  is  also  a  Norman  name,  from  La  Haye-de-Puits  in 
Manche.  "  Hence  came  the  great  Eudo  Dapifer,"  says 
Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  "who  acquired,  whether  by  force  or 
favour,  the  largest  proportions  by  robbery,  called  Conquest, 
in  the  counties  of  Sussex,  Essex,  and  Suffolk."  William 
de  la  Hay  settled  in  Lothian  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  was  Chief  Butler  of  Scotland  in  the  reigns  of 
Malcolm  IV.  and  William  the  Lion. 

Ross  is,  again,  most  probably  Norman.  Five  of  the  name 
Le  Roux  are  entered  in  Domesday.  The  origin  of  the  clan 
is,  however,  attributed  to  one  Paul  Mactire,  who  was  granted 
lands  in  Gairloch  in  1366  by  William,  Earl  of  Ross  and 
Lord  of  Skye. 

Campbell  is  supposed  to  be  De  Campobello,  or  Beauchamp, 
but  this  is  very  doubtful.  The  clan  rose  upon  the  ruin  of 
the  MacDonalds,  and  its  whole  policy  for  ages  was  to 
supplant  and  ruin  that  race,  leading  to  the  massacre  of 
Glencoe,  that  has  left  an  indelible  stain  on  its  badge  of  the 
wild-myrtle. 

The  clan  first  appears  on  record  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  name  occurs  at  the  same  time 
as  a  good  many  other  Anglo-Norman  importations  into 
Scotland.  The  Campbells  were  allied  with  the  Norman 
Bruce,  and  there  can  exist  very  little  doubt  that  they  are  of 
Anglo-Norman  descent. 

Chisholm. — The  chieftain  of  this  clan  is  also  asserted  to  be 
of  foreign  origin.  An  old  chief  of  the  clan  was  wont  to  say 
that  there  were  but  three  persons  in  the  world  entitled  to  be 
called  the — the  King,  the  Pope,  and  the  Chisholm. 

The  Drummonds,  according  to  tradition,  descend  from 
Maurice,  grandson  of  Andrew,  King  of  Hungary,  who,  it  is 
pretended,  accompanied  Edgar  Etheling  into  Scotland,  and 
received  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Drummond  in  Stirlingshire 
from  Malcolm  III.  This  is  probably  not  true,  but  points  to 
the  belief  that  the  headship  of  the  clan  was  in  a  family  of 
foreign  origin. 

Dundas. — The  family  descends  from  one  Serlo,  in  the  time 
of  William  the  Lion.  The  name  Serlo  indicates  a  Norman 
origin. 

377 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Gunn. — This  clan  is  probably  derived  from  a  Norse  chief 
of  the  name  of  Gunnar,  in  Caithness,  which  was  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  Scandinavian  Earls  of  Orkney. 

MacDougal. — A  clan  that  descends  from  Somerled  of  the 
Isles.  Somerled  is  a  Norse  name,  and  signifies  a  Viking 
harrying  in  the  summer.  He  died  in  1164.  He  married  the 
granddaughter  of  Godred  Crovan,  a  Norse  King  of  Man. 
Olaf  Bitling,  his  father,  had  spent  his  youth  at  the  Court  of 
Henry  I.  of  England;  he  married  the  daughter  of  Fergus, 
Lord  of  Galloway,  a  granddaughter  of  Henry  I.  Somerled 
was  the  Scandinavian  Lord  of  Argyll. 

The  MacLeods  also  form  a  clan  subdivided  into  two  sub- 
clans,  issuing  from  two  Norsemen — Thorkell  and  Thormod. 

The  Menzies,  pronounced  "  Menies,"  derive  from  the  Nor- 
man family  of  Menieres,  Sieurs  de  la  Gaudiniere.  In  England, 
Gilbert  de  Menieres  held  three  parts  of  a  knight's-fee  of  the 
Archbishop  of  York  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  In  Scotland 
we  find  Alexander  de  Meyners,  son  of  Robert,  the  Chancellor 
of  Scotland,  holding  the  lands  of  Durrosdeer  in  Annandale 
in  1248 ;  he  was  of  the  retinue  of  the  Queen  of  Scotland.  It 
was  not  till  the  reign  of  Malcolm  III.  that  surnames  were 
introduced  into  Scotland,  and  that  of  Menzies  was  among 
the  first  that  were  adopted. 

The  noble  family  of  Lion  of  Strathmore  is  of  Norman 
extraction  ;  so  are  the  Maules. 

Maccus  was  the  name  of  one  of  David  I.'s  foreign  favour- 
ites—  probably  Anglo-Norman  —  and  he  was  given  large 
possessions.  He  called  his  chief  place  of  residence  Maccus- 
ville,  and  this  became  Maxwell}- 

Sinclair  is  also  a  family  and  name  of  Norman  origin.  The 
Sire  de  St.  Claire  is  named  in  the  "  Roman  de  Rou  "  as  having 
been  present  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  This  was  Richard 
de  St.  Clair.  His  brother  was  Britel,  and  it  was  in  all 
probability  William  Britel's  son  who  received  the  grant  of 
Rosslyn  in  Midlothian  from  David  I.  From  him  are 
descended  the  Sinclairs,  Earls  of  Orkney  and  Caithness. 

1  A  Maccus  was  one  of  the  gallant  three  who  defended  the  bridge  at 
Maldon  in  991. 

378 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Besides  William,  another  of  the  family  sought  his  fortunes 
in  Scotland,  Henry  de  St.  Clair,  who  was  made  Constable  of 
Scotland  in  1160,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  House  of 
Herdmanston,  now  represented  by  Lord  Sinclair. 

Elliott,  moreover,  is  a  Franco-Norman  name,  a  diminutive 
of  Elli  or  Elias,  as  we  have  Henriot,  Philipot,  etc. 

The  Hamiltons,  again,  are  of  Norman  descent,  and  derive 
from  Walter  FitzGilbert.  The  power  and  consequence  of 
the  Hamiltons  were  of  comparatively  late  date,  not  before 
the  royal  marriage  by  which  they  acquired  the  earldom  of 
Arran. 

Barclay  is  De  Berkelai.  Cheyne  is  Le  Chesne.  Mowat  is 
De  Mont  haut  (De  Monte  alto),  Muschets  is  Montfichet  (De 
Monte  fixo),  Veitch  is  De  Vesci,  and  Weir  De  Vere. 

But  if  Scotland  has  been  invaded  by  foreigners,  and  its 
very  clans  headed  by  or  named  after  chieftains  not  of 
Scottish  race,  Scotland  has  known  how  to  repay  the  world. 
Where  are  not  Scotchmen  now  to  be  found  ?  Half  the  noble 
families  in  Sweden  are  of  Scottish  ancestry.  In  India,  in 
South  Africa,  in  America,  they  are  everywhere,  and  every- 
where to  the  fore.  But  perhaps  the  oddest  of  all  instances 
is  that  of  Mogador  in  Morocco,  if  the  story  be  true. 

It  is  said  that  a  venturesome  Macdonald  from  the  Land  of 
Cakes  settled  at  that,  the  most  southern  point  of  Morocco, 
and,  not  finding  any  great  difference  in  creed  between  the 
fatalism  of  the  Koran  and  the  predestination  of  the  Lesser 
Catechism,  accommodated  himself  to  his  surroundings,  and 
lived  to  be  accounted  a  saint  by  the  Moors.  When  he  died 
he  was  canonized,  and  a  shrine  (kouba)  was  built  over  his 
body.  He  was  called  Sid  Mogdoul,  or  Mogdour ;  pil- 
grimages were  made  to  it,  and  prayers  offered  to  him ;  and 
thus  arose  the  town  of  Mogador.1 

The  clans  were  by  no  means  early  in  assuming  uniform 

fixed   surnames   instead   of  fluctuating    patronymics.     The 

MacDonalds  and  others  had  no  recognized  general  surname 

till  the  eighteenth  century.     Moreover,  as  may  be  guessed 

from  what  has  been  said  above,  the  settlement  of  a  powerful 

1  Chambers^  Edinburgh  Journal,  March,  1909. 

379 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Southern  or  foreign  family  in  the  Highlands  was  followed  by 
the  sudden  spread  of  their  name  throughout  the  dwellers  in  the 
neighbouring  glens,  although  not  in  the  smallest  degree  akin 
in  blood  ;  but  the  native  inhabitants,  having  no  surnames  of 
their  own,  and  being  desirous  of  placing  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  these  foreign  newcomers,  readily  adopted  the 
name  of  their  lords.  Even  after  surnames  had  become 
common  in  the  Highlands,  we  find  that  clans  or  groups  of 
natives  made  petition  to  assume  such  names.  Some  small 
clans  of  the  Braes  of  Angus  by  this  means  acquired  the  sur- 
name otLyon.  Many  more  in  Argyll  and  the  Isles  abandoned 
their  name  of  Awe,  and  called  themselves  Maccallummore. 
The  Anglo-French  family  of  Gordon  was  hardly  settled  in 
Strathbolgy  before  the  whole  country  round  swarmed  with 
men  who  called  themselves  Gordons.1 

The  Camerons,  or  Crooked  Noses,  are  undoubtedly  a  sept  of 
the  ancient  clan  Chattan.  The  clan  Dhaibhidh,  or  David- 
sons^ are  almost  certainly  of  Gaelic  origin ;  so  also  the  Douglas 
family  and  the  Farquharsons  issued  from  the  clan  Chattan  ; 
probably  also  the  Grahams,  and  certainly  the  Lomonds.  The 
MacAlisters  are  descended  from  Alister  Mor,  Lord  of  the  Isles 
and  Kintyre  in  1284.  The  Mac  Alpine  clan  is,  along  with  the 
clan  Chattan,  the  most  ancient  that  exist,  but  both  are  broken 
up  into  subclans.  The  old  Gaelic  saying,  "  Cnuic  is  willt 
is  Ailpeanaich,"  intimates  that  the  clan  is  as  venerable  as  the 
hills.  The  crest  of  the  MacAlpines  was  a  boar's  head 
couped,  dripping  blood,  with  the  motto  in  Gaelic,  "  Remem- 
ber the  death  of  Alpin,"  referring  to  the  murder  of  King 
Alpin  by  Brude,  King  of  the  Picts,  in  834,  but  looks  farther 
back  to  the  totem  of  the  tribe,  a  boar. 

The  MacBeans  form  a  clan  that  is  a  sept  of  the  Camerons. 
The  name  has  been  anglicized  into  Baynes. 

The  MacDonald  clan  is  of  high  antiquity,  and  descends  from 
Gille  Brude,  a  Pict.  There  are  branches,  those  of  Glencoe, 
of  Clanronald,  of  Glengarry,  of  the  Isles  and  Sleat ;  also  there 
are  Macdonalds  of  Staffa.  Their  badge  is  the  common  heath. 

1  Innes,  Cosmo,  "  Concerning  some  Scotch  Surnames."  Edinburgh, 
1860. 

380 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

The  Macduff  clan  is  formed  out  of  the  clan  Chattan.  Its 
badge  is  a  sprig  of  box. 

Macfarlane  is  a  clan  occupying  the  western  bank  of  Loch 
Lomond.  The  name  signifies  Son  of  Bartholomew,  and 
derives  from  one  so  called,  grandson  of  Duncan  MacGilchrist, 
a  younger  brother  of  Malduin,  Earl  of  Lennox.  The  badge 
is  the  cranberry. 

Macintosh,  a  branch  of  the  clan  Chattan. 

Machines,  the  clan  of  the  sons  of  Angus,  hereditary  bow- 
men to  the  chiefs  of  MacKinnon.  Maclntyre  is  a  branch  of 
the  MacDonalds. 

Mackay. — Siol  Mhorgain  was  the  ancient  name  of  the 
Mackays,  a  Celtic  stock  that  retreated  into  the  mountains 
before  the  invading  Northmen.  The  badge  is  a  bulrush. 

MacKenzie,  the  clan  of  the  sons  of  Kenneth. 

MacKinlay,  the  sons  of  Fionnladh,  anglicized  into  Finlay. 

MacKinnon,  a  sept  of  MacAlpine.  MacLachlan,  in  Argyll- 
shire, in  Strathlachlan  ;  their  badge  is  a  sprig  of  ash. 

Maclaren. — This  clan  is  of  Celtic  origin,  and  occupied  a 
narrow  strip  of  country  extending  from  Lochearnhead  to 
the  lands  of  the  MacGregor  of  Glengyle.  These  latter  are  of 
the  MacAlpine  stock. 

MacLean  (actually  Mac-giolla-Ean),  signifies  the  son  of 
the  servant  of  John.  The  badge  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Mackenzies — a  sprig  of  holly — indicating  a  common 
origin.  The  clan  is  said  to  have  originated  with  the  sons  of 
Gill-ian,  "  with  the  battle-axe,"  a  Celtic  chief  whose  date  is 
undetermined.  The  lands  of  the  clan  are  in  the  Isle  of 
Mull.  So  also  are  those  of  the  MacLaines,  which  issues  from 
Hector  Reganach,  brother  of  Lauchlan  Labanach,  from 
whom  sprang  the  MacLeans  of  Duast.  The  MacMillans  were 
dependents  on  the  clan  Cameron. 

MacNaughten. — This  clan  descends  from  Nectan,  a  Pictish 
King.  The  lands  were  in  the  Isle  of  Lorn,  and  its  badge 
the  trailing  wild-azalea. 

The  MacNeils,  divided  into  two  septs,  occupying  the  western 
isles  of  Gigha  and  Barra,  have  the  same  badge  as  the  Laments, 
the  clover  or  trefoil,  and  probably  have  the  same  origin. 

The  clan  MacQiiarrie  is  very  ancient,  and  is  descended 

381 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

from  the  Dalriadic  Scottish  Princes.  It  is  a  branch  of  the  clan 
MacAlpine.  Munro  is  an  ancient  clan,  planted  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Cromarty  Firth.  The  badge  is  the  club-moss. 
Murray  also  is  an  ancient  Celtic  clan,  its  badge  the 
butcherVbroon.  Robertson,  a  clan  in  Perthshire,  called  in 
the  Highlands  the  clan  Domnachie,  is  descended  from  the 
House  of  Athole.  Rose  is  the  clan  Na  Rosaich  of  Kilravoch, 
the  badge  a  sprig  of  rosemary.  Skene  is  a  Celtic  clan  in 
Aberdeenshire.  The  Sutherland  clan  is  made  up  of  refugees 
from  the  depredations  of  the  Norsemen.  Urquhart  is  a  clan 
so  called  from  the  district  of  that  name  in  Inverness.  Its 
badge  is  the  wallflower. 

Indeed,  a  considerable  number  of  Scottish  surnames  are 
derived  from  places.  Such  are  Crawford,  Dundas,  Cunning  - 
hame  (the  home  of  the  King),  Dunbar,  Wemyss,  and  Mon~ 
crieff. 

Gill  is  the  Celtic  for  "  servant,"  and  Gilder oy  is  the  King's 
servant,  Gillchrist  the  servant  of  our  Lord,  Gillpatrick  the 
servant  of  Patrick,  Gilmory  the  servant  of  Mary,  Gillescop 
or  Gillespie  the  Bishop's  servant,  Gilmore  the  head-servant. 
Gillie. is  really  Gill- Jesus. 

Another  word  was  in  use  to  describe  one  in  subjection, 
and  that  was  Gwaeth  or  Gwas.  This  we  have  in  Gospatrick. 
This  meant  that  the  person  so  named  was  placed  under  the 
special  patronage  of  the  saint  whose  name  he  bore.  We 
have  a  corruption  of  Gwas  in  Gossoon.  Mael  in  composition 
signifies  the  bald  or  shaven  devotee  of  a  saint.  Malcolm 
means  the  servant  of  Columba.  A  word  that  enters  into 
several  Scottish  surnames,  as  Dalhousie,  Dalrymple,  Dalziel, 
is  Dal.  This  signified  first  of  all  a  portion,  and  is  akin  to 
the  German  theil.  It  came  later  to  designate  a  field,  as 
something  taken  out  of  the  common. 

By  an  Act  of  the  Scottish  Privy  Council,  April  3,  1603, 
the  name  of  MacGregor  was  expressly  abolished,  and  those 
who  had  hitherto  borne  it  were  commanded  to  change  it  for 
other  surnames,  the  pain  of  death  being  denounced  against 
those  who  should  call  themselves  Gregor  or  MacGregor,  their 
clan  names.  By  a  subsequent  Act  of  Council,  June  24,  1613, 

382 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

death  was  denounced  against  any  person  of  the  clan  found 
still  bearing  either  of  these  names.  Again,  by  an  Act  of 
Parliament,  1617,  these  laws  were  reinforced  and  extended 
to  the  rising  generation,  inasmuch  as  great  numbers  of  the 
children  of  those  against  whom  the  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council 
had  been  directed  were  stated  to  be  then  approaching  to 
maturity,  who,  if  permitted  to  resume  the  name  of  their 
parents,  would  render  the  clan  as  strong  as  it  was  before. 
On  the  Restoration,  King  Charles  II.,  in  the  first  Scottish 
Parliament  of  his  reign  (1661),  annulled  the  various  Acts 
against  the  clan  MacGregor,  and  restored  the  members  to 
the  full  use  of  the  name. 

We  will  now  turn  to  Ireland.  There  there  were  large 
tribes.  In  the  South,  for  instance,  were  the  Hy  Faelain, 
Hy  Failghe,  Hy  Bairche,  Hy  Cinnselach,  Hy  Liadhain, 
Hy  Fiachach,  Corca  Laighe,  Corca  Duibhne,  Hy  Cearb- 
hail,  Hy  Fidgeinte,  etc.  But  in  Ireland  as  in  Scotland  every 
tribe  was  broken  up  into  septs.  What  the  sept  was  to  the 
tribe,  that  the  homestead  was  to  the  sept.  The  head  of  a 
tribe,  or  tuath,  was  called  rig.  The  head  of  a  clan,  or  fine, 
was  entitled  ceanfine,  and  the  head  of  a  household  was  an 
aire.  But  an  aire  whose  family  had  occupied  the  same  house 
and  land  for  three  generations  was  entitled  to  be  called  a 
flaith,  or  lord,  and  was  ripe  to  become  the  head  of  a  fresh 
segregation  of  children  and  followers  in  a  subclan. 

The  flaiths  of  the  different  septs  were  vassals  of  the  rig, 
and  performed  certain  functions  for  him,  which  in  course  of 
time  became  hereditary. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  word  dal  as  signifying  a  part 
or  portion.  The  word  was  applied  to  that  division  of  the  clan 
Riada  that  migrated  from  Ireland  into  Alba,  as  it  was  then 
called.1  Then  it  was  that  most  of  Scotland  fell  under  the 
domination  of  the  Irish  Gaels,  the  Dalriadic  Scots  who 
conferred  the  name  of  Scotland  on  North  Britain. 

In  Ireland  the  head  of  a  tribe  gave  his  name  to  his  de- 
scendants and  followers,  who  called  themselves  by  his  name, 
preceded  by  hua  or  hy,  meaning  grandson ;  and  this  has  been 
1  Bede,  "  Hist.  Eccl.,"  i.  i. 
383 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

anglicized  into  O',  as  O'Neal,  for  Hua  Nial.  Hua  Concha- 
bair  has  become  in  English  O'Connor,  and  Hua  Suilleabhain 
is  &  Sullivan. 

The  ancient  Irish,  like  the  Gaelic  Highlanders,  had  their 
personal  names,  and  that  of  the  sept  to  which  they  be- 
longed. Should  there  be  need  for  discrimination  between 
those  of  the  same  Christian  name,  the  same  mode  of  dis- 
tinguishing one  from  another  was  pursued  in  Ireland  as  in 
the  Scottish  Highlands. 

In  the  tenth  century  King  Brian  Boru  is  said  to  have 
issued  an  edict  that  the  descendants  of  the  heads  of  tribes 
and  families  then  in  power  should  take  name  from  them, 
either  from  the  fathers  or  grandfathers,  and  that  these  names 
should  become  hereditary  and  fixed  for  ever.  In  compliance 
with  this  mandate,  the  O'Brians  of  Thomond  took  their 
name  from  the  monarch  Brian  Boru  himself,  who  was  slain 
in  the  Battle  of  Clontarf  in  the  year  1014.  Other  family 
names  were  formed  either  from  the  name  of  the  chieftains 
who  had  fought  in  the  battle  or  from  those  of  their  sons  or 
fathers.  Thus,  the  O'Mahonys  of  Desmond  are  named  from 
Mahon,  the  son  of  Kian,  King  of  Desmond,  who  fought  in 
that  battle ;  the  O'Donohues  from  Donogh,  whose  father 
Donnell  was  the  second  in  command  over  the  Eugenian 
forces  in  the  same  battle;  the  0' Donovans  from  Donovan, 
whose  son  Cathel  commanded  the  Hy  Caibre  in  the  same 
battle;  the  O'Dugans  of  Fermoy  from  Dugan,  whose  son 
Gevenagh  commanded  the  sept  of  the  Druid  Mogh  Roth  in  the 
same  battle  ;  the  O'Faelans  or  Phelans,  of  the  Desiis,  derived 
from  Faolan,  whose  son  Mothla  commanded  the  Desii  of 
Munster  in  the  same  memorable  battle ;  the  MacMurroughs 
of  Leinster  deduced  their  descent  from  Murrough,  whose  son 
Mael  Mordha,  King  of  Leinster,  assisted  the  Danes  against 
the  Irish  monarch.  The  MacCarthys  of  Desmond  are  named 
after  Carthach,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Irish  annals  as 
having  fought  in  the  Battle  of  Maelkenny  in  1043 ;  the 
O'Conors  of  Connaught  from  Conor,  or  Concowar,  who  died 
in  971 ;  the  O'Melaghlins  of  Meath,  the  chief  of  the  Southern 
Hy  Nial  race,  from  Maelseachlainn,  or  Malachy  II.,  monarch 

384 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

of  Ireland,  who  died  in  the  year  1022 ;  the  Mogillapatricks, 
or  Fitzpatricks,  of  Ossory,  from  Gillapatrick,  chief  of  Ossory, 
who  was  killed  in  the  year  995  ;  etc. 

It  does  not  at  all  follow  in  Ireland,  any  more  than  in 
Scotland,  that  those  who  bear  the  tribal  name  have  any 
blood  of  the  family  in  their  veins,  as  there  existed  from  a 
very  early  period  a  system  of  adoption  into  a  tribe.  Run- 
aways could  obtain  absorption  if  they  had  committed  a 
murder  or  some  other  crime  that  would  bring  on  them  either 
death  or  a  heavy  fine. 

Irish  names  went  through  great  fluctuations  subsequent 
to  their  first  introduction,  and  names  that  have  been  borne 
for  two  or  more  generations  were  exchanged  for  others. 
Thus  the  O'Malbrogi  of  Moybrugh  became  MacDermot,  and 
O'Laughlin,  head  of  the  Northern  Hy  Niall,  MacLaughlin. 

Families,  when  assuming  a  surname  went  back  many 
generations,  so  as  to  be  able  to  call  themselves  after  the 
most  illustrious  name  in  the  race.  Thus  the  O'Neills  and 
the  MacNeills  derive  from  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  who 
received  St.  Patrick,  and  died  in  405. 

Mr.  O'Donovan,  quoted  by  Lower,  mentions  an  instance  of  a 
John  Mageoghan  of  Galway  who  applied  to  King  George  IV. 
for  licence  to  reject  the  surname  which  his  family  had  borne 
for  eight  centuries,  derived  from  the  illustrious  King  Eoghain, 
in  order  that  he  might  adopt  a  new  name  from  a  still  more 
ancient  and  illustrious  ancestor — to  wit,  that  same  Niall  of  the 
Nine  Hostages  who  lived  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and 
his  son  and  successor  wrote  himself  John  Augustus  O'Neill. 
In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  when  the  Irish 
families  had  increased,  and  their  territories  underwent  sub- 
division among  branches  of  the  same  sept,  each  chieftain  for 
distinction's  sake  adopted  some  addition  to  the  family  name 
as  a  means  of  distinction.  Thus  there  was  the  MacDermot, 
the  head  of  the  race,  and  the  branch-lines  of  MacDermot 
Roe  (the  Red),  and  MacDermot  Gull  (the  anglicized) ; 
again,  MacCarthy  Mor  (the  Great),  and  MacCarthy  Reagh 
(the  Swarthy),  and  MacCarthy  Muscreragh  (of  Muskerry, 
the  place  of  his  residence) ;  and,  again,  O'Connor  Roe  (the 

385  BB 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

Red-haired)  and  O'Connor  Don  (the  Brown-haired).  All 
these  additional  names  were  perpetuated  by  the  representa- 
tives of  each  branch  for  a  long  period,  and  even  now  are  not 
extinct.  Mr.  O'Donovan  says  :  "  After  the  murder  in  1333 
of  William  de  Burgo,  third  Earl  of  Ulster  of  that  name,  and 
the  lessening  of  the  English  power  which  resulted  from  it, 
many,  if  not  all,  the  Anglo-Norman  families  located  in 
Connaught  became  Hibernicized — Hibernis  ipsis  Hiberniores 
— spoke  the  Irish  language,  and  assumed  surnames  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Irish  by  prefixing  '  Mac  '  to  the  Christian  names 
of  their  ancestors.  Thus  the  De  Burgos  took  the  name  of 
Mac  William  from  their  ancestor  William  de  Burgo,  '  from 
whom  sprang  many  offshoots,  who  took  other  names  from 
their  respective  ancestors.'  Thus  originated  the  Mac- 
Davids,  MacShoneens  (from  John,  and  now  changed  to 
Jennings),  MacGibbons,  MacAndrew,  and  many  others, 
the  very  plebeian  name  of  MacPhaudeen  from  an  ancestor 
called  Paudeen,  or  Little  Patrick.  The  De  Exeters  assumed 
the  name  of  Macjordan  from  Jordan  de  Exeter,  the  founder 
of  that  family,  and  the  N  angles  that  of  MacCostello  ;  .  .  .  a 
branch  of  the  Butlers  took  the  name  MacPierce,  and  the 
Powers  or  Poers  that  of  MacShere. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  Irish  families  who  lived  within 
the  English  pale  and  in  its  vicinity  gradually  conformed  to 
the  English  custom  and  assumed  English  surnames,  and 
their  doing  so  was  deemed  to  be  of  such  political  importance 
that  it  was  thought  worthy  of  consideration  by  Parliament." 

In  1485  an  Act  was  passed  entitled  "  An  Act  that  the 
Irishmen  dwelling  in  the  counties  of  Dublin,  Myeth,  Wriall, 
and  Kildare,  shall  gae  apparelled  like  English  men,  and 
ware  their  heads  after  the  English  maner,  sweare  allegiance, 
and  take  English  surnames."  This  Act  directed  every 
Irishman  whom  it  concerned  to  "  take  to  him  an  English 
surname  of  one  towne,  as  Sutton,  Chester,  Trym,  Skryne, 
Corke,  Kinsale,  or  colour  as  White,  Blacke,  Browne;  and 
that  he  and  his  issue  shall  use  this  name  under  payne  of 
forfeiting  of  his  goods  yearly  till  the  premises  be  done." 

Thus  constrained,  the  Mac-  and  O' Go  wans  became  Smiths  ; 

386 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

the  Shonachs,  Foxes;  the  Maclntires,  Carpenters;  the  Mac- 
Cogrys,  I'Estranges ;  and  the  MacKillies,  Cocks. 

The  process  of  anglicizing  Irish  surnames  has  gone  on 
since  then  to  our  own  times.  After  the  Battles  of  Aughrim 
and  the  Boyne,  and  the  complete  overthrow  of  James  II., 
numerous  families  of  all  ranks  assimilated  their  names  to  the 
English  by  the  rejection  of  their  old  characteristic  prefixes, 
and  by  an  accommodated  orthography.  One  Felim  O'Neill, 
a  gentleman,  changed  his  name  to  Felix  Neele.  O'Marachain 
became  Markham,  and  O'Beirne  has  been  altered  into  Byron, 
O'Dulaine  to  Delany. 

Other  families  Gallicized  their  names,  as  O'Ducy  to 
D'Arcy,  O'Malley  to  Du  Maillet,  O'Melaville  to  Lavelle, 
O'Dowling  to  Du  Laing. 

Old  names  have  gone  through  abrasion.  MacGennis 
is  now  Guinness,  Conry  is  short  for  O'Mulconry,  Kilkenny  for 
MacGillakenny.  The  process  of  assimilation  has  extended 
to  Christian  names.  Conor  has  been  supplanted  by  Cor- 
nelius, Eoghain  by  Eugene,  Aidan  by  Hugh,  Donogh  by 
Denis,  Moriartagh  by  Mortimer,  Donnell  by  Daniel,  Ardgal 
by  Arnold,  Ferdorogh  by  Ferdinand,  and  Mogue  by  Moses. 

Some  Irish  names  were  simply  translated  into  English. 
Thus  Shannach  became  Fox,  and  MacChoghree  became 
Kingstone.  From  Joscelin  de  Angelo  came  the  surname  of 
N angle,  and  from  MacGostelin  that  of  Costello.  Sir  Odo, 
the  Archdeacon,  had  a  son  MacOdo,  which  has  been 
vulgarized  into  Cody. 

To  such  an  extent  have  names  been  altered  in  Ireland 
that  in  some  cases  it  is  only  possible  by  a  reference  to  parish 
registers  and  to  wills  to  discover  to  what  race  a  family 
belongs,  whether  Irish  or  English. 

A  large  number  of  Scotchmen  and  some  English  entered, 
the  service  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
The  Marquis  of  Hamilton  raised  a  troop  in  1631  for  the 
Swedish  service,  under  the  guidance  of  his  maternal  relative 
Alexander  Leslie.  Many  of  these  remained  in  Sweden,  and 
were  there  enrolled.  But  there  had  been  levies  long  before 
that.  Scottish  soldiers  formed  part  of  the  army  of  Sweden 

387  BB  2 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 


as  early  as  1563.  On  July  30  King  Eric  XIV.  wrote  to 
a  Master  Marten  to  raise  2,000  men  in  Scotland.  The 
officers  of  this  first  levy  were  William  Colquhoun — whom 
the  Swedes  called  Kahun — James  Henderson,  William 
Ruthven,  Thomas  Buchan,  and  Robert  Crichton.  But  in 
1566  we  hear  of  others  of  the  names  of  Stuart,  Wallace, 
Fullerton,  Murray,  Monraff  (?  Monroe),  Young,  Greig,  Bisset, 
Lockhart,  Galloway,  and  Kerr. 

In  1573  was  another  levy  of  Scottish  soldiers;  in  1591 
there  was  a  third  ;  and  in  1595  we  find  the  following  Scottish 
names  of  officers  in  Swedish  pay :  Williamson,  Johnston, 
King,  Cunninghame — called  by  the  Swedes  Kunnigam — 
Allan,  Wetterson,  and  Robinson.  In  1598  we  meet  also 
with  a  Keith  and  a  Neafre,  whom  the  Swedes  entitled 
Naf.  He  belonged  to  an  ancient  family  in  Forfar,  now 
extinct. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  in  1612  had  more  Scottish  mercenaries 
fighting  under  his  banner,  commanded  by  Colonel  Ruther- 
ford, Captain  Learmouth,  Waucorse,  and  Greig.  King 
James  and  the  Council  forbade  this  levying  of  recruits  in 
Scotland ;  but  the  service  was  lucrative,  and  many  managed 
to  escape.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  1612  a  party  of  these,  to 
the  number  of  300,  under  Colonel  Ramsay  and  Captains 
Hay  and  Sinclair,  landed  in  Norway,  but  were  massacred 
by  the  peasants.  The  site  is  still  marked  and  pointed  out 
to  travellers.  Brook,  in  his  "  Travels  through  Sweden  and 
Norway"  (1823),  gives  an  illustration  representing  the 
monument  on  the  site  of  the  tragedy. 

In  1630  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  brought  over  1,000 
Scots  to  fight  under  "the  Lion  of  the  North."  There  were 
further  levies  in  1636  and  1638.  Charles  XII.  was  accom- 
panied on  his  campaigns  by  a  large  number  of  Scottish 
officers — mostly  scions  of  families  whose  members  had 
served  his  father  and  grandfather,  or  even  won  laurels  under 
the  great  Gustavus.  Among  them  we  meet  with  the 
Douglases,  Hamiltons,  Macdougals — who  in  Sweden  figured 
as  Duwalls — Ramsays,  Spensers,  and  Sinclairs.  But  it  was 
not  only  in  the  army  that  Scots  appeared  in  Sweden ;  they 

388 


SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  SURNAMES 

came  and  settled  there  as  merchants  as  well,  and  there 
amassed  large  fortunes. 

Scottish  names,  however,  became  curiously  disguised  in 
the  families  they  founded,  and,  indeed,  in  the  contemporary 
army  lists.  Robsahm  stands  for  Robson  or  Robinson ; 
Sinckler  for  Sinclair ;  Wudd  for  Wood ;  Forbus  is  Forbes  ; 
Boij  is  Boyes ;  Bothwell  becomes  Bossveld  ;  Bruce  is  spelled 
Brux  and  Bryssz ;  Colquhoun  is  rendered  not  only  Kahun, 
but  also  Canonhjelm  ;  Douglas  becomes  Duglitz,  and  Findlay 
is  rendered  Finlaij  ;  Greig  expands  into  Greiggenschildt ; 
and  some  entirely  changed  their  names. 

An  interesting  account  of  "  The  Scots  in  Sweden  "  is  by 
Th.  A.  Fischer  (Edinburgh,  1907).  A  list  of  those  there 
ennobled  is  to  be  found  in  Horace  Marryatt's  "One  Year 
in  Sweden  "  (London,  1862,  vol.  ii.,  appendix). 

But  Scots  also  settled  extensively  in  Poland  and  Eastern 
Prussia  as  tradesmen  and  merchants,  married,  and  there 
founded  families.  Their  names  are  to  be  found  in  the  town 
registers  of  Warsaw,  Cracow,  Danzig,  Tilsit,  Memel,  Posen, 
etc.  Strangely  altered  some  of  them  are  in  spelling,  as 
Agnitz  for  Agnew,  Bethon  for  Beaton,  Kaubrun  for  Cock- 
burn,  Gloch  for  Gloag,  Erdthur  for  Arthur.  For  a  full 
account  of  "  The  Scots  in  Germany,"  see  a  work  bearing 
that  title  by  Fischer  (Edinburgh,  1902). 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Scottish  Guard  had  a 
glorious  career  in  France.  He  who  desires  information  on 
this  interesting  subject  must  consult  Michel  (F.),  "  Les 
Ecossais  en  France,  et  les  Frangais  en  6cosse  "  (London, 
1862) ;  and  Burton  (J.  H.),  "  The  Scot  Abroad  "  (Edinburgh, 
1898,  vol.  i.). 


389 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CHANGED  NAMES 

THE  great  family  of  Mowbray  was  really  De  Albini.  In 
1095  Robert  de  Mowbray,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  rebelled 
against  William  Rufus,  and  was  captured  at  Tynemouth 
and  brought  to  Windsor,  where  he  was  confined  in  a  sub- 
terranean dungeon  for  thirty-four  miserable  years.  He  had 
but  recently  married  Maude  de  1'Aigle,  but  the  Pope's  licence 
was  purchased  and  her  marriage  dissolved,  and  she  was  then 
married  to  Nigel  de  Albini;  and  her  son,  Robert,  by  this 
second  husband,  born  whilst  the  first  husband  was  still  alive 
and  languishing  in  a  dungeon,  assumed  the  name  of  Mowbray 
along  with  his  father  by  order  of  Henry  I. 

Nigel,  bow-bearer  to  William  Rufus  and  Henry  L,  had 
dismounted  Robert,  Duke  of  .Normandy,  in  the  Battle  of 
Tenchbray,  and  had  brought  him  prisoner  to  the  King,  his 
brother.  It  was  in  reward  for  this  achievement  that  Henry 
granted  him,  in  1106,  the  lands  of  the  attainted  Mowbray  as 
well  as  the  name  of  the  unfortunate  man.  This  name  of 
Mowbray  the  De  Albinis  retained  as  long  as  the  issue  male 
continued,  which  determined  in  John  Mowbray,  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  in  the  time  of  King  Edward  IV.,  and  his  heiresses 
married  into  the  families  of  Howard  and  Berkley.  There 
is  this  to  be  said  in  excuse  for  the  change  of  name — that 
Nigel  d'Albini's  mother  had  been  a  Mowbray. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  one  of  the  nobles  of  his  Court, 
holding  hereditary  honours  and  lands,  had  no  surname  at  all. 
Each  successor  to  his  father  was  known  as  ¥itz  So-and-so. 
This  noble  was  John  FitzRobert,  but,  on  account  of  the 
bewilderment  caused  by  the  continuous  change  of  designa- 

390 


CHANGED  NAMES 

tion,  Edward  required  him  thenceforth  to  bear  the  name  of 
his  barony,  Clavering ;  this  he  did  accordingly,  and  thence- 
forth was  known  as  John  de  Clavering. 

Richard  Williams,  a  gentleman  of  Wales,  who  had  married 
a  sister  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  whom  Henry  VIII.  created 
Earl  of  Essex  just  before  cutting  off  his  head  for  having 
saddled  him  with  Anne  of  Cleves  for  a  wife,  was  ordered  by 
the  King  to  assume  the  name  of  Cromwell ;  he  did  so,  and 
became  an  ancestor  of  the  Protector. 

These  instances  show  that  the  Crown  claimed  as  a  privilege 
the  right  to  give  or  to  change  a  name.  At  the  same  time,  it 
is  quite  certain  that  it  was  a  claim  not  enforced,  and  that 
the  vast  majority  of  people  called  themselves  by  whatever 
names  they  liked.  Sir  Charles  Somerset,  bastard  son  of 
Beaufort,  Duke  of  Somerset,  assumed  his  father's  surname 
of  Beaufort ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  original  Beaufort, 
illegitimate  son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  was  not  suffered  to  call 
himself  Plantagenet.  Yet  another  bastard,  the  Viscount  de 
1'Isle,  was  allowed  by  the  Crown  to  name  himself  Plantagenet. 
The  surname  of  Stuart  was  vetoed  to  the  Dukes  of  Rich- 
mond, Grafton,  St.  Albans,  and  Monmouth,  all  base  slips  of 
Charles  II.,  and  they  were  constrained  to  call  themselves 
Lennox,  Fitzroy,  Beauclerk. 

A  considerable  number  of  our  nobility  have  changed  their 
surnames,  or  have  pieced  on  an  additional  name  to  that 
which  is  theirs  by  lineal  descent  on  the  paternal  side. 

The  great  Duke  of  Wellington  was  not  a  Wellesley,  but  a 
Colley.  His  grandfather,  Richard  Colley,  assumed  the  name 
of  a  relative  Wesley,  but  expanded  it  to  Wellesley.  Another 
branch  of  the  family  still  retains  the  name  of  Colley,  but 
altered  into  Cowley,  as  less  reminiscent  of  the  nursery  rhyme 
of  "  Colley,  my  Cow." 

"A  story,  a  story,  I'll  tell  you  just  now, 

It's  all  about  killing  of  Colly,  my  cow  ; 

Ah  !  my  pretty  Colly,  poor  Colly,  my  cow  ! 

Poor  Colly  will  give  no  more  milk  to  me  now, 
And  that  is  the  way  my  fortune  doth  go." 

The  Duke  of  Northumberland  is  not  a  Percy,  but  a  Smithson, 
his  ancestor,   Sir   Hugh    Smithson,    having    acquired   the 


CHANGED  NAMES 

honours  of  the  House  of  Percy  through  his  grandmother. 
Lord  Clarendon  is  not  a  Hyde,  but  a  Villiers ;  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough  not  a  Churchill,  but  a  Spencer.  Lord  Dacre 
is  not  a  Trevor,  but  a  Brand.  Lord  Wilton  is  not  an 
Egerton,  but  a  Grosvenor ;  Lord  de  Tabley  not  a  Warren, 
but  a  Leicester.  Earl  Nelson  is  a  Bolton  ;  his  grandfather 
was  Thomas  Bolton,  who  married  the  sister  of  the  great 
Admiral. 

The  late  Lord  Anglesea  was  not  a  Paget,  but  a  Bayley. 
Viscount  Clifden,  Lord  Robartes,  is  not  a  Robartes,  but  an 
Agar ;  but  the  great  estates  in  Cornwall  come  through  the 
Robartes  family,  properly  Roberts.  The  Earl  of  Haddington 
is  not  a  Hamilton,  but  an  Arden ;  Viscount  Montmorency  is 
not  a  Montmorency,  but  a  Morres ;  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury 
is  not  a  Talbot,  but  a  Chetwynd. 

The  Sieur  de  Monceaux  came  over  with  the  Conqueror, 
and  was  given  large  estates  in  Sussex.  His  family  ended  in 
a  distaff,  and  the  heiress  married  a  country  squire  named 
Hurst,  who  assumed  her  surname  on  coming  into  the  exten- 
sive possessions  of  the  Monceaux,  and  built  the  mansion  which 
combined  their  names — Hurst-Monceaux.  But  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.  this  new  line  ended  in  an  heiress  again,  and 
she  carried  all  into  the  family  of  Fiennes. 

Geoffrey  Nevill  married  Emma,  the  heiress  of  a  great 
Norman  Baron,  Bertram  de  Bulmer.  Their  son  died  without 
issue,  and  their  daughter  Isabel  married  Robert,  son  of 
Maldred,  of  the  Anglian  race  of  Earls  of  Northumbria. 
This  son  was  Geoffrey,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Nevill, 
though  properly  FitzMaldred,  and  is  the  true  ancestor  of 
the  existing  family  of  Neville. 

The  Cavendishes  were  Guernons,  a  branch  of  the  family 
of  Montfichet.  Alured  Guernon,  brother  of  William  de 
Montfichet,  was  given  estates  in  Essex  and  Middlesex  in 
1130.  He  had  a  grandson,  Ralph,  father  of  William 
Guernon,  whose  son  Geoffrey  assumed  the  surname  of 
Cavendish  from  his  residence  of  the  name  in  Suffolk.  This 
Geoffrey  was  the  grandfather  of  Sir  John  Cavendish,  Chief 
Justice  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II. 

392 


CHANGED  NAMES 

Lord  Herries  is  not  a  Herries,  but  a  Constable.  In  1758 
William  Hagerston  Constable  married  the  heiress  of  Herries 
and  assumed  her  name. 

The  Viscounts  Doneraile  are  not  St.  Leger,  but  Aldworth. 
The  last  St.  Leger,  Viscount  Doneraile,  died  without  issue  in 
1767,  whereupon  his  estates  devolved  on  his  sister  Elizabeth, 
the  wife  of  Richard  Aldworth,  who  assumed  the  surname  of 
St.  Leger,  and  was  created  Viscount  Doneraile  in  1785.  She 
is  said  to  have  been  the  only  woman  in  the  world  who 
became  a  Freemason.  Her  father,  a  zealous  Mason,  some- 
times opened  the  lodge  at  Doneraile.  His  daughter,  curious 
to  witness  the  rite  of  initiation,  hid  herself  in  a  clock-case  in 
the  room.  After  witnessing  the  first  two  steps  in  the  cere- 
mony, she  became  frightened  and  tried  to  escape,  but  was 
caught.  According  to  the  story,  the  Masons  were  for  putting 
her  to  death,  but  were  induced  to  spare  her  life  at  the  entreaty 
of  her  brother,  on  condition  of  her  going  through  the  two 
steps  she  had  already  seen.  The  diploma  that  she  received 
is  carefully  preserved,  and  her  portrait,  with  a  glass  case 
containing  the  apron  and  jewel  she  was  wont  to  wear, 
remain  in  the  lodge-room  at  Cork. 

The  De  Traffords  were  De  Villiers.  Alan  de  Villiers, 
second  son  of  the  Baron  of  Warrington,  was  enfeoffed  by  his 
father  in  Trafford  in  the  time  of  Henry  I.,  whereupon  his 
descendants  have  borne  the  name  of  Trafford  to  this  day. 
The  crest  of  the  family  is  a  labouring  man  with  a  flail  in  his 
hand,  thrashing,  and  the  motto  is  "  Now  thus."  The  story 
goes  that  the  ancestor  fought  in  the  army  of  Harold  against 
the  Normans,  but  after  fled  the  rout,  and,  disguising  himself, 
went  into  his  barn,  and  was  thrashing  corn  when  the  pursuers 
entered.  Being  suspected  by  some  of  them,  he  was  asked 
why  he  so  abased  himself,  and  he  replied  :  "  Now  thus." 
The  story  is  mythical,  for  the  De  Villiers  was  a  Norman. 

Lord  Saye  and  Sele  is  not  a  Fiennes,  but  a  Twistleton.  The 
eighth  Viscount  and  last  male  heir  of  the  Fiennes  family 
died  out  in  1781,  when  his  barony  was  claimed  by  Thomas 
Twistleton,  as  representative  of  his  great-great-grandmother, 
Elizabeth  Fiennes,  eldest  daughter  of  the  second  Viscount, 

393 


CHANGED  NAMES 

who  had  married  John  Twistleton.     The  name  was  there- 
upon assumed. 

The  Mainwarings  of  Over  Peover  in  Cheshire  are  not 
Mainwarings,  have  not  one  drop  of  Mainwaring  blood  in 
their  veins.  The  Mainwarings  descended  from  Mesnil- 
Garin,  a  Norman  house.  But  in  1797  Sir  Henry  Main- 
waring,  Bart.,  the  last  of  his  race,  left  all  the  family  estates 
and  the  mansion  to  his  half-brother,  Thomas  Wetenhall, 
son  of  his  mother  by  a  former  marriage,  who  on  succeeding 
assumed  the  name  of  Mainwaring,  and  a  baronetcy  followed 
in  the  next  generation. 

Lord  Mostyn  is  not  a  Mostyn,  but  a  Lloyd.  Sir  Edward 
Pry ce- Lloyd,  Bart,  married  the  sister  and  co-heir  of  Sir 
Thomas  Mostyn,  Bart.,  and  was  created  Baron  Mostyn,  and 
assumed  his  wife's  name  in  addition  to  his  own. 

Charles  Stewart  Vane-Tempest,  Marquis  of  London- 
derry, is  in  reality  a  Stewart.  The  third  Marquis  for  his 
second  wife  married,  in  1819,  the  only  daughter  and  heir 
of  Sir  Harry  Vane-Tempest,  and  on  his  marriage  assumed, 
in  1829,  the  surname  of  Vane-Tempest.  Sir  Godfrey  Charles 
Morgan,  Viscount  Tredegar,  is  not  a  Morgan,  but  a  Gould. 
Sir  Charles  Gould,  created  Baronet  in  1792,  assumed  the 
name  and  arms  of  Morgan  only,  having  married  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  Morgan  of  Tredegar. 

Bastardy  is  liberally  represented  in  the  Gilded  Chamber. 
The  Dukes  of  Beaufort  descend  through  a  double  bastardy. 
A  glance  through  an  illustrated  Peerage  will  show  how  many 
coats  of  arms  are  debruised  by  the  bar  sinister,  or  have  the 
bordure  compone"  azure  and  argent.  There  are  other  peers 
besides  Dukes  that  originate  out  of  bastard  slips,  and  not  from 
royalty  alone.  The  heralds  of  the  last  century  were  more 
complaisant  to  disguise  the  badge  than  were  those  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  II. 

Vanity  was  the  occasion  of  the  change  of  a  good  number 
of  names  in  Germany  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Writers,  dissatisfied  with  their  humble  names,  and  not 
being  entitled  to  call  themselves  von,  altered  them  into 
equivalents  in  Greek  or  Latin.  Melanchthon,  the  Reformer, 

394 


CHANGED  NAMES 

was  ashamed  of  his  father's  name  of  Schwarzerde,  and 
(Ecolampadius  was  equally  put  to  the  blush  by  being 
designated,  as  was  his  father,  Hausschein.  A  Schmidt 
became  a  Faber  or  Fabricius,  a  Schneider  flourished  as 
Sartorius,  Didier  became  Erasmus. 

Fuchs  transformed  his  name  into  Vulpius  ;  Lehman,  mis- 
taking the  derivation  of  his  name,  called  himself  Argilander. 
Holzmann  became  Xylander  ;  Bienemann,  Melinander ;  and 
Mitscherlich  extended  his  name  to  Midsscherliex.  A  certain 
Bienenwitz,  a  mathematician,  born  at  Leising  in  Saxony  in 
1495,  Latinized  his  name  into  Apionius.  He  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  After  the  Battle  of 
Miihlberg,  April  21, 1547,  Ferdinand,  the  Emperor's  brother, 
went  to  Leising,  and,  as  the  citizens  had  maltreated  some  of 
the  Spanish  mercenaries  in  the  imperial  army,  he  ordered 
the  place  to  be  given  over  to  pillage.  Happily,  one  of  his 
officers  saw  above  the  door  of  a  house  the  shield  bearing 
bees  as  a  cognizance  of  Apionius,  and  learned  that  Peter 
Bienenwitz  had  been  born  there,  and  also  possessed  the 
house  as  his  paternal  inheritance. 

The  order  for  general  pillage  was  rescinded. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  the  fancy 
of  the  wits  and  learned  men  of  Italy  to  change  their  baptismal 
names  for  such  as  were  classical.  Samazarius,  for  instance, 
altered  his  own  plain  Jacopo  to  Actius  Syncerus.  Numbers 
did  the  same ;  and  among  the  rest  Platina,  the  historian  of  the 
Popes,  who,  not  without  solemn  ceremonial,  took  the  name  of 
Callimachus  instead  of  Philip.  Paul  II.,  who  occupied  the 
sessorial  chair  at  the  time,  was  suspicious,  illiterate,  and  dull 
of  comprehension.  He  had  no  idea  that  persons  other  than 
Popes  could  wish  to  alter  their  names  unless  they  had  some 
bad  design,  and  he  did  not  scruple  to  employ  imprisonment 
and  the  rack  to  discover  the  fancied  mystery.  Platina  was 
cruelly  tortured  on  this  frivolous  account.  He  had  nothing 
to  confess,  so  the  Pope,  after  endeavouring  in  vain  to  convict 
him  of  heresy,  sedition,  etc.,  released  him  after  a  long 
imprisonment. 

395 


CHANGED  NAMES 

The  surnames  were  also  sometimes  altered,  but  generally 
sufficed  when  given  a  Latin  termination. 

In  England  it  is  easy  for  anyone  to  change  the  surname. 
Burglars  and  shoplifters  have  many  an  alias.  But  others 
can  do  the  same  without  a  royal  licence.  There  is  a  story 
in  an  Icelandic  saga  of  some  Vikings  who  had  plundered  a 
shrine  in  Bjarmaland,  by  the  White  Sea,  then  escaped  to 
their  ships  by  strewing  wood-ashes  behind  them,  so  that  even 
bloodhounds  lost  all  scent.  When  the  settlers  in  America 
broke  their  tie  to  the  mother-country,  they  burnt  the  records 
of  their  family  that  told  of  their  connection  with  their  old 
home,  and  now  many  an  American  family  would  pay 
thousands  of  dollars  to  recover  the  records  proving  their  link 
with  the  old  land.  So  there  are  foolish  people  who,  by 
changing  their  names,  because  these  are  not  well-sounding 
and  aristocratic,  and  assuming  others  more  resonant,  think 
that  they  have  acquired  a  better  station,  or  may  be  able  to 
pose  as  persons  of  greater  consequence.  Vin  Ordinaire  is 
not  to  be  converted  to  Old  Port  by  change  of  label.  But  it 
is  a  grievous  mistake.  They  are  obliterating  the  traces 
whereby  in  future  times  their  filiation  might  be  followed, 
and  some  of  the  plainest  and  most  vulgar  names  may  be, 
and  often  are,  the  most  ancient  and  most  reputable. 

Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  in  the  case  of  Barlow  versus  Bateman, 
said :  "  I  am  satisfied  the  usage  of  passing  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  taking  upon  one  a  surname  is  but  modern,  and 
that  anyone  may  take  upon  him  what  surname  and  as  many 
surnames  as  he  pleases,  without  an  Act  of  Parliament." 
But  this  decision  was  reversed  by  the  House  of  Lords.  The 
Peers  said,  upon  deciding  the  matter,  "  that  the  individual 
ought  to  have  inherited  by  birth,  or  have  obtained  an 
authority  for  using  the  same."  Nevertheless,  it  is  now  an 
established  fact  that  simple  notification  in  the  newspapers  of 
purpose  to  change  a  name  is  deemed  sufficient.  A  Bugg, 
not  relishing  his  ancient  and  honourable  designation, 
announced  in  the  papers  his  intention  thenceforth  to  assume 
the  name  of  Norfolk  Howard  ;  a  Todd  has  become  a  De  Vere, 
and  a  Catt  a  Clifford. 

396 


CHANGED  NAMES 

Lord  Byron,  desirous  of  linking  his  name  on  to  the  French 
ducal  house  of  Biron,  affected  to  change  they  into  *'.  Napo- 
leon the  Great,  to  disguise  to  French  eyes  his  Italian  origin, 
altered  Buonaparte  to  Bonaparte. 

The  Italian  Tyrolese  name  Tunicoto,  from  a  short  tunic, 
became  in  German  Thunichtgut  (Do-no-good).  As  this  did 
not  please,  it  was  again  altered  to  Thugut  (Do-good) ;  but 
when  one  so  called  became  Minister  to  Maria  Theresa,  he 
flourished  as  Von  Thugut.  A  certain  Mr.  Walker,  afflicted 
with  a  squint,  assuredly  made  a  mistake  when  he  changed 
his  name  to  Izod. 

In  America  there  has  been  a  considerable  assumption  of 
good  names.  There  is  one  who  for  his  name — how  procured 
we  do  not  know — a  Guise,  claims  descent  from  the  Dukes  of 
that  name,  and  who  owns  a  county  newspaper  at  Amity ville, 
Long  Island.  A  Tell  pretending  to  trace  his  descent  from 
the  apocryphal  William  is  a  blacksmith  at  Broadripple, 
Ind.  At  Brownville,  Pa.,  is  a  Lafayette,  as  to  whose 
connection  with  the  family  of  the  Count  at  his  chateau, 
Haute  Loire,  that  family  is  supremely  ignorant.  A  few 
years  ago  I  remember  Frau  von  Hillern,  the  authoress,  whose 
husband  was  Chamberlain  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  and 
a  Judge,  was  very  wroth  because  a  Miss  von  Hillern  was 
advertised  as  walking  for  a  wager  against  any  man  in  the 
States.  No  relation — the  name  was  assumed  as  that  of  a 
distinguished  authoress  and  as  well-sounding.  My  own 
name  was  used  of  late  by  a  vendor  of  quack  medicines  for 
rheumatism,  who  had  no  right  to  it  whatever. 

"  Why,  this  is  flat  knavery,"  says  Petruchio,  "  to  take  on 
you  another  man's  name." 

Foundlings  were  sometimes  given  very  good  names. 
Brownlow,  in  his  "  Chronicles  of  the  Foundling  Hospital," 
says  :  "  It  has  been  the  practice  of  the  Governors  from  the 
earliest  period  to  the  present  time  to  name  the  children  at 
their  own  will  and  pleasure  whether  their  parents  should 
have  been  known  or  not.  At  the  baptism  of  the  children 
first  taken  into  the  hospital,  which  was  on  March  29,  1741, 
it  is  recorded  that  '  there  was  at  the  ceremony  a  fine  appear- 

397 


CHANGED  NAMES 

ance  of  persons  of  quality  and  distinction  ;  his  Grace  the 
Duke  of  Bedford,  our  president,  their  graces  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Richmond,  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,  and 
several  others,  honouring  the  children  with  their  names  and 
being  their  sponsors.'  Thus  the  register  of  the  period 
presents  the  courtly  names  of  Abercorn,  Bedford,  Bentinck, 
Montague,  Marlborough,  Newcastle,  Norfolk,  Pomfret,  Pem- 
broke, Richmond,  Vernon,  etc.,  as  well  as  those  of  numerous 
other  living  individuals,  great  and  small,  who  at  that  time 
took  an  interest  in  the  establishment.  When  these  names 
were  exhausted,  the  authorities  stole  those  of  eminent 
deceased  personages,  their  first  attack  being  upon  the 
Church.  Hence  we  have  a  Wickliffe,  Huss,  Ridley,  Latimer, 
Laud,  Sancroft,  Tillotson,  Tennison,  Sherlock,  etc.  Then 
came  the  mighty  dead  of  the  poetical  race,  viz.  :  Geoffrey 
Chaucer,  William  Shakespeare,  John  Milton,  etc.  Of  the 
philosophers,  Francis  Bacon  stands  pre-eminently  con- 
spicuous. As  they  proceeded,  the  Governors  who  were 
warlike  in  their  notions  brought  from  their  graves  Philip 
Sidney,  Francis  Drake,  Oliver  Cromwell,  John  Hampden, 
Admiral  Benbow,  and  Cloudesley  Shovel.  A  more  peaceful 
list  followed  this,  viz. :  Peter  Paul  Rubens,  Anthony  Van- 
dyke, Michael  Angelo,  and  Godfrey  Kneller,  William  Hogarth 
and  Jane  his  wife,  of  course,  not  being  forgotten.  Another 
class  was  borrowed  from  popular  novels  of  the  day,  which 
accounts  for  Charles  Allworthy,  Tom  Jones,  Sophia  Western, 
and  Clarissa  Harlowe.  The  gentle  Izaak  stands  alone.  So 
long  as  the  admission  of  children  was  confined  within  reason- 
able bounds,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  find  names  for  them ; 
but  during  the  Parliamentary  era  of  the  hospital,  when  the 
gates  were  thrown  open  to  all  comers,  and  each  day  brought 
its  regiment  of  infantry  to  the  establishment,  the  Governors 
were  sometimes  in  difficulties  ;  and  when  this  was  the  case 
they  took  a  zoological  view  of  the  subject,  and  named 
them  after  the  creeping  things  and  beasts  of  the  earth,  or 
created  a  nomenclature  from  various  handicrafts  or  trades. 
In  1801  the  hero  of  the  Nile  and  some  of  his  friends 
honoured  the  establishment  with  a  visit,  and  stood  sponsors 

398 


CHANGED  NAMES 

for  several  of  the  children.  The  names  given  on  this 
occasion  were  Baltic  Nelson,  William  and  Emma  Hamilton, 
Hyde  Parker,  etc.  Up  to  a  very  late  period  the  Governors 
were  sometimes  in  the  habit  of  naming  the  children  after 
themselves  and  their  friends,  but  it  was  found  to  be  an 
inconvenient  and  objectionable  course,  inasmuch  as,  when 
they  grew  to  man-  or  womanhood,  they  were  apt  to  lay  claim 
to  some  affinity  of  blood  with  their  nomenclators." 

Vanity  has  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  alteration  of 
names.  Swift  in  the  Examiner  (No.  40,  1711)  says:  "I 
know  a  citizen  who  adds  or  alters  a  letter  in  his  name  with 
every  plum  he  acquires ;  he  now  wants  only  the  change  of 
a  vowel  to  be  allied  to  a  sovereign  prince  in  Italy,  and  that 
perhaps  he  may  contrive  to  be  done  by  a  mistake  of  the 
graver  upon  his  tombstone."  This  was  Sir  Henry  Furnese, 
whose  real  name  was  Furnace,  which  he  altered  into  Furnice, 
Furnise,  Furness,  and  Furnese  ;  with  an  a  in  place  of  u,  it 
would  become  Farnese. 

Mr.  Cosmo  Innes  has  the  following  story  :  "  A  Dublin 
citizen  (I  think  a  dealer  in  snuff  and  tobacco),  about  the  end 
of  last  century,  had  lived  to  a  good  age  and  in  good  repute, 
under  the  name  of  Halfpenny.  He  throve  in  trade,  and  his 
children  prevailed  on  him  in  his  latter  years  to  change  his 
name,  which  they  thought  undignified,  and  this  he  did  by 
simply  dropping  the  last  letter.  He  died,  and  was  buried 
as  Mr.  Hal/pen.  The  fortune  of  the  family  did  not  recede, 
and  the  son  of  our  citizen  thought  proper  to  renounce  retail 
dealing,  and  at  the  same  time  looked  about  for  an  euphonious 
change  of  name.  He  made  no  scruple  of  dropping  the 
unnecessary  h ;  and  that  being  done,  it  was  easy  to  go  into 
the  Celtic  rage  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  '  The  Lady  of  the 
Lake'  had  just  raised  to  a  great  height,  and  he  who  had  run 
the  streets  as  little  Kenny  Halfpenny  came  out  (in  full  Rob 
Roy  tartan,  I  trust)  at  the  levees  of  the  day  as  Kenneth 
MacA  Ipin,  the  descendant  of  a  hundred  Kings."1 

In  Scotland  formerly,  the  false  assumption  of  a  name  was 

1   *  Concerning  Some  Scotch  Surnames."     Edinburgh,  1860. 
399 


CHANGED  NAMES 

held  to  be  equal  to  the  false  assumption  of  coat-armour,  and 
was  punished  as  a  forgery. 

In  Prussia  the  law  enacts :  "  Whoever,  even  without 
illegal  intention,  assumes  a  family  name,  or  arms,  without 
right,  shall  be  forbidden  the  assumption  under  pain  of  an 
arbitrary  but  limited  fine."  A  decree  of  October  30,  1816, 
enacts :  "  Since  experience  has  taught  us  that  the  bearing 
of  assumed  or  invented  names  is  injurious  to  the  security  of 
civil  intercourse,  as  well  as  to  the  efficiency  of  police  regula- 
tion, we  hereby  order  the  following :  (i)  That  no  one  shall, 
under  the  pain  of  a  fine  of  from  five  to  fifty  thalers  or  a 
proportionate  imprisonment,  make  use  of  a  name  which  does 
not  belong  to  him.  (2)  That  if  the  assumption  or  invention 
of  a  name  take  place  with  intent  to  deceive,  the  regulations 
of  the  general  penal  laws  come  into  effect." 

In  France,  as  in  Germany,  every  individual  is  registered 
by  his  true  name,  and  he  cannot  possibly  alter  it  in  any 
legal  transaction  without  having  received  from  the  State 
authority  to  do  so. 

In  the  South  of  France  many  of  the  old  castles  have  been 
restored  and  fitted  up,  and  have  become  the  residences 
during  the  summer  of  bourgeois,  rich  wine-merchants  or 
manufacturers,  who  during  the  summer  flourish  as  M.  le 
Marquis  du  Pontlevis,  M.  le  Baron  de  Roque-fiche",  M.  le 
Comte  de  Valdieu,  but  when  they  have  to  register  their 
children's  births  or  transact  any  legal  business  are  forced  to 
subscribe  their  genuine  names  of  Pons,  Brouet,  Bazin,  or 
Grosjean.  Jacques  Le  Roy,  the  soldier  who  served  so 
well  the  purposes  of  Louis  Napoleon  in  shooting  down  the 
people  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  and  was  created  a  Marshal  of 
the  Second  Empire,  who  was  associated  with  Lord  Raglan 
in  the  Crimea,  wrote  himself,  and  was  allowed  to  call  him- 
self, Achille  de  St.  Arnaud.  "  He  impersonated,"  as  King- 
lake  says,  "with  singular  exactness  the  idea  which  our 
forefathers  had  in  their  minds  when  they  spoke  of  what  they 
called  '  a  Frenchman ';  for  although  (by  cowing  the  rich 
and  filling  the  poor  with  envy)  the  great  French  Revolution 
had  thrown  a  lasting  gloom  on  the  national  character,  it  left 

400 


CHANGED  NAMES 

this  man  untouched.  He  was  bold,  gay,  reckless,  and  vain ; 
but  beneath  the  mere  glitter  of  the  surface  there  was  a  great 
capacity  for  administrative  business,  and  a  more  than 
common  willingness  to  take  away  human  life."  In  the 
United  States  there  have  been  wilful  alteration  of  names : 
Berners  has  been  changed  to  Barnes,  Renault  to  Reno,  and 
St.  Jean  to  Session.  There  may  be  cases,  in  which  some 
horrible  scandal  is  attached  to  a  name,  where  it  is  advisable 
and  justifiable  to  change  it,  to  hide  the  stain  from  genera- 
tions yet  to  come  ;  but  where  the  name  is  simply  homely, 
and  has  been  borne  by  honest  labourers  or  worthy  trades- 
men, there  it  is  an  outrage  on  their  memories  to  be  so 
ashamed  of  it  as  to  abandon  it  for  one  to  which  no  real 
claim  can  be  laid,  and  to  parade,  like  the  jackdaw  of  the 
fable,  in  borrowed  plumes.  That  they  are  borrowed  every- 
one knows,  and  everyone  laughs  behind  the  bearer's  back. 

"  Nil  me  pceniteat  sanum  patris  hujus  :  eoque 
Non,  ut  magna  dolo  factum  negat  esse  suo  pars, 
Quod  non  ingenues  habeat  clarosque  parentes, 
Sic  me  defendam.     Longe  mea  discrepat  istis 
Et  vox  et  ratio.     Nam  si  natura  juberet 
A  certis  annis  aevum  remeare  peractum 
Atque  alios  legere  ad  fastum  quoscumque  parentes, 
Optaret  sibi  quisque  ;  meis  contentus  honestosi 
Fascibus  et  sellis  nollem  mihi  sumere." 

HORACE  :  Sat.  i.  6. 


401  cc 


CHAPTER  XX 

COMPOUND     NAMES 

DURING  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  a  fashion  has  set  in  for 
double  names.  Double  names  are  legitimate  where  property 
is  represented  that  has  descended  through  an  heiress,  and  it 
is  right  that  the  family  that  for  several  generations  held  the 
estate  should  be  remembered  in  the  name  of  the  present  pro- 
prietor. Such  a  double  name  is  a  record.  But  such  have 
the  warrant  of  royal  licence.  No  objection  can  be  raised 
to  such  double  names  as  Agar-Robartes,  Prideaux-Brune, 
Godolphin  -  Osborne,  Spencer  -  Churchill,  because  each 
surname  represents  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the  family — the 
extinction  of  one  family  and  the  devolution  of  its  estate  on 
another. 

But  the  majority  of  double  names  have  no  such  warrant. 
In  some  cases  the  Christian  name  is  linked  on  to  the  surname, 
where  that  Christian  name  happens  to  be  a  surname  derived 
from  some  marriage  in  the  family,  or  godfather,  or  some 
supposed  connection  with  a  titled  race. 

In  such  cases  the  first  member  would  naturally  fall  away 
when  the  bearer  of  the  Christian  name  died ;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  does  not  always  do  so. 

It  not  infrequently  happens  that  the  added  name  has  no 
authority  whatever  to  back  it.  It  is  assumed,  it  is  not  even 
a  Christian  name  of  the  assumer. 

There  is,  however,  some  justification  or  excuse  for  these 
additions  when  the  true  surname  is  common  or  insipid.  It 
is  sought  to  fortify  it.  In  nomenclature  we  add  whisky  to 
water,  never  water  to  whisky. 

When  a  number  of  Smiths,  Bakers,  Thomsons,  Halls, 

402 


COMPOUND  NAMES 

Johnsons,  jostle  in  a  country  town,  it  is  but  according  to 
precedent  that  the  bearers  of  the  same  name  should  seek  to 
distinguish  themselves  and  family  from  their  namesakes.  In 
former  days  this  was  done  by  the  tacking  on  of  a  nickname 
after  the  personal  name ;  now  it  is  done  by  prefixing  another 
family  name.  Thus  such  combinations  as  Bourcher-Smith, 
Cadwalader-Jones,  Neville-Browne,  and  Gordon-Charles- 
worth  (assumed  by  an  impostor  who  has  made  some  noise). 
In  many  cases  the  name  prefixed  has  got  the  slenderest  or 
no  justification  for  its  assumption.  I  know  a  family  that 
always  calls  itself  Godolphin-Browne,  the  sole  reason  for  the 
taking  up  of  the  former  name  being  that  Lord  Godolphin 
was  one  of  two  godfathers  to  a  great-grandfather.  I  know 
another  that  hyphens  an  ancient  Norman  name  to  its  actual 
surname,  which  latter  is  common,  because  in  the  seventeenth 
century  one  of  this  family  married  into  the  other ;  but,  as  he 
had  no  issue,  not  a  drop  of  the  Norman  blood  through  this 
channel  flows  in  the  veins  of  those  who  flourish  the  name  at 
present.  Again,  a  third  family  supposes  that  at  some  date 
unspecified  it  was  allied  to  a  noble  family,  that  of  the  Lord 
Knowswho,  and  accordingly  writes  itself  Knowswho- Butcher. 

In  like  manner  some  people  wear  titles,  as  Duke-Coleridge, 
Baron- Lethbridge,  Squire-Bancroft;  and  there  is  a  menagerie 
travels  the  country  under  a  proprietor  styled  Lord  George 
Sanger.  In  the  first  instance  this  was  due  to  a  marriage 
with  one  of  the  family  of  Duke  of  Otterton  ;  and  as  the 
Coleridges  rose  from  a  very  obscure  origin,  they  were  glad 
to  engraft  on  their  name  that  of  an  ancient  county  family. 
In  the  second,  the  name  of  Baron  was  that  of  the  old  estated 
family  of  Tregeare  in  Cornwall,  whose  heiress  married  a 
Lethbridge,  and  the  duplicate  name  is  justly  held. 

When  a  resonant  Norman  name  is  linked  to  one  that  is 
English  and  dull  of  sound,  the  effect  is  somewhat  like  that 
described  and  ridiculed  by  Horace : 

"  Humano  capiti  cervicem  pictor  equinam 
Jungere  si  velit,  et  varias  inducere  plumas 
Undique  collatis  membris,  ut  turpiter  atrum 
Desinat  in  piscem  mulier  formosa  superne, 
Spectatum  admissi  risum  teneatis  amici  ?" 

403  CC  2 


COMPOUND  NAMES 

And  yet,  possibly  enough,  the  English  name  may  be  the 
better  of  the  two,  and  the  conjunction  illustrates  the  final 
triumph  over  the  invader  by  the  subjugated  native  Saxon. 

The  English  custom  was  formerly  for  the  surname  of  the 
godfather  and  godmother  to  be  given  at  baptism  to  the  child, 
and  this  has  led  to  its  assumption  and  grafting  on  to  the 
true  surname. 

"  I  tell  you  I  have  a  presentiment  that  it  must  be  a  girl," 
said  Miss  Betsey  Trotwood  to  Mrs.  Copperfield,  when  that 
lady  was  in  an  interesting  condition.  "  Don't  contradict ! 
From  the  moment  of  this  girl's  birth  I  intend  to  be  her 
friend.  I  intend  to  be  her  godmother,  and  I  beg  you'll  call 
her  Betsey  Trotwood  Copperfield."  But  when  the  expected 
arrived,  it  proved  to  be  a  boy,  whereupon  Miss  Betsey  put 
on  her  bonnet  and  departed.  But  when  in  after-years  little 
David,  neglected  and  maltreated,  flies  for  refuge  to  the  aunt, 
she  adopts  him.  "  Mr.  Dick,"  says  she,  "  I  have  been 
thinking  that  I  might  call  him  Trotwood." 

"  Certainly,  certainly  !  Call  him  Trotwood,  certainly !" 
said  Mr.  Dick.  "  David's  son's  Trotwood." 

"  Trotwood  Copperfield,  you  mean,"  returned  the  aunt. 

"  Yes,  to  be  sure — Trotwood  Copperfield,"  said  Mr.  Dick, 
a  little  abashed. 

"  My  aunt  took  so  kindly  to  the  notion  that  some  ready- 
made  clothes,  which  were  purchased  for  me  that  afternoon, 
were  marked  Trotwood  Copperfield  in  her  own  handwriting, 
and  in  indelible  marking-ink."  And  if  David  had  a  family 
and  descendants,  the  name  thenceforth  would  be  Trotwood- 
Copperfield.  And  this  would  be  justifiable,  for  it  would  be 
a  record  of  the  kind  old  lady  who  found  him  "  naked  and 
she  clothed  him." 

If  we  look  through  the  Peerage,  what  a  host  of  compound 
names  do  we  find ! 

Baillie-Hamilton-Arden  is  the  conjunction  of  names  borne 
by  the  Earl  of  Haddington.  Viscount  Galway  is  a  Monckton- 
Arundell.  The  Duke  of  Atholl  is  a  Stewart- Murray.  Gius- 
tiniani-Bandini  is  the  name  of  the  Earl  of  Newburgh. 
De-la- Poer-Beresford  is  that  of  the  Marquis  of  Waterford, 

404 


COMPOUND  NAMES 

Fitzhardinge-Berkeley  that  of  Baron  Fitzhardinge,  Went- 
worth  -  Fitzwilliam  that  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam.  Pleydell- 
Bouverie  is  the  family  name  of  the  Earl  of  Radnor. 

Baron  Thurlow  bears  a  number  of  names,  Hovell-Thurlow- 
Cumming-Bruce.  The  family  of  Thurlow  descends  from  a 
country  parson  in  Suffolk  who  married  an  Elizabeth  Smith, 
daughter  of  a  Robert  Smith,  who  had  been  a  Hovell ;  so  the 
Smith  was  dropped  and  the  Hovell  assumed  in  1814.  The  fifth 
Baron,  having  married  Lady  Elma  Bruce,  daughter  of  James, 
Earl  of  Elgin,  by  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Mary  Cumming- 
Bruce,  assumed  the  additional  names  and  surnames  of  his 
wife's  mother  in  1874.  Verily  the  family  has  gone  far  afield 
to  scrape  together  names  to  tack  on  to  Thurlow,  which  was 
respectable  enough  by  itself. 

Lord  Churston  is  a  Yarde-Buller,  the  Earl  of  Shewsbury 
a  Chetwynd-Talbot,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  a  Pelham- 
Clinton.  Earl  Somers  is  a  Somers- Cocks,  the  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury  an  Ashley-Cooper.  Earl  Belmore  is  a  Lowry- 
Correy,  Lord  Teynham  a  Roper -Curzon,  the  Earl  of 
Portarlington  a  Dawson-Damer.  The  Duke  of  Hamilton 
is  a  Douglas -Hamilton,  Lord  Braye  a  Vernon-Cave. 
Viscount  Clifden  is  an  Agar-Robartes ;  Baron  Saye  and 
Sele  is  a  Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes  ;  Lord  Carbery  is  an 
Evans- Freke.  Leveson-Gower  is  the  family  name  of  Earl 
Granville  and  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland.  The  Earl  of  Buck- 
inghamshire rejoices  in  four  surnames,  Hobart-Hampden- 
Mercer- Henderson,  whereof  the  penultimate  points  back  to 
a  silk-mercer  behind  his  counter,  and  the  last  to  a  progenitor 
so  insignificant  as  to  have  no  surname,  and  to  have  been 
known  as  Andrew's  son  only. 

Lord  Vernon  is  a  Venables-Vernon.  The  Archbishop  of 
York  of  that  family  assumed  the  additional  surname  of 
Harcourt  on  inheriting  the  estates  of  the  last  Earl  Harcourt 
in  1831.  George  John,  the  fifth  Baron,  however,  dropped 
the  Venables-Vernon,  and  assumed  the  surname  and  arms 
of  Warren  only  in  1837,  but  the  sixth  Baron  resumed  them. 
Charles  Vernon,  who  died  in  1874,  married  the  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  Evans  of  Oldtown,  co.  Cork,  and  she  assumed 

405 


COMPOUND  NAMES 

the  name  of  Gore.  Her  daughter,  Ellen  Caroline,  married 
Sir  Gustavus  Hume,  and  by  royal  licence  adopted  the  sur- 
name of  Gore  in  addition  to  Hume.  Henry  Charles  Edward 
Ligonier  Hamilton  Vernon  in  1800  changed  his  name  to 
Graham,  but  tired  of  it,  and  shifted  back  to  Vernon  in  1838. 
Frederick  William  Thomas  Vernon  assumed  the  additional 
surname  of  Wentworth  in  1804 ;  George  Vernon  took  on 
him  the  name  of  Venables,  in  addition  to  Vernon,  in  1728. 
Henry,  third  Baron  Vernon,  having  married  the  illegitimate 
daughter  of  that  disreputable  Baronet,  Sir  Charles  Sedley, 
actually  assumed  the  surname  and  arms  of  Sedley  in  1779. 
There  has  been,  accordingly,  an  astonishing  shifting  of  names 
in  this  family. 

Earl  Cranbrooke  is  a  Gathorne-Hardy ;  the  Earl  of 
Kingston  is  a  King-Tenison.  James,  fifth  Earl  of  Loudon, 
was  a  Campbell.  His  only  child  Flora  married  Francis 
Rawdon  Hastings,  Earl  of  Moira,  who  was  created  Viscount 
Loudon  and  Marquis  of  Hastings  in  1816.  His  son  George 
Augustus  Francis,  second  Marquis,  married  Barbara  Yelver- 
ton,  daughter  of  Edward  Gould,  twentieth  Lord  Grey  de 
Ruthyn.  She  remarried  Sir  Hastings  Reginald  Henry,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Yelverton  in  1849.  Her  second  son  as 
well  as  her  first  died  without  issue,  whereupon  her  daughter, 
Edith  Maud  Hastings,  became  Countess  of  Loudon.  She 
married  Charles  Frederick  Abney-Hastings,  created  Lord 
Donington,  and  had  by  him  the  present  Earl,  Charles 
Edward  Hastings  Abney-Hastings. 

The  Earl  of  Winchelsea  is  a  Finch-Hatton ;  the  Earl  of 
Donoughmore  is  a  Hely-Hutchinson.  Lord  Muskerry  is  a 
Deane-Morgan,  the  Duke  of  Leeds  a  Godolphin-Osborne. 
The  Earl  of  Plymouth  is  a  Windsor-Clive.  Lord  Penrhyn 
is  a  Douglas- Pennant,  the  Earl  of  Yarborough  an  Anderson- 
Pelham — properly  Anderson,  but  the  name  of  Pelham  was 
assumed  by  Charles  Anderson  as  heir  to  his  great-uncle, 
Charles  Pelham,  Recorder  of  Grimsby  in  1786.  Lord 
Bolton  is  an  Orde-Powlett  ;  Viscount  Boyne  is  a  Hamilton- 
Russell,  and  Baron  Brabourne  a  Knatchbull-Hugessen.  The 
Duke  of  Portland  is  a  Cavendish-Bentinck.  The  Earl  of 

406 


COMPOUND  NAMES 

Ilchester's  family  name  is  Fox-Strangeways.  Viscount 
Canterbury  is  a  Manners-Sutton,  Lord  Londonderry  a 
Vane-Tempest,  Lord  Eversley  a  Shaw-Lefevre,  Lord  Sudeley 
a  Hanbury- Leigh,  Lord  Wentworth  a  Noel-Milbanke. 

The  list  might  be  greatly  extended.  In  almost  every  case 
there  is  historic  justification  for  the  linking  together  of  two 
or  more  family  names.  But,  as  already  said,  this  cannot 
be  always  said  of  such  double  names  as  are  flourished  daily 
around  us,  where  the  additional  name  has  not  been  assumed 
by  royal  licence,  and  is  simply  due  to  personal  vanity  or 
caprice. 

Sometimes  we  obtain  very  odd  combinations,  as  Hunt- 
Grubb,  Pyne-Coffin,  Beerbohm-Tree  for  Beerbaum,  a  berry- 
bearing  shrub,  Corny-Grains.  A  witness  at  a  Poplar  inquest 
on  July  14,  1909,  was  named  John  North  East  West.  A 
clergyman,  with  the  deciduous  name  of  Field-Flowers-Goe, 
was  chosen  to  be  a  Bishop  in  Australia.  Bubb-Dodington  was 
a  well-known  man  in  his  day,  who  hid  the  quaint  combination 
under  a  title  as  Lord  Melcombe. 

In  a  recent  clergy  list  occur  such  double  names  as  these : 
Dimond-Hogg,  Forrest-Bell,  Gabe-Jones,  Golding-Bird,  Haire- 
Forster,  Hughes-Death,  Keys-Wells,  Master- Whitaker,  Nunn- 
Rivers,  Roosmale-Cocq,  Teed-Heaver,  Teignmouth-Shore,  White- 
Bell. 

And  now  I  must  close.  The  subject  is  one  so  interesting 
and  with  so  many  ramifications  that  it  might  be  dealt  with 
lengthily,  but  not  exhaustively.  I  have  attempted  no  more 
than  to  give  indications  of  the  road  by  which  some  with 
names  difficult  to  riddle  out,  or  giving  a  wrong  idea  of  their 
signification  on  the  surface,  may  be  traced  to  their  true 
origin ;  and  also  to  point  out  some  of  the  pitfalls  that  be- 
set the  path  of  the  unwary,  some  of  the  blind  alleys  in 
which  they  may  wander,  in  that  wood  of  errors,  Family 
Nomenclature. 

"  Claudite  jam  rivos,  pueri,  sat  prata  biberunt." 


407 


APPENDIX   TO    CHAPTER   IX 

ANGLO-SAXON   AND   DANISH    NAMES   IN   DOMESDAY 


ABEN  (Lines),  Abo  (Yorks). 

Achi   (Wilts,   Chesh.,   Suff.,   etc.), 

Acum  (Lines),  Acun  (Yorks). 
ALdric  Grim  (Suff.). 
^Elfag  (Notts),  Elfag  (Derb.). 
ALrgrim  (Salop). 

Ailm  (Corn.),  Ailmar  melc  (Ess.). 
Aki  (Suff.). 
Aldene  tope  (Lines). 
Algrim  (Yorks). 
Alii  (Bucks,  Beds). 
Alnod  Grutt  (Herts). 
Alric  (Bucks,  Suff.,  Beds). 
Alsi  Bolla  (Ess.). 
Alured  biga  (Kent). 
Aluric  (Herts,  Cambs,  Dev.,  Oxf., 

Ess.,  Suff,  Herts). 
Alward  (many  counties). 
Alwin  (many  counties). 
Amod,fem.  (Suff.). 
Andrac  (Hants). 
Anunt     dacus     (Ess.),      properly 

"  Onund  the  Dane." 
Ape  (Somers.),  Appe  (Wilts). 
Archilbar  (Lines). 
Ardegrip  (Lines,  Yorks). 
Aregrim   (Chesh.),   properly    Arn- 

grim. 

Aschilbar  (Lines). 
Aseloc  (Notts). 
Auti  (several  counties). 
Azor  (several  counties). 
Baco  (Lines). 
Bar  (Yorks.   Suff,  Middx,   Norf.), 

also  Ber  (Yorks). 
Basin  (Yorks). 
Biga  (Suss.). 
Bil  (Glouc.). 


Boda  (Hants),  Bode  (Wilts),  Bod- 

dus  (Ess.). 
Bou     (Norf.),    Bu     (Yorks),    Boui 

(several  counties). 
Bricstoward  (Somers.). 
Brictuar  Bubba  (Suff). 
Brihtuold  (Suff). 
Bunda,     Bonde,      Bondi,      Bundi, 

Bondo,  etc.  (in  various  counties). 
Caflo  (Somers.). 

Cava,  Cave,  Cavo,  Cavus  (Suss.). 
Celcott  (Suff). 
Cheteber  (Yorks),  Chetelber  (Lines, 

and  several  other  counties). 
Chetelbern    (Notts,  Lines,   Norf.), 

properly  Ketilbjorn. 
Clac  (Lines). 
Col    (Lines),    Cola    (Suss.),    Cole 

(Suss.,  Derb.),  Colle  (Dev.),  Colo 

(many  counties),  Coole  (Wilts). 
Couta  (Suff). 
Crin  (Yorks.). 
Dedol  (Chesh.),  Doda,  Dode,  Dodo 

(various  counties). 
Don,  Done,  Donne,  Donnus,  etc. 

(various  counties). 
Edlouedief  (Dev.). 
Edmer    (Herts,     Middx.,     Bucks, 

Dev.). 

Edric  (in  numerous  counties). 
Edwin  (Leics,  Heref.) 
Edward  wit  (Beds). 
Eldille  (Dev.). 
Elsi  jillinge   (Notts),  a  native  of 

Jutland. 
Epy  (Bucks). 
Ergrim  (Heref.). 
Esberbiga  (Kent),  properly  Osbern. 


408 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  IX 


Eurewacre  (Dev.) 

Felaga  (Ess.). 

Fot  (Chesh.,  Kent). 

Fuglo  (Beds). 

Gam  ^  Yorks),  Game  (Leics,  Yorks), 

Gamel  (in  various  counties). 
Gamelcarl      (Yorks),       Gamilbar, 

Gumelbar,  Gamiltorf  (Yorks). 
Gethne  (Salop). 
Gilepatric  (Yorks). 
Glunier  (Yorks). 
Godtovi  (Surr.) 
Goleathegn  (Dev.) 
Gold  (Cambs). 
Golnil  (Bucks). 
Gos  (Hunts). 
Gribol  (Lines). 
Grimulf  (Warw.). 
Haltor,  Heltor  (Yorks). 
Huna,  Hunus  (Suff.),  Hunc  (Yorks), 

Huni,    Hunic,    Hunni,    Hunnet, 

etc.  (Salop). 
Jalf  (Lines). 
Jaul  (Cornw.). 

Juin  (Dev  ),  Juing  (Somers.). 
Kee  (Norf.). 
Kettelbern,     Kettelbert      (Wore.). 

See  above,  Cheteber. 
Lambecarl  (Lines). 
Leswin  croc  (Suff.). 
Lewric  coccus  (Suff.). 
Lewin  calvus  (Suff.). 
Lure  (Suff.). 
Maban  (Yorks). 
Mannius     swert     (Suff.).     Magno 

Suert  (Surr.). 
Moithar  (Norf.). 
Offa  (Surr.,  Suff.). 
Osbert  masculus  (Suff.). 
Oslac  albus  (Northants). 
Phin  (Suff.,  Ess.),  Phin  dacus  (Ess.), 

Pin    (Glouc.).      Properly,    Finn 

dacus  signifies  "the  Dane." 
Ram  (Yorks),  Ramechil  (Yorks). 


Roc  (Suff.). 

Rozo  (Wilts),  a  Norman,  Le  Roux. 

Saloman  (Yorks). 

Salpus  (Suff.). 

Sbern  (many  counties).    Should  be 

Osbern. 

Scheit,  Scett  (Norf.). 
Scotcol  (Yorks). 
Seiar,  Seiard  bar  (Norf.,  Glouc.), 

Siward  Bar  (Yorks  and  Lines). 
Siward  barn,   for   Bjorn,    (Warw., 

Norf.,  Lines). 
Sessi  (Salop). 
Sindi  (Yorks). 
Snellinc  (Cambs). 
Snode,  Snot  (Dev.). 
Sol  (Heref.). 
Spirites  and  Spirtes(many  counties), 

Spert  (Yorks). 
Stam  (Yorks). 
Stanker  (Suff.). 
Ster,    Sterr,    Sterre,     Stur,    Strui 

(many  counties). 
Suartcol  (Yorks). 
Swenus  Suart  (Ess.),  a  Dane. 
Thol,    Thole,     Tholi,    Tol,     Toli 

(various  counties). 
Thor     (Northants),     Tor     (Yorks, 

Lines,  Norf.). 
Tou,   Toul,    Tovi,  Towi    (various 

counties). 
Turloga  (Yorks),  properly  "  Thor- 

laug." 

Ulward  wit  (Dors). 
Unfac  (Notts). 
Wadel   (Kent,   Derb.,   Cornwall)  ; 

Wadels  (Derb.),  Wadhel  (Corn- 
wall), Wadelo  (Derb.). 
Welp  (Yorks). 
Wilegrip  (Suff.,  Salop). 
Wit  (as  a  surname  repeatedly  in 

many  counties). 
Wlward  Levet  (Beds). 
Wardrou  (Derb.). 


409 


APPENDIX  I.  TO  CHAPTER  X 


APPENDIX  I.  TO  CHAPTER  X 


SCANDINAVIAN   NAMES 

[It  does  not  follow  that  these  surnames  certainly  derive  from  the  Norse 
or  Danish.  Some  are  common  to  the  Anglo-Saxons.  But  also, 
some  of  our  (family  names  may  derive  from  the  Scandinavian,  when 
encountered  in  ancient  Northumbria,  whereas  the  same  name  may 
have  a  different  origin  elsewhere.  Hozier  may  derive  from  a  hosier, 
or  from  Ozzur,  and  Brusi  may  have  originated  some  Bruces,  as  well 
as  the  Norman  place-name  Bruix.  Some  Burns  may  deduce  their 
name  from  Bjorn,  others  from  a  brook.  Freeman  may  in  some 
cases  be  an  anglicizing  of  Freimund,  in  others  describes  the  quality 
is  a  Franklin.  The  terminal  letter  r  in  a  Norse  name  was  shed  at 
once  on  English  soil] 


Alford 

from 

Hallvarbr. 

Alstone 

)) 

Hallstein. 

Alt 

)) 

Hjalti. 

Airey 

53 

Eyarr. 

Algarl 
Ager  J 
Arkell 

33 
)) 

Alfgar. 
Arnketill. 

Arnott 

53 

Arnobr. 

Askell     \ 
Haskell  / 

5) 

Askulfr. 

Askew 

5) 

Hoskuldr. 

Atlay 

31 

Atli. 

Barth 

)) 

Barbr. 

Beale 

)} 

Bjolli. 

Bligh     \ 
Blythe  J 

55 

Bligr. 

Blund 

33 

Blundr. 

Boddy 

35 

Bobi.1 

Bowles 

53 

Bolli. 

Brand 

tt 

Brandr. 

Broad 

33 

Broddi. 

Bruce 

55 

Brusi. 

Burk 

33 

Borkr.2 

Burn 

33 

Bjorn. 

Carr 

35 

Karr. 

Colburn 

5) 

Kolbjorn. 

Cole   and 

Colley 

j, 

Kolli  and  Kollr. 

Curtain 

JJ 

Kjartan. 

Day              from 

Dagr. 

Eagle 

>5 

Egill. 

Elgar 

33 

Alfgarr. 

Ewins 

55 

Eyvind. 

Easton 

3J 

Eystein. 

Featherstone 

55 

Fribestan. 

Freeman 

33 

Freimundr. 

Freestone 

55 

Freysteinn. 

Froude 

33 

Frobi. 

Gait 

n 

Galti. 

Gamell 

5) 

Gamel. 

Gayer           \ 
Geer,  Gerry  J 

33 

Geirr. 

Cell 

33 

Gellir. 

Goodly 

3? 

Gubleifr. 

Goodlake 

3} 

Gubleikr. 

Goodman 

3) 

Gubmundr. 

Gorman 

5) 

Gormundr. 

Goodrich 

)} 

Gubrekr. 

Grundy 

33 

Grundi  or  Gun- 

drod. 

Grymes 

)3 

Grfmr. 

Grain 

3) 

Grdni. 

Guest 

33 

Gestr. 

Gunn 

33 

Gunnar. 

Gunstone 

33 

Gunnsteinn. 

Guthrie 

33 

Gubrodr. 

Hake 

3} 

Haki. 

Haldane 

3) 

H£lfdan. 

1  A  messenger,  Ivarr  Boddi,  occurs  in  1215,  Fornmanna  Sogur. 

2  The  Irish  Burks  are  from  de  Burgh. 

410 


APPENDIX  I.  TO  CHAPTER  X 


Hall              from    Hallr. 
Hammond       „       Hdmundr. 

Ronald    ) 
Reynolds/ 

from 

Rognvaldr. 

Harvey 

)) 

HaVarbr. 

Salmon 

)3 

Salmundr. 

Hassel 

)) 

Asculfr. 

Scholey 

•» 

Skuli,  a   son  ot 

Halford 

55 

Hallvarbr. 

Earl  Tostig. 

Hemming 

33 

Hemmingr. 

Scorey 

)) 

Skari. 

Herman 

33 

Hermundr. 

Seaward 

3) 

SigurSr. 

Holker 

33 

Hallkarr. 

Smaley  \ 

/Smali   (a  shep- 

Holybone 

5) 

Hallbjorn. 

Smale  J 

J) 

\     herd.) 

Hozier 

J) 

Ozzur. 

Snell 

J) 

Snjall. 

Hyde 

5} 

Hide.1 

Soley 

)} 

Solvi. 

Humphry 

J) 

Holmfrib. 

Stiggins 

55 

Stigandi. 

Inchbald 

33 

Ingibaldr. 

Stone 

33 

Steinn. 

Ingle 

33 

Ingolfr. 

Stoner 

3) 

Steinarr. 

Ingledew 

33 

Ingjaldr. 

Somerley 

)J 

Somerlib. 

Ingram 

)) 

Ingiramr. 

Steer 

35 

Styrr. 

Jekyll 

33 

Jokull. 

Sturgess 

5) 

Thorgisl. 

Jelf 

| 

Jolfr. 

Symonds 

3) 

Sigmundr. 

Kettle  \ 

TT^fill 

Swinburn 

3) 

Sveinbjorn. 

Kiddle/ 

35 

iveiiii. 

Swayne 

3) 

Svein. 

Knott,  Nott 

33 

Knutr. 

Taite 

J3 

Teitr. 

Lamb 

31 

Lambi. 

Th  orb  urn 

3) 

Thorbjorn. 

Leefe,  Lever 

)) 

Leifr. 

Thorley 

35 

Thorleifr. 

Lover 

J3 

Hlobver. 

Thurkell 

53 

Thorkell. 

Luard 

33 

Lavard. 

Thorold 

33 

Thorvaldr. 

Magnus 

33 

Magnus. 

Thurstan 

3? 

Thorsteinn. 

Maule\ 

rMaull,  Dan.  Moll 

Tooke,  Toke   „ 

Toki. 

Moll    / 

J» 

\      occurs  1209. 

Triggs 

3) 

Tryggvi. 

Odger 

35 

Oddgeir. 

Turpin 

37 

Thorfinn. 

Orme 

}) 

Ormr. 

Uhtred 

)J 

Utryggr. 

Osborne 

?3 

A^bjorn. 

Ussher 

5> 

Ozzur. 

Osegood 

31 

Asgautr. 

Vickary 

3? 

Vfkarri. 

Osmund 

)» 

Asmundr. 

Wayburn 

3? 

Vdbjorn. 

Oswald 

Asvaldr. 

Wrath  \ 

T>           t 

Raven 

55 

Hrafn. 

Wroth/ 

33 

Raubr. 

Rayner 

3) 

Ragnar. 

Waymand 

33 

Vemundr. 

Rayne 

33 

Hrani. 

Wavland 

33 

Viglundr. 

Rolf 

)> 

Hrolfr. 

Wyvill 

3) 

Vifill. 

1  The  name  of  the   half-brother  of  King  Sverrir ;    he   fell  in  1191. 
Another  Hide  was  a  captain  in  Sverrir's  army,  1201. 


411 


APPENDIX  II.  TO  CHAPTER  X 


APPENDIX  II.  TO  CHAPTER  X 

SURNAMES   OF   THE    FIFTEENTH    CENTURY    IN    THE 
"  LIBER   VITM  " 


Dominus  Edwardus  Hymmers. 
„        Jacobus  Dukket. 
„         Willelmus  Pykryng. 
„        Johannes  Baylay. 
„         Thomas  Baylay. 
Willelmus  Foster. 


Dominus  Thomas  Burrelle. 
„         Richardus  Murtone. 
„         Radulphus  Blaxtone. 
„         Christopherus  Wyllye. 
„        Johannes  Cartelle. 
„         Christopherus      Hemyn- 
borogh. 

Roger  Bill,  Cuthbert  Dowffe,  Johannes  Tod,  Willelmus  Hakfurthe, 
Johannes  Belle,  Thomas  Sperke,  J.  „ Blunt,  Johannes  Ellnett,  Johannes 
Burghe,  Edwardus  Hardynk,  Willelmus  Clyltone,  Willelmus  Bennet, 
Georgius  Corfurthe,  Nicholas  Wynter,  Thomas  and  John  Wynter,  magis- 
ter  Johannes  Clerke,  Johannes  Manneres,  Juliana,  Margaret,  Katerina  and 
Elizabeth  Clerke,  Dominus  Thomas  Jonson,  Ricardus  Poole,  feretrarius 
(the  shrineward),  Henricus  Wylom,  Willelmus  Dynshburne,  Johannes 
Hudrynsen,  Christopherus  Wardell,  Willelmus  Huchenson,  Alyson, 
Edmundus  et  Thomas,  Willelmus  Burton,  Christopherus  Ryffhley, 
Willelmus  Tode,  Willm.  Brantyngham,  Nicholas  Rychardson,  Robertus 
Hychesson,  Johanna  Rychardson,  Johannes  Rychardson,  John  Payrnell 
et  Kateryna  et  Thomas,  Helena  Mayre,  Thomas  Coky  et  Thos.,  junior, 
Wyllms  et  Genett  Coky,  Thorn.  Bryntlay. 

The  rest  of  the  surnames  I  will  give  without  the  Christian  names  ;  they 
are  :  Richardson,  Belle,  Weldon,  Felton,  Peyrson  (Pierson),  Thomson, 
Browelle,  Morley,  Heppell,  Nicholl,  Hogyln,  Scott,  Swanston,  Kethe 
(Keith),  Heryngton  (Harrington),  Coode,  Todd,  Foster,  Skipton,  Hymers, 
Hawkwell,  Durham,  Worlay,  Trumpwhett,  Brune,  Edwarde,  Blunt, 
Eland,  Yonge,  Cane,  Babyngton,  Eysdon,  Stroder,  Carr,  Wylem,  Barnes, 
Pule,  Kendall,  Home,  Rawe,  Duckett,  Robinson,  Hegington,  Hebburne, 
Caly,  Wardale,  Cuthbert,  Gray,  Hylton,  Emerson,  Hale,  Lawson. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XI 

LIST   OF   THOSE   WHO    ATTENDED   WILLIAM    THE    CONQUEROR 
TO    ENGLAND,  ACCORDING   TO    WAGE,  "  ROMAN    DE    ROU  " 

The  numbers  refer  to  the  line  in  the  edition  of  Anderson. 


Abbeville,  Eustache  d',  8453. 
Alan   Fergant,  Duke  of  Brittany, 

7679,  8715,  8721. 
Anisi,  the  men  of,  8442. 
Annebault,  Sire  d',  8643. 
Argentan,  the  men  of,  8441. 


Asnieres,  Gilbert  d',  8557. 
Aubigny,  Sire  d'  (Daubeny),  8494. 
Aumale,   Stephen,   Sire   d'   (Albe- 

marle),  8443. 

Aunay,  Sire  d'  (Dawney),  8669. 
Aunou,  Sire  d',  8450. 


412 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XI 


Auvillars,  Sire  d',  8642. 
Avenel  of  Les  Biards,  Sire  d',  8523. 
Avranches.  Richard,  Sire  d',  8491. 
Bagueville,  Martel  de  (Baskerville), 

8545- 
Beaufou,    Robert    de    (Beaufort), 

8449. 
Beaumont,    Roger    (mistaken   for 

Richard)  de,  8353,  8356. 
Bertram,  Richard,  8525. 
Bienfaite,  Richard  de,  8560. 
Bigot,  Roger,  8571. 
Biards,  Les  (same  as  Avenel),  8492. 
Bohun,  Humfrey  de,  8474. 
Bolbec,  Hugh  de,  8559. 
Bonnebosq,  Sire  de,  8561. 
Boutevilain,  8605. 
Bray,  the  men  of,  8480. 
B  renal,  Sire  de,  8536. 
Breteuil,  the  men  of,  8531. 
Brix,  or  Bruis  (Bruce),  the  men  of, 

8667 

Caen,  men  of,  8440. 
Cahagnes,  Sire  de,  8558. 
Cailly,  Sire  de  (Cailey),  8543. 
Carteret,  Humfrey  and  M auger  de, 

8475- 

Caux,  knights  of,  8625. 
Cayle,  Ingulf  de,  8483. 
Coisnieres,  Sirede  (Conyers),  8558. 
Cinglars,  Rodulf  de,  8513. 
Cintheaux,  Sire  de,  8547. 
Colombiers,  William  de,  8556. 
Combray,  Sire  de,  8669. 
Cotentin,   Barons   of,    8378,   8379, 

8517. 

Conches,  Radolf  de,  7602. 
Courcy,  Sire  de  (mistake  for  Torcy), 

8505,  8550. 

Crevecceur,  Sire  de,  8666. 
Epinay  (for  Pins),  or  Espines,  8504. 
Estouteville,  8452. 
Eu,  Robert,  Count  of,  8726. 
Falaise,  men  of,  8441. 
Ferte,  La,  Sire  de,  8601. 
Fitz  Erneis,  Robert,  8645. 
Fitz  Osbern,  7511,  7673. 
Fontenay,  Sire  de,  8670. 
Fougeres,  Sire  de,  8387. 
Gace,  Chevalier  de,  8552. 
Gael,  Rudolf  de,  6393,  8518. 


Glos,  Sire  de,  8562. 
Gournai,  Hugh  de,  8479. 
Gouvix,  Sire  de,  8547. 
Grandmesnil,     Sire     de,     or     de 

Lisieux,  8461. 
Haie  La,  Sire  de,  8595. 
Harcourt,  Sire  de,  8663. 
Hommet,  Le,  the  men  of,  8537. 
Jort,  Sire  de,  8505. 
L' Aigle,  Ingulf  de,  8483. 
La  Lande,  William  Patric  de,  8609, 

8623. 

Lassy,  Chevalier  de  (Lacy),  8551. 
Lithaire,  Sire  de,  8445. 
Lucy,  Sire  de,  8495. 
Magneville,  Sire  de  (Mandeville), 

8454. 

Mayenne,  Geoffrey  de,  8473. 
Mallet,  William,  8363,  8375. 
Mare,  La,  Sire  de,  8446. 
Marmion,  Roger,  8514. 
Mathieu,  the  men  of,  8442. 
Monceaux,  Sire  de,  8548. 
Montfray,  Giffard,  Sire  de,  8600. 
Montfiquet,  Sire  de,  8569. 
Montfort,  Hugh  de,  8370. 
Montgomerie,     Roger    de,    8306, 

8727. 

Morlai,  Sire  de,  8671. 
Mortain,  Robert,  Count  of,  8659, 

10514. 
Mortemer,  Hugh  (Christian  name 

wrong),  8641. 

Moulins, William  de  (Mullins),8457. 
Moyon,  William  de  (Mohun),  8511. 
Nehou,  Sire  de,  8447. 
Orval,  the  men  of,  8535. 
Ouilly,    Chevalier    de     (D'Oiley), 

8553- 

Pacy,  Sire  de  (Pace),  8549. 
Paisnel    des    Moutiers    Humbert 

(Paganel),  8524. 
Peeleit,  de  (Bellet),  6391. 
Pins,  Sire  des  (same  as  1'Epines), 

8458. 

Pirou,  Chevalier  de,  8448. 
Port,  Sire  de,  8504. 
Preaux,  Sire  de,  8546. 
Presles,  Sire  de,  8555. 
Taison,  Rudolf  de,  or  de  Cinglais, 

8513- 


413 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII 


Reviers,  Sire  de,  Richard,  8507. 
Rollo   (Rou  le   Blanc),  father   of 

Thustan,    the   standard  -  bearer 

of  William,  7657,  8698. 
Rouen,  citizens  of,  8439. 
Roubercy,  Sire  De,  8671. 
Roumare,  William  de,  8447. 
Sacy,  De,  Chevalier,  8553. 
Sai,  Sire  de,  8600. 
Saint    Clair,    Sire    de    (Sinclair), 

8643. 

Saint  Jean,  De,  8536. 
Saint  Martin,  Sire  de,  8456. 
Saint  Saens,  Sire  de,  8543. 
Saint  Valery,  Sire  de,  8725. 
Sap,  Le  Sire  de,  8562. 
Semilly,  Sire  de,  8544. 
Sole,  men  of,  8535. 
Subligny,  Sire  of,  8493. 


Tancarville,  Sire  de,  8453. 

Tellieres,  Gilbert  Crispin,  com- 
mander of,  8390. 

Touques,  Sire  de,  8446. 

Tourneur  Le,  Sire  de,  8555. 

Tracy,  Sire  de,  8496. 

Trougots,  Sire  de,  8563. 

Troussebot,  8605. 

Thurstin,  or  Thustan,  standard- 
bearer,  7657,  8698,  8701. 

Urine,  Sire  de  (Origny),  8599. 

Valdaire,  Sire  de,  8496. 

Varenne,  de,  William,  8477. 

Vassy,  Sire  de  (Veysey),  8534. 

Vaudreuil,thecrossbowmenof,8529. 

Viez  Molei,  Sire  de,  William 
Bacon,  8548. 

Vitre,  Sire  de,  8495. 

Vieux  Pont,  William  de,  8371 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII 
HUGUENOT  IMMIGRANTS'  SUBSCRIPTIONS  TO  A  LOYAL 

ADDRESS,    1744 


Jacob  Albert. 
Gilbert  Allix. 
George  Aymand. 
Claude  Aubert. 
George  Aufere. 
J.  Auriol. 

Nathaniel  Bassnet. 
Allard  Belin. 
Claude  Bennet. 

.  Lewis  Berchere. 

.  David  Billon. 

ohn  Blaquiere. 

.  Beter. 

Thomos  Le  Blanc. 
Henry  Blommart. 
Charles  de  Blon. 
John  Boitier. 
Samuel  Bosanquet. 
John  Boucher. 
James  Bourdieu. 
Stephen  Cabibel. 
Peter  Challifies. 
James  Caulet. 
James  Chalie. 


Honore  Combauld. 
Peter  Cuisserat. 
Daniel  Crespin. 
Peter  Devisme. 
Peter  Des  Champs. 
Peter  Du  Cane. 
C.  Desmaretz. 
Andrew  Devesne. 
Philip  Devesne. 
William  Dobree. 
John  Dorrien. 
Samuel  Dutresnay. 
J.  Dulamont. 
Charles  Duroure. 
Alexander  Eynard. 
Willm.  Fauquier. 
Am.  Faure. 
Abel  Fonnereau. 
Zac.  Phil.  Fonnereau. 
Isaac  Fiput  de  Gabay. 
Peter  Gaussen. 
Francis  Gaussen. 
James  Guinard. 
Henry  Guinard. 


414 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII 


Stephen  Guion. 

William  Hollier. 

John  Jamineau. 

Stephen  Theodore  Janssen. 

John  Lagiere  Lamotte. 

P.  Lebefure. 

Gideon  Leglize. 

Caesar  Le  Maistre. 

David  Le  Quesne. 

Benj.  Longuet, 

Samuel  Longuet. 

John  Louis  Loubier. 

Henry  Loubier. 

Charles  Loubier. 

Jo.  L.  Loubier. 

J.  Aut.  Loubier. 

Peter  Luard. 

Gabriel  de  Limage. 

Willm.  Minet. 

Wm.  Morin. 


Pulerand  Mourgrue. 
Francis  Noguier. 
Peter  Nouaille. 
Ph.  Jacob  de  Neufville. 
Joseph  de  Pontieu. 
Francis  Perier. 
Pearson  Pettit. 
John  Pettit. 
Joseph  Ponchon. 
Philip  Rigail. 
Cypre  Rondeau. 
Stephen  Teissier. 
Matt.  Testas. 
Thomas  Tryon. 
Aut.  Vazeille. 
Dan.  Vernezobre. 
Dan.  Vialers. 
Thomas  Vigne. 
Willm.  Vigor. 
Peter  Waldo. 


415 


INDEX 


Many  surnames  that  end  in  s  are  formed  from  the  name  of  the  father.  Watts  is  the  son 
of  Walter,  but  Watt  is  Walter  himself.  Lawes  is  the  equivalent  to  Lawson. 

Many  names  taken  from  animals,  etc.,  have  an  e  added.  Thus,  Lambe  for  Lamb,  Crosse 
for  Cross,  Locke  for  Lock. 


ABBADIE,  283 
Abby,  54 
Abdey,  175 
Abeillard,  89 
Abel,  61 
Able,  89 
Ablin,  61 
Achurch,  176 
Ackland,  176 
Adam,  131 
Adams,  53 
Adamson,  53 
Adcock,  53 
Addison,  53 
Adkyns,  53 
Adye,  53 
Adyman,  53 
Affleck,  181-2 
Agar,  392 
Agate,  175 
Ager,  410 
Agnew,  255 
Aicheson,  54 
Aikebaum,  18 
Aikenhead,  167 
Aincourt,  207 
Ainger,  255 
Ainsley,  182 
Airey,  410 
Alabaster,  132 
Alanson,  54 
Alardice,  53 
Albany,  207 
Albemarle,  207 
Aldborough,  176 
Aldershot,  167 
Alderson,  54 
Aldrich,  170,  187 
Aldridge,  170 
Aldus,  1 68 
Aldworth,  393 
Alexander,  54 
Alford,  410 
Algar,  13,  410 
Alkey,  54 
Allan,  54 
Allanson,  54 
Allard,  65 


Allbone,  54 

Ark  wright,  132 

Allbright,  54 

Armand,  281 

Allcock,  54 

Armiger,  105 

Allen,  53 

Armitage,  176 

Allgood,  310 

Armour,  132 

Allfraye,  308 

Arnold,  251,  387 

Allison,  6  1 

Arnott,  416 

Allix,  287 

Arrowsmith,  129,  132,  249 

Allonne,  283 

Arthur,  54 

Allsopp,  326 

Artie,  54 

Alstone,  410 

Arundell,  207 

Alward,  53 

Ashburner,  118 

Amadys,  65 

Ashe,  176 

Amelot,  65 

Ashman,  118,  150 

Amery,  206 
Amiard,  287 

Ashridge,  170 
Askell,  410 

Amory,  206 

Askew,  410 

Amphlet,  164,  175 

Aspinall,  178 

Amye,  61,  69 
Anderson,  54 

Astor,  105 
Atford,  176 

Andrew,  54 

Atkins,  53 

Andrews,  54 

Atkinson,  53 

Angell,  95,  311 

Atkirk,  176 

Anger,  287 

Atkynson,  195 

Anniott,  6r 

Atley,  410 

Ansell,  54,  132,  182 

Atock,  176 

Anson,  54,  61 

Attenborough,  176 

Anstice,  61 

Attfield,  176 

Ansty,  61 

Atthill,  176 

Anthony,  54 

Attley,  176,  410 

Antliffe,  182 

Attmore,  176 

Anwyll,  255 

Attridge,  176 

Ape,  70-1 

Attwood,  176 

Aplin,  6  1 

Atty,  54 

Applethwaite,  172 
Appleyard,  176 

Attye,  174 
Atwell,  357 

Arber,  308 

Atworth,  176 

Arbor,  109 

Aubrey,  54,  65 

Arbour,  109 

Aubrison,  54 

Arch,  258 

Audley,  202,  207 

Archbutt,  54 

Audrey,  362 

Archer,  132 

Aufere,  283 

Archeson,  54 

Augsburger,  306 

Archibald,  54 

Auriol,  284 

Arden,  392 

Austringer,  105 

Argent,  207 
Arkell,  410 

Avenell,  202,  208 
A  very,  255 

Arkle,  54 

Avis,  6  1 

417                                                           DD 

INDEX 


Avison,  6  1 
Awdry,  61 

Bayard,  67-8 
Bayes,  209 

Berry,  160,  202 
Beryll,  182 

Aylward,  53,  187 

Bayldon,  208 

Bertheau,  283 

Ayre,  331 

Bayley,  281,  392 

Bertram,  210 

Baylie,  105 

Best,  310 

Babb,  61 

Bayne,  380 

Betson,  61 

Backhouse,  176 

Baynes,  252 

Bettison,  61 

Bacon,  107,  187,  314 

Baynham,  65 

Betts,  61 

Badcock,  54,  107 

Bayouse,  209 

Betty,  61 

Badger,  89,  118 

Beach,  235 

Bevan,  57,  323 

Baggot,  324 

Beacham,  209 

Beveridge,  170 

Bagster,  132 

Beachy,  235 

Bevers,  210 

Bailleu,  281 

Beadale,  105 

Bevill,  212 

Baird,  67 

Beadell,  105 

Bevis,  67 

Baker,  132,  316,  357 

Beale,  440 

Beyouse,  209 

Balancer,  132 

Beamish,  177 

Bewes,  209 

Balderson,  54 

Beamsley,  118 

Bickerstaffe,  180,  365 

Baldison,  327 

Bearman,  106 

Bickersteth,  365 

Baldock,  54 

Beard,  255 

Bickle,  159 

Baldwin,  54,  67,  208 

Beare,  159 

Bickley,  159 

Balhatchet,  165 

Beater,  133 

Bidder,  133 

Baliol,  208,  375 

Beatie,  61 

Biddle,  105 

Ballard,  89,  362 

Beaton,  61,  255 

Bidlake,  176,  307 

Balliol,  375 

Beauclerk,  391                           j     Biffen,  176 

Ballister,  132 

Beaufort,  2079,  289,  391 

Biford,  209 

Bamberger,  306 

Beaumont,  182,  210 

Bigger,  133 

Bamfield,  210 
Bancroft,  163 

Beavan,  43 
Beaver,  255 

Bigott,  211 
Bill,  59 

Banister,  132,  208 
Barbauld,  288 

Beck,  159 
Beckett,  159,  167 

Billet,  61 
Billiter,  132 

Barbe,  61 

Beckwith,  174 

Billman,  133 

Barber,  132 

Bedbug,  361 

Bilson,  59 

Barbey,  255 

Bedburg,  361 

Binder,  133 

Barbor,  133 

Beddingneld,  237 

Bird,  135 

Barbour,  133 

Bedell,  105 

Birdwhistle,  174 

Barclay,  290,  379 

Bedmaker,  133 

Biron,  211 

Bardell,  251 
Bardolf,  208 

Bedoe,  55 
Bedward,  65 

Bishop  ,310 
Bisset,  256 

Bardsay,  163 

Beeman,  182 

Black,  133,   186,   305,   307, 

Barkiss,  176 

Beere,  187 

386 

Barman,  106 

Belcher,  255 

Blackall,  176 

Barnby,  54 

Belfield,  210 

Blackburn,  176 

Barnes,  54,  252 
Barnfield,  210 

Bell,  61,  88,  97,  187 
Bellasis,  255 

Blacker,  133 
Blackett,  167 

Barnstaple,  172 

Bellchamber,  255 

Blackister,  133 

Barnum,  166                            i     Bellew,  210 

Blackleach,  ix 

Baron,  310,  402 

Bellman,  61,  133 

Blackmore,  169 

Barr,  176 
Barrett,  208 

Bellsetter,  133 
Benbow,  254 

Blacksmith,  133 
Blackstone,  176 

Barrow,  159 

Bencher,  133 

Blackwell,  176 

Barry,  202,  208 

Benison,  54 

Blackwood,  176 

Earth,  14,  54,  410 
Bartholomew,  54 

Benjamin,  54 
Benn,  54 

Blades,  133 
Bladesmith,  133 

Bartle,  54 

Bennett,  54,  212 

Elaine,  211 

Bartlett,  54 

Bennetson,  54 

Blake,  133 

Bartley,  54 
Barwell,  255 

Benny,  210 
Benoi,  19 

Blakeley,  176 
Blakelock,  310 

Bar  wise,  255 
Baskerville,  209 
Basset,  208,  310 

Benson,  55 
Bent,  159 
Bentinck,  19 

Blampy,  19 
Blanchard,  290 
Blaquiere,  281 

Bastard,  209,  311 

Bentley,  159 

Blaydes,  133 

Bateman,  106,  327 

Bercher,  118 

Blayne,  211 

Bates,  54,  106 

Bere,  159 

Blaxter,  133 

Batson,  54 

Berger,  118 

Blenkinsopp,  167,  326 

Battey,  54 

Berham,  210 

Blewett,  211 

Bave,  255 

Berkley,  167 

Bligh,  410 

Bavent,  209,  255 

Berman,  106 

Blocker,  133 

Bawcock,  54 

Bernard,  54 

Blomfield,  255 

Bawden,  54,  65 

Bernardson,  54 

Blompay,  19 

Bawkin,  54 

Berners,  105 

Blondell,  211,  290 

Bawson,  54 

Berneville,  202 

Blood,  307 

Baxter,  132 

Berrill,  182 

Bloomer,  133 

4I8 

INDEX 


Blore,  133 

Brassey,  212                                 Burdon,  214 

Blount,  211,  308 

Brathwaite,  173                        !     Burgen,  178 

Blow,  106,  133 

Braund,  212 

Burgh,  1  60,  214 

Blower,  133 

Bray,  213 

Burgoyne,  178 

Bloye,  256 

Brayler,  134 

Burman,  106 

Bloyne,  211 

Brazier,  134 

Burnard,  54 

Blucher,  333 

Breakspeare,  367 

Burrell,  214,  410 

Bluett,  211 

Brend,  160 

Burke,  214,  410 

Blund,  410 

Breton,  178,  213 

Burne,  410 

Blunt,  211                                 i     Brett,  178,  219 

Burr,  115 

Blythe,  410 

Bretwitz,  337 

Burt,  265 

Boarder,  116 

Brewer,  134,  256,  357 

Bush,  119,  254 

Boardman,  116 

Brewster,  134 

Butcher,  138 

Bodkin,  54 

Briant,  213 

Butler,  102,  134,  149,  212 

Body,  54,  159,  187,  410 

Brice,  54 

Button,  135 

Boevy,  289 

Bridgeman,  134,  327 

Butts,  132,  1  60 

Boggis,  238 

Bridger,  134 

Byatt,  176 

Boileau,  281,  284 

Bridges,  177 

Byatts,  176 

Bold,  159 
Bokerley,  355 

Bridgwater,  160 
Briggs,  60,  177,  362 

Byden,  176 
Byfield,  176 

Bolitho,  308 

Bright,  308 

Byford,  176,  209 

Bolter,  119 

Brightman,  310 

Bygrove,  176 

Bolton,  159,  392 

Brimmel,  182 

Bythesea,  176,  313 

Bomgartner,  18 

Briscoe,  326 

By  wood,  135 

Bonaparte,  397 

Brison,  54 

Byrd,  135 

Bond,  1  1  6,  1  86,  190 

Bristol,  1  60,  172 

Byrder,  135 

Bone,  211 

Broadbent,  159 

Byron,  211,  287,  397 

Bonner,  308 

Brocas,  290 

Bywater,  176 

Bonney,  256 

Brock,  89 

Bonville,  212,  256 

Brockhurst,  167 

Cable,  94 

Boone,  211 

Brodie,  187 

Cade,  135 

Boosey,  256 

Brogger,  134 

Cader,  135 

Borman,  106 

Bromsgrove,  165 

Cadman,  135 

Borough,  281,  284 

Brooke,  160 

Caesar,  54,  82 

Bosanquet,  285 

Brookes,  313 

Cailley,  214 

Boswell,  256 

Broom,  96 

Caine,  256 

Botcher,  134 

Brothers,  65 

Caird,  135 

Boteller,  134,  212 

Browker,  134 

Calcraft,  135 

Bothwell,  159 

Browne,  213,  307,  386 

Calf,  90 

Botwell,  238 
Bottle,  159 

Browning,  325 
Brownsmith,  135 

Call,  135 
Callender,  135 

Bottome,  160 

Browse,  176,  213                             Callman,  135 

Boucher,  134 

Bruce,  73,  213,  375,  410 

Calthrop,  135,  149,  172 

Boult,  119 

Brune,  320 

Calverley,  169 

Bounce,  237 

Bryan,  213 

Calvert,  119 

Bourder,  134 
Bourdes,  134 

Bryant,  313 
Bryce,  54 

Cameron,  36,  380 
Cammoys,  254,  308 

Bourdieu,  280 
Bourdillon,  290 

Bryson,  54 
Bubb,  407 

Campbell,  377 
Candy,  178 

Boutell,  256 

Buck,  93,  106 

Cann,  256 

Boutereau,  281,  284 

Buckett,  256 

Cassel,  93 

Boutflower,  96 

Buckle,  135,  159 

Capern,  253 

Bouverie,  210,  281 

Buckler,  97 

Capper,  136 

Bovey,  256 

Budd,  54 

Capes,  215 

Bow,  187 

Buffer,  65 

Capron,  253 

Bowdler,  14 

Buffler,  96 

Carder,  136 

Bower,  134 

Buffets,  254 

Cardmaker,  136 

Bowen,  43,  58,  323 
Bower  man,  134 

Bugg,  361 
Bull,  90 

Carew,  360 
Carey,  360 

Bowles,  134,  187,  410 

Bullen,  178 

Caroll,  117 

Bowyer,  134,  327 

Buller,  14,  119 

Carnaby,  161 

Boyer,  134,  290 

Bullinger,  132 

Carpenter,    119,     136,    29^ 

Boys,  211,  254 

Bullivant,  182 

387 

Brabant,  178 

Bullock,  90 

Carr,  160,  410 

Brabazon,  178,  212 
Bracegirdle,  134 

Bulmer,  290 
Bulstrod,  337 

Carrington,  256 
Carter,  119 

Braine,  256 

Bunce,  237 

Carteret,  119,  242 

Bramble,  182 

Bunker,  316 

Cartwright,  119,  124,  136 

Brame,  178 

Bunting,  370 

Carver,  106 

Brammel,  i8a 

Bunyon,  254,  323 

Cass,  61 

Brand,  188,  212,  392,  410            Burder,  134 

Cassell,  20 

Brass,  212                                      Burdett,  256 

Castello,  355 

419                                                 DD    2 

INDEX 


Castle,  106 

Chowen,  215 

Comings,  217 

Catchpole,  119 

Christie,  54 

Comyns,  217 

Catchpool,  119 

Christison,  54 

Conder,  137,  143 

Cater,  105,  136 

Christmass,  213 

Condy,  257 

Catlin,  61 

Christopher,  54 

Conquest,  257 

Catt,  90,  396 

Christopher  son,  54 

Constable,  106,  393 

Caudle,  363 

Chubb,  92,  323 

Constantine,  55 

Caunter,  136 

Churchill,  257,  392 

Conry,  387 

Cause,  256 

Churchward,  120 

Conyers,  216,  270 

Cavalier,  282 

Churchyard,  120 

Coode,  91 

Cave,  187 

Clack,  187 

Cooke,    Cook,  107,  137,  149, 

Cavendish,  392 

Claridge,  61 

150,  323 

Cayley,  257 

Clarke,  Clark,  136 

Cookson,  65,  107 

Cayzer,  54 

Clavell,  257 

Coomtng,  217 

Cazenove,  290 

Claver,  106 

Cooper,  137,  149,  150 

Cecil,  61 

Claverhouse,  91 

Cope,  161 

Centlivre,  317 

Claye,  120 

Copeland,  161 

Chalk,  112 

Clayer,  120 

Copley,  161 

Chalker,  119 

dayman,  120 

Copperfield,  404 

Challand,  323 

Cleave,  161 

Copps,  161 

Challinger,  363 
Challis,  Challice,  136 

Cleaver,  106 
Clements,  55 

Corbett,  83,  217 
Corbyn,  83,  217 

Challoner,  136 

Clemo,  55 

Corder,  137,  143 

Challys,  136,  214,  215 

Clerkson,  65 

Cordery,  143 

Chamberlaine,    -layne,    102, 

Cliff  e,  161 

Cornelius,  387 

103-4,  106,  215 

Clifford,  396 

Corney,  407 

Chambers,  106 

Climpson,  55 

Cornish,  178 

Chamier,  134,  290 

Clive,  161 

Cornwallis,  178 

Chamley,  256 

Clobbury,  365 

Corser,  141 

Chamond,  215 

Close,  57,  161 

Cork,  386 

Champagne,  283 

Clowes,  57,  161 

Cosens,  61,  65 

Champernowne,  215 

Clutterbuck,  14,  375 

Cossentine,  55 

Champion,  290 

Clymo,  55 

Costello,  387 

Champney,  178,  215 

Coates,  167 

Coster,  137 

Chance,   226 

Coatman,  116 

Cotter,  116 

Chancellor,  106 

Coaker,  130 

Cotterell,  116,  170,  326 

Chandos,  215 

Cobb,  38,  161 

Couch,  137 

Chanter,  136 

Cobbett,  55 

Coudray,  254 

Chantrell,  356 

Cobbler,  136 

Couper,  150,  254 

Chapell,  136 

Cobett,  55 

Coutts,  187 

Chapman,  136,  150 

Cobley,  161 

Coverer,  137 

Chardon,  284 

Cock,  107 

Coverley,  257 

Charger,  93 
Charles,  54,  116 

Cocker,  130 
Cockayne,  310 

Coward,  120 
Cowlard,  326 

Charlesworth,  174 

Cocks,  Cox,  107,  323,  387 

Cowley,  137,  391 

Charley,  54,  117 

Cockrell,  19,  120,  326 

Cowper,  137,  148 

Charter,  105 

Codd,  92 

Cox,  107,  323,  387 

Charteris,  215 
Chase,  254 

Codner,  92 
Cody,  38 

Coxwell,  327 
Coxwold,  327 

Chaucer,  120,  136,  144 

Coffee,  257 

Crabbe,  92 

Chauncy,  226 

Coffin,  363 

Craddock,  13 

Chawnes,  136,  215,  257 

Cogger,  137 

Craig,  161 

Chawney,  257 

Cohen,  20 

Craike,  161 

Cheeseman,  136,  327 

Cokeman,  107 

Crane,  90 

Chenevix,  289,  290 

Cole,  13,  57,  187,  410 

Cranmer,  120 

Cherry,  19 

Colburn,  410 

Crawford,  382 

Cherwell,  257 

Coleville,  216 

Crayke,  161 

Chesney,  215,  231 

Collard,  326 

Creale,  226 

Chester,  161,  386 

Collett,  57 

Creamer,  120 

Chaworth,  216 
Chetwynd,  392 

Colley,  391,  410 
Collier,  137 

Creasy,  257                           •'< 
Creech,  162 

Cheyne,  379 

Collins,  57 

Crespigny,  281 

Cheynell,  257 
Cheyney,  215 

Collis,  57 
Colson,  57 

Cressy,257 
Crevelh,  335 

Chilcott,  187 

Colt,  93 

Crewdson,  55 

Child,  Childe,  189,  190,  311 

Colthard,  120 

Cricket,  217 

Childers,  178 

Columb,  90,  216 

Cricklade,  162 

Chisholm,  377 
Chivers,  92 

Colquhoun,  372 
Columbell.  216 

Crisp,  55 
Crispin,  55 

Choice,  323                                      Combe,  161.  307 

Cripps,  55 

Cholmondely,  27 

Comfort,  363                             1     Croft,  163 

Chope,  323 

Comper,  137                             1     Crofton,  163 

42O 

INDEX 


Crocker,  137 
Crockett,  137 

Dawney,  208,  319 
Dawson,  55 

Doyle,  220 
Domville,  258 

Croker,  137 

Dawtrey,  218 

Donald,  55 

Crole,  226 

Day,  Daye,   120,  258,  312, 

Donaldson,  58 

Crommelin,  283 

410 

Donkin,  55 

Cromwell,  174,  364 

Dayman,  120 

Donne,  187 

Crook  es,  187 

Dayson,  55 

Doser,  138 

Crookshanks,  310 

Deadman,  121,  327 

Douce,  178,  254 

Cross,  95 
Crosskeys,  95 

Dealchamber,  363 
Deamer,  138 

Doughty,  310 
Dove,  90 

Crossthwaite,  173 

Deane,  163 

Dovey,  187 

Crosswell,  174 

Dearden,  163 

Dowch,  178 

Cruden,  120 

Dearmer,  138 

Dowse,  62 

Crudener,  120 

Death,  312 

Dowson,  62 

Cry  toft,  217 

Deeman,  107 

Drake,  90 

Cudliffe,  182 

Deemster,  138 

Draper,  138 

Cudlip,  365 

De  la  Laund,  202,  218 

Dresser,  106,  107,  138 

Cuff,  257 
Cullen,  178 

Delany,  387 
Dela  Pole,  97,  218 

Dressincourt,  287 
Drew,  250 

Cully,  214 

Delmar,      Delainare,      169, 

Drinkwater,  181 

Cumberledge,  163 

218 

Driver,  121 

Cummins,  217,  375 

Dempster,  138 

Druce,  258 

Cundy,  257 

Denis,  Dennis,  55,  178,  219, 

Drummond,  377,  407 

Cunninghame,  382 

387 

Dubber,  138 

Curie,  226 

Denman,  163,  178 

Ducie,  258 

Curtain,  410 

Dennison,  55 

Duck,  91 

Curtis,  254 

Denny,  55 

Duckworth,  121 

Curzon,  217 

Denyer,  163 

Dudgen,  58 

Cussack,  259 

Depledge,  163 

Dudman,  121 

Custance,  257 

Despenser,  102,  107 

Dudney,  258 

Cutbeard,  55 

De  Trafford,  393 

Duffy,  258 

Cutcliff,  182,  365 

Deuce,  62 

Dufour,  285 

Cuthbert,  55 

Deval,  19, 

Duke,  310,  403 

Cuthbertson,  55 

De  Vere,  396 

Du  Laing,  387 

Cutts,  55 

Deverell,  219 

Du  Maillet,  387 

Czerny,  325 

Devereux,  219,  319 

Dummerel,  308 

Dabernon,  217 
Dacre,  ix 

Deville,  219 
De  Villiers,  393 
Devonshire,  181 

Dunbar,  382 
Dun  calf,  315 
Dundas,  382 

Dainty,  96 

Dewhurst,  168 

Dunn,  163,  187 

Dakins,  Dakeyne,  55,  207 

Deyman,  120 

Durant,  220 

Dale,  162 

D'Eyncourt,  207 

Durdon,  258 

Dalhousie,  343,  382 

Dick,  Dicks,  58 

Durward,  in 

Dalmahoi,  343 
Dal  ton,  162 

Dickens,  55,  58 
Dickenson,  Dickson,  57 

Dust,  361 
Dustan,  274 

Dalziel,  343,  382 

Dickman,  58 

Dyatt,  55 

Dames,  207 

Diggenson,  55 

Dye,  62 

Dampierre,  258 

Digges,  55,  120 

Dyer,  88,  131,  150 

Dance,  55 

Diggles,  362 

Dyett,  55 

Dancer,  137 

Diggons,  55 

Dykes,  120 

Dancet,  55 

Digman,  55 

Dyot,  62 

Danes,  178 

Digory,  55 

Dyson,  58 

Daniel,  55,  287 

Dilly,  96 

Danson,  55 

Dimond,  258,  407 

Eagle,  91,  410 

Danvers,  319 

Dingle,  Dingley,  163 

Eales,  67 

Darcy,  207,  319,  387 

Dinham,  258 

Eames,  62,  65 

Darell,  218 

Diprose,  258 

Easton,  410 

Darke,  258,  309 
Daubeny,    -igny,  207,   217, 

Disney,  219 
Ditcher,  120 

Eaton,  363 
Earl,  Earle,  178,  310 

290,  319 

Dixie,  Dixon,  58 

Easterling,  178 

Dauber,  138 

Dobbs,  58 

Eave,  62 

Daubuz,  287 

Dobie,  58 

Ebbott,  6  1 

Davers,  258 

Dobson,  58 

Eccles,  Eckles,  144,  163 

David,  55 

Dodd,     Dodds,     55,      121, 

Eden,  62 

Davitt,  55 

187 

Edes,  62 

Davey,  Davie,  55 

Dodge,  Doidge,  58 

Edkins,  62 

Davis,  Davies,  55 
Davison,  Davidson,  55,  380 

Dodson,  55,  58 
Doke,  90 

Eddison,  62 
Edmunds,  62,  63 

Dawe,  55 

Dolling,  67 

Edmundson,  62 

Dawes,  55 

D'Oiley,  220 

Edwards,  Edwardes,  55 

Dawkes,  55 

Dolman,  177 

Eeles,  67 

Dawkins,  55 

Dolphin,  92,  1  88 

Egerton,  392 

42I 

INDEX 


Elbow,  326 

Fenner,  121                                   Fowell,  258 

Eldrich,  308 

Fermor,  121                                   Fowle,  92,  121 

Elgar,  410 

Ferrar,  Ferrers,  Ferrier,  27,  j     Fowler,  92,  121,  150 

Elias,  55 

121,  133                                     Fox,  55,  92,  387 

Ellet,  67 
Ellicock,  67 

Ferron,      Fearon,      Fieron,  i     Francis,  55,  252 
Farren,  27,  121,  153             j     Francombe,  Frankham,  115 

Ellicott,  67 
Elliot,  Eliott.  67.  319 

Fervour,  133 
Feures,  27 

Franklyn,  115 
Franks,  55,  115,  252 

Ellis,  67 

Fewster,  138 

Franson,  55 

Ellison,  67 

Ffinch,  368 

Frayle,  254 

Elkins,  67 

Ffrench,  368 

Frazer,  221,  275 

Elwes,  62 

Ffoukes,  368 

Free,  113 

Ely,  163 

Fichett,  231 

Freebody,  113,  159 

Erne,  91 

Fiddle,  88 

Freeman,  113,  410 

Emery,  206,  250 
Emmott  62 

Fidgett,  231 
Field,  163 

Freestone,  410 
French,  178,  180 

Empson,  61 
Emson,  61,  62 

Field-Flowers-Goe,  407 
Fiennes,  221,  393 

Frere,  65 
Freyne,  Freine,  254 

Enderby,  160 

Filberd,  Filbert,  258 

Freyson,  56 

English,  1  1  8,  178 

Filliol,  221 

Frieze,  130,  222 

Entwhistle,  174 

Filliot,  Filiot,  64,  202 

Frobisher,  no 

Enys,  1  68 

Fillpot,  Filpotts,  323 

Fromisher,  136 

Epps,  61 
Ernshaw,  167 
Esdaile,  285 

Filmer,  221,  366 
Filson,  58 
Finch,  91,  121 

Froude,  410 
Fry,  113 
Fuller,  131,  138 

Essex,  181 

Fincher,  91 

Furneaux,  212 

Etchells,  144 

Finmore,  221 

Furness,  399 

Etty,  62 

Finn,  187 

Furnivall,  222 

Eugene,  387 

Fippen,  Fippon,  246 

Furrier,  138 

Eustace  55,  67,  220,  251 

Firebrace,  67,  317 

Furse,  258 

Evercreech,  162 

Firth,  165 

Fust,  139 

Everstaff.  365 

Fish,  91 

Fuster,  139 

Eves,  62 

Fishacre,  362 

Future,  108,  113 

Eveson,  62 

Fisher,  251 

Futurer,  108 

Evett,  62 

FitzAlan,  221 

Fyers,  254 

Eville,  219,  258 

FitzAleyn,  202 

Fyler,  113 

Ewart,  121 

FitzBrian,  221 

Fynnes    (see  also    Fiennes), 

Ewin,  Ewins,  255,  410 
Eyre,  258,  382 

Fitz  James,  43 
FitzPatrick,  385 

335 
Fysh,  02 

FitzRobert,  202                        |     Fyshour,  251 

Faber,  27,  133,  138,  313                FitzRoy,  43,  391 

Fabricius,  133                               FitzUrse,  77,  251 

Gabb,  55 

Facey,  246,  323                        j     FitzWilliam,  44 

Gabe,  407 

Fair,  309                                   1     Flamank,  14,  178,  180 

Gabel,  55 

Fairbrotner,  65 

Planner,  138 

Gable,  55 

Fairchild,  322 

Flaxman,  138 

Gabriel,  55 

Fairfax,  310 

Fleet,  163,  308 

Gage,  139,  222 

Falcon,  91 

Fleetwood,  164 

Gager,  139 

Falconer,  Faukner,  etc.,  108, 

Fleming,  14,  178,  338 

Gale,  108,  178 

150 

Flesher,  138,  327 

Galightley,  515 

Fancourt,  220,  258 

Fletcher,  138,  249 

Galland,  57 

Fanner,  121 

Flinders,  14 

Gallon,  62 

Faraday,  138 

Fleury,  289 

Gait,  93,  410 

Farewell,  Farwell,  266 

Florence,  62 

Gam,  308 

Farfield,  266 

Flowers,  96,  138 

Gamage,  174-5 

Farman,  138,  316 

Floyer,  138 

Gambier,  286,  290 

Farmer,  121,  150 

Flurry,  Flory,  62 

Gamell,  Gammel,    186,  187, 

Farquharson,  372,  380 

Foley,  221 

308,  410 

Farrer,  Farrar,  Farrier,  121, 

Follett,  258 

Gamelcarle,  186 

132,  138 

Folliot,  64 

Cans,  86 

Farren,  Fearon,  Fiaron,  27, 

Fonnereau,  284 

Gant,  178 

133 

Faucett,  Fawcett,  55,  108 

Fookes,  Foulkes,  55,  251,  326 
Foote,  96 

Garde,  113,  218 
Garden,  Gardener,  Gardner, 

Fawkes,  55,  92 

Forbes,  343 

108,  113,  149 

Fawson,  55 

Force,  Forcer,  138 

Garrett,  53 

Fayle,  Faile,  254 

Ford,  164 

Garrick,  53 

Fearon,  Fieron,  Farren,  27, 

Forester,  Forster,  Forestier, 

Garrod,  53 

121,  133 

Forrest,  108,  149,  150 

Garlick,  97 

Featherstone,  14,  410 

Forrest-Bell,  407 

Garth,  165 

Feldberger,  300 
Fell,  133,  138 

Fortescue,  336 
Foster  Forster,  108,  150 

Gascoyne,  178 
Gaskin,  178 

Fell  owes,  187 

Fotheringay,  166 

Gastigny,  285 

422 

INDEX 


Gates,  147,  165 
Gatacre,  Gattacre,  156,  159 
Gatishill,  112 
Gatherd,  Gateard,  121 

Godrich,  59                               !     Greyson,  56 
Godwin,  Goodwin,  13,  59            Gribble,  187 
Goff,  55                                          Grice,  254 
Golding,  407                                   Grierson,  109 

Gaud, 
Gaunt,  178,  222,  312 

Goldring,  325                             1     Grieve,  109 
Goldschmidt,  306                      !     Griffinhoof,  328 

Gaunter,  139 

Goldsmith,  88                            ;     Griffith.  i* 

Gauntlet,  97 

Golightly,  315 

Griggs,  56 

Gawthorpe,  172 

Golland,  Goland,  57 

Grindon,  176 

Gay,  226 

Gooch.     See  Goch 

Grize,  le,  83,  93 

Gayer,  410 

Good,  259 

Grocer,  139 

Gaylord,  259 

Goodacre,  159 

Grosser,  139 

Gaze,  222 

Goodbody,  56,  181 

Grosteste,  283 

Geer,  410 

Goodchild,  59,  310 

Grosvenor,  102,  392 

Geldart,  121 

Goodenough,  167,  310,  362 

Groves,  165 

Gellot,  62 

Goodfellow,  56,  310 

Grundy,  62,  410 

Gent,  178,  254 
Geoffrey,  55 
George,  Georges,  55 
Gerard,  55,  251 

Goodlad,  315 
Goodlake,  56,  410 
Goodly,  410 
Goodluck,  56 

Gruyelien,  19 
|     Grymes,  14,  410 
j     Gubbins,  224 
t     Guelf,  7Q 

German,  178,  259 

Goodman,  304,  310,  410          !     Guest,  410 

Gerry,  274,  410 

Goodrich,  13,  59,  410                   Guiness,  259,  387 

Gibbings,  55 
Gibbons,  55,  224 

Goodridge,  59 
Goodwin,  Godwin,  13,  59 

Guise,  397 
Guliver,  222 

Gibbs,  55 

Goodyear,  59                                Gull,  02 

Gibson,  55 

Gordon,  375,  329 

Gulley,  92 

Giddy,  251 

Gore,  165 

Gunn,  109,  378,  450 

Giffard,  222,  310,  367 
Gilbard,  55 

Gorell,  1  68 
Gorges,  222 

Gunning,  325 
Gunstone,  410 

Gilbert,  55,  251,  306 

Gorham,  165 

Gurdon,  223-4 

Gilbertson,  55 

Gorman,  327,  410 

Gurney,  224 

Gilbey,  222,  259 

Gorwyn,  306 

Guscott,  116 

Gilcock,  56 

Goschen,  20 

Guthrie,  344,  410 

Giles,  56 

Gosling,  92,  259 

Gwyllim,  251 

Gill,  23-6,  165,  382,  410 

Gospa  trick,  382 

Gillard,  142 

Goss,  62,  92,  187 

Hacket,  56,  253,  364 

Gillchrist,  382 

Gossett,  82 

Hackman,  122 

Gillespie,  382 

Gotobed,  56 

Hadleigh,  169 

Gillett,  56 

Gott,  165,  179 

Haigh,  1  66 

Gillie,  382 

Gould,  394,  466 

Haire-  Fowler,  407 

Gillott,  Gillot,  56,  59,  62 

Gower,  222 

Hake,  410 

Gillow,  62 

Goz,  le,  83,  299 

Halbert,  5-6 

Gilpatrick,  382 

Gozzard,  122 

Haldane,  14,  225,  410 

Gilpin,  56 

Grace,  223 

Hales,  265 

Gillman,  327 

Graham,  380 

Half  naked,  315 

Gilson,  57,  62 

Grandisson,  223 

Halford,  411 

Giltpen,  315 

Granger,  108,  165 

Halfpenny,  399 

Girdler,  139 

Graine,  410 

Halket,  56      " 

Ginn,  107 

Grant,  223,  254,  374 

Hall,  56,  165-6,  411 

Ginner,  107 

Granville,  276 

Hallet,  54,  56 

Glanville,  267 

Graunt,  223 

Halley,  166,  324 

Glascock,  Glasscock,  57,  323 

Graves,  122,  165 

Halse,  56 

Glazier,  139 

Gray,  223 

Halwell,  174 

Glede,  91 
Gledhill,  91 

Greatrakes,  31^5 
Greave   and    Greaves,    109, 

Ham,  1  66 
Hamilton,  379,  392 

Gledstane,  91 

122,  165 

Hamley,  56,  250 

Glover,  139 

Green,  96,  307 

Hamlyn,  56,  224 

Gloyne,  267 
Glyn,  165 

Greendon,  176 
Greenfield,  363 

Hammet,  56 
Hamper,  139 

Goad,  59,  259 

Greenhill,  176 

Hampson,  56 

Goatcher,  251 

Greenslade,  172 

Hand,  96 

Goatherd,  121 

Greenwell,  174,  176 

Hancock,  57,  107 

Gobbett,  56 

Greenwood,  42,  176,  291 

Handcock,  148 

Gobbo,  224 

Gregory,  56 

Handel,  326 

Goch,  308 

Greely,  223 

Hanger,  165 

Godard,    Goddard,    56,    59,  |     Grendon,  223 

Hankey,  325 

121 

Godden,  59 

Grenville,  223 
Gresley,  223 

Hannah,  179 
Hansard,  179,  224,  326 

Godfrey,  56,  67 

Gresson,  56 

Hansom,  57,  61 

Godkin,  59 

Greville,  223 

Han  way,  179 

Godliman,  182,  315 

Grey,  223 

Harbottle,  159 

Godon,  59 

Greygoose,  315 

Harcourt,  224 

423 

INDEX 


Hardgripe,  187 

Herries,  226,  393 

Hornblower,  134 

Harding,  325 

Herring,  92 

Home,  139 

Hardman,  109,  122 

Hersee,  226 

Horneman,  106 

Hardy,  109 

Hewer,  122 

Homer,  139 

Hargreave,  122 

Hewett,  56 

Hosier,  140 

Harman,  306 

Heyman,  327 

Hostler,  142      "4: 

Harness,  139 

Hickes,  56 

Houblon,  281,  290 

Harper,  109 
Harriman,  56 

Hickson,  56 
Hide.     See  Hyde 

House,  1  68 
Houseman,  327     ; 

Harris,  56,  225 

Higgs,  56 

Howard,  202,  225 

Harrison,  56 

Higgins,  56 

Howell,  13,  226 

Harrow,  88 

Higginson,  56 

Howett,  56 

Hart,  93,  109 

Highstreet,  291 

Hozier,  90,  140,  411 

Hartman,  109 

Higman,  56 

Hubbard,  56 

Hartopp,  167,  172 

Hilary,  56 

Hubert,  56 

Harvey,  14,  411 

Hilson,  56 

Hudson,  56 

Haseler,  no 

Hinchman,  no 

Huggins,  56 

Haskell,  410 

Hinksman,  no 

Hugh,  56,  387 

Hassell,  411 

Hird,  172 

Hughes,  56 

Hastings,  202,  224 

Hirschell,  326 

Hughes-Death,  407 

Hassard,  Hazzard,  290 
Hatch,  165,  176 

Hiskison,  Hiskinson,  56 
Hitchcock,  58 

Huish,  1  68 
Hullin,  285 

Hatchard,  165 

Kitchens,  58 

Humfine,  299 

Hatchman,  165 

Hoarder,  no 

Humphrey,  411 

Hatte,  22-3 

Hoare,  307 

Hund,  80 

Haughton,  166 
Haverfield,  163 

Hobbes,  58 
Hobbie,  56 

Hundredpounds,  307 
Hunt,  1  10 

Hawes,  Hawis,  56,  166,  176 
Hawk,  91 

Hobbins,  58 
Hobbler,  no 

Hunter,  no 
Hunt-Grubb,  407 

Hawker,  122 

Hobbs,  58,  58 

Hurd,  122 

Hawkes,  122 

Hobbson,  Hobson,  56,  58 

Hurst,  1  68,  392 

Hawkins,  56 

Hockaday,  313 

Husband,  123 

Hawkinson,  57 

Hodder,  363 

Hussey,  218,  310 

Hawley,  202,  225 

Hodge,  58 

Hutchins,  56 

Hawson,  56 

Hodges,  58 

Huxter,  122 

Hay,  Haye,    166,   218,  331, 

Hodgkin,  58 

Hyde,  167,  392,  411 

377 

Hodgman,  58 

Hynde,  no 

Haybiddle,  122 

Hodgson,  58 

Hyne,  110 

Hayes,  166 

Hody,  257 

Hayman,  67,  122 

Hogarth,  123 

lans,  57 

Maysler,  no 

Hogg,  93 

Ibbott,  61 

ayward,  122,  225 

Hoggart,  123 

Ibsen,  61 

Hayter,  122 

Holcroft,  161 

Ide,  67 

Hazlehurst,  168 

Hold,  190,  366 

Idson,  62 

Hazzard,  Hassard,  13,  290 

Holder,  139 

Image,  97 

Head,  90,  167 

Holiday  313 

Ince,  168 

Heale,  165 

Holker,  411 

Inchbald,  411 

Heard,  122 

Holland,  179 

Ingersoll,  171 

Heath,  167 

Holmes,  167,  259 

Ingham,  259 

Heathman,  327 
Hebblethwaite,  226 
Hebblewhite,  226 

Hollet,  74 
Hollick,  74 
Holroyd,  171 

Ingle,  411 
Ingledew,  411 
Inglis,  178 

Hebburn,  167 

Hoist,  179 

Ingram,  251,  411 

Hedgeman,  122 

Holybone,  360,  411 

Inkpen,  316 

Hedger,  122 

Holzapfel,  20 

Innman,  124 

Hellcat,  85 

Homer,  116 

Iremonger,  130 

Hellier,  Helyer,  139 

Honey,  119 

Irons,  130 

Helliland,  355 

Honeybun,  362 

Isaac,  56 

Help,  187 

Honeyman,  119,  123 

Isaacson,  56 

Helps,  187 

Hood,  251 

Isbel,  61 

Hemming,  411 

Hoodwall,  251 

Ivers,  56 

Henderson,  54 

Hooker,  139,  306 

Ivey,  251 

Henry,  56 

Hooper,  139 

Ivison,  56 

Henson,  54 
Hepworth,  174 

Hope,  167 
Hopgood,  366 

Izzard,  62,  219 

Herder,  no 

Hopkins,  58 

Izod,  61,  397 

Herice,  225 

Hopkinson,  58 

Hermon,  411 

Hop  ton,  167 

ackman,  no 

Heron,  93,  225 

Hopwood,  366 

acks,  56 

Herne,  93,  167,  225 

Horden,  no 

ackson,  86 

Hernshaw,  93 

Horder,  no 

acobs,  56 

Herrick,  226,  258 

Hore,  307 

acobson,  56 

424 

INDEX 


acox,  56 

Kalkreuth,  336 

Lambert,  57,  281,  306 

ames,  56 

Kaye,  ix,  187 

Lambet,  57 

ameson,  56 

Keates,  54 

Lambson,  57 

ane,  179 

Kebroyd,  171 

Lambkin,  57 

anssen,  289 
an  way,  179 

Keeler,  143 
Keep-  Wells,  407 

Lammas,  ix 
Lamoureux,  19 

acques,  56,  251 
ardine,  108,  150 

Kelson,  54 
Kemble,  137 

Lampert,  57 
Lamprey,  365 

arman,  178 

Kerns  ter,  137 

Lancey,  344 

arratt,  55 

Kendrick,  327 

Landseer,  367 

arred,  55 

Kenn,  90 

Landor,  140 

aye,  225 

Kennard,  310 

Lands,  169 

ayne,  179 

Kennedy,  57 

Lane,  168 

eames,  56 

Kenneth,  57 

Laner,  140 

efcott,  322 

Keppel,  19 

Langstaffe,  364 

efcock,  55,  322 

Kerr,  375 

Langtree,  173 

efferson,  55 

Kersford,  366 

Larder,  123 

effrey,  55 

Kerslake,  366 

Lardiner,  140 

effries,  55 

Kerswell,  366 

Lardner,  124,  140 

effs,  55 

KetUe,  14,  411 

Larke,  94 

effson,  55 

Kettlewell,  174 

Larkin,  56,  57,  94 

ekyll,  14,  411 

Kewe,  ix 

Larpent,  281 

elf,  187,  411 

Ke7»  95 

La  Saca,  338 

elly,  56,  108 
ellicock,  56 

Keyes,  95 
Keysar,  54 

La  Scala,  338 
Lassels,  226 

ellicoe,  326 

Kidd,  92,  123 

Lathe,  168 

enkins,  57 

Kidder,  123 

La  Touche,  290 

enner,  107 

Kiddle,  411 

Latimer,  140,  226 

ennings,  57 

Kidner,  123 

Latoner,  140 

ephson,  57 

Kildare,  173 

Laud,  266 

epson,  55 

Kilkenny,  387 

Laund,  169 

erold,  55 

Killick,  1  68 

Launder,  140 

erome,  288 

Kilner,  123 

Laurence,  57 

esse,  140 

Kilson,  57,  327 

Laurie,  57 

essop,  57 

Kimber,  18,  137 

Lavelle,  387 

eune,  290 

Kimmeridge,  170 

Lavender,  96,  140 

evens,  57 

Kinch,  140 

Law,  57,  169 

ewell,  57 

King,  96,  310 

Lawes,  57 

illard,  19 

Kingstone,  387 

Lawson,  57 

impson,  56 
imson,  56 

Kinsman,  327 
Kirkupp,  172 

Layman,  140,  190 
Lea,  169 

obling,  259 
obson,  56 

Kissack,  259 
Kisser,  140 

Leach,  ix,  141 
Leadbeater,  141 

ohns,  57 

Kitchen,  107 

Leader,  141 

ohnson,  57,  195 

Kitchener,  107,  140 

Leaper,  141 

oiner,  140 

Kite,  91 

Leapman,  141 

oliflEe,  310,  326 

Kitson,  57 

Leason,  57 

oil,  13,  62,  187 

Kitts,  54,  92 

Le  Breton,  18 

ones,  306 

Kitto,  54 

Ledbitter,  141 

onson,  57 

Knapman,  168 

Lee,  169 

ope,  56 

Knapper,  in 

Leech,  141 

opling,  56 
ordan,  19,  57,  250 

Knapton,  168 
Knibb,  61 

Leef,  Liefe,  141 
Le  Fanu,  290 

ortin,  289 
°se,  57,  62 

Knight,  no,  310 
Knoll  ys,  57,  168 

Lefevre,  290 
Lefroy,  290 

osephs,  57 

Knopps,  1  68 

Legard,  320 

oskin,  57 

Knott,  338,  411 

Legatt,  320 

oule,  57 

Knowles,  57,  168,  260 

Legge,  95,  179 

owett,  62 

Knowlman,  168 

Legh,  169 

owle,  57 

Kyrle,  226 

Le  Goz,  83,  299 

oyce,  60,  254 

Leicester,  392 

oynes,  57 

Labett,  57 

Leigh,  169 

ubb,  322 

Labouchere,  154 

Leman,  181 

udd,  57 

Lacer,  140 

Lemon,  367 

udkin,  57 

Lacey,  226 

Lempole,  18 

udson,  57 

Ladbrook,  168 

Le  Neveu,  320 

ukes,  57 

Lade,  168 

Lennox,  391 

ule,  57 

Lafayette,  397 

Le  Noir,  320 

ulian,  57 

Laight,  1  68 

Lepell,  336 

ury,  55,  243 

Lake,  169 

Le  Roy,  400 

ustel,  284 

Lalleman,  177 

Leslie,  219,  376 

iixon,  57 

Lamb,  Lambe,  94,  411 

L'Estrange,  220,  320,  387 

425 

INDEX 


Le  Tablier,  209 

Luckman,  315 

Makin,  63 

Letts,  54,  62 

Lucy,  94,  228 

Malberg,  228 

Lettson,  54,  62 

Luke,  57 

Malby,  228,  362 

Levermore,  176 

Lukin,  57 

Malborough,  228 

Levi,  20,  57 

Lukiss,  57 

Malet,  228 

Levison-Gower,  27 

Lukitt,  57 

Malevrier,  230,  331 

Lewis,  57 

Lund,  169 

Mallison,  63 

Lewson,  57 

Luny,  228 

Mallory,  261 

Lewin,  187 

Luxon,  Luxton,  57                       Maloysel,  316 

Ley,  169 

Lyas,  251                                    !     Malster,  141 

Leyton,  169 

Lynch,  169 

Maltby,  160 

Liall,  260 

Lyne,  141,  260 

Malthus,  1  68 

Lias,  351 

Lynn,  165 

Maltravers,  232 

Liberty,  141 

Lysons,  272 

Mandeville,  229 

Libby,  61 

Lyte,  141,  368 

Mann,  117,  118 

Liefchild,  311 

Lyteman,  141 

Manners,  229 

Liffard,  227 

Lyttleton,  363 

Manney,  230,  262 

Ligonier,  281,  288 
Lilienthal,  306 

Mabb,  62 

Mansell,  229 
Manson,  57 

Lilley,   Lilly,    Lily,   94,    95 

Mabbot,  63 

Mant,  261 

219,  260 

Maberley,  63 

Manville,  229 

Lillicrap,  163 
Lily  white,  173 

Mably,  63 
MacAlister,  43,  54,  380 

Man  well,  261 
Mapleson,  63 

Limmer,  141 

MacAlpine,  380,  399 

Mappowder,  173 

Lindau,  Lindow,  162 

MacAulay,  372 

Marcett,  57,  324 

Lindhurst,  168 

MacBean,  372,  380 

Marchant,  142,  252 

Lindsay,  228,  375 
Line,  Lyne,  141,  260 
Linsale,  386 

MacCalummore,  380 
MacCarthy,  384,  385 
MacCheyne,  43 

Mar  cock,  57 
Marcheson,  57 
Margetson,  63 

Lintott,  260 

MacDermot,  43,  385 

Margotson,  324 

Lion,  Lyon,  83,  94,  380 
Lipman,  141 
Lipson,  58 
Lipton,  58,  365 

MacDonald,  377 
MacDougall,  378 
MacDuff,  372,  381 
MacFarlane,  381 

Mariner,  141,  229 
Mariott,  Marriot,  63 
Marjoribanks,  27 

Liremont,  282 

MacGarry,  372 

Markham,  387 

Lisle,  219,  260 

MacGrath,  43 

Markson,  57 

Lister,  141,  148 

MacGregor,  372,  381-2 

Marney,  141,  229 

Littleboys,  315 
Lloyd,  393 

Maclnlay,  381 
Macintosh,  372 

Marshall,  233,  261 
Martin,  57,  229 

Locke,  141 

Maclver,  56 

Martin  eau,  290 

Lockhart,  332 
Lockyer,  141 
Locock,  57 

MacKaye,  381 
MacKenzie,  57,  381 
MacKinlay,  381 

Marvell,  233,  261 
Mason,  141,  357 
Maskelyne,  142 

Loder,  141 

MacKinnon,  381                            Massenger,  no 

Loftus,  1  68 

MacLachlan,  381                      i     Massey,  229 

Lombard,  283 

MacLaine,  381                               Master-Whittaker,  407 

Lomond,  280 

MacLean,  381 

Mather,  123 

Long,  309,  319 
Longfellow,  260 

MacLennan,  373 
MacLeod,  372,  378 

Matheson,  57,  373 
Mathews,  57 

Longman,  315 
Longshanks,  260 

MacMillan,  381 
MacMurrough,  384 

Matson,  57 
Maturin,  289 

Longthwaite,  173 

MacNab,  372-3 

Maude,  63,  230,  261 

Longville,  227 

MacNaughten,  381 

Mauger,  67 

Lopes,  20 

MacNeU,  57,  381,  385 

Maule,  229,  378,  411 

Loreyne,  179 

MacPherson,  43,  37^ 

Maulay,  229 

Lorimer,  141 

MacPhie,  372 

Maunder,  141 

Loring,  179 

MacQuarrie,  281 

Maunney,  230,  262  ' 

Louvain,  227 

MacQueen,  373 

Mauregard,  342 

Love,  95 

MacShane,  43 

Maurice,  57 

Loveday,  227 

Maddison,  57 

Mawson,  57 

Lovelace,  322 
Loveless,  322 

Magnag,  260 
Magnall,  260 

May,  63 
Maybrick,  261 

Lovell,  82,  227 

Magnus,  57,  411 

Maynard,  228 

Lover,  411 
Loveries,  227 

Mahew,  57 
Maidgood,  316 

Mayne,  Maine,  179,  228 
Maxwell,  378 

Levering,  227 

Mailer,  141 

Medlar,  315 

Lowndes,  169 

Maine,  179,  228 

Medlicott,  176,  358 

Lowrie,  260 

Mainwaring,  27,  261,  394 

Meek,  65 

Luard,  290,  411 

Maire,  261 

Mellor,  141 

Lubbard,  179 

Maitland,  376 

Melonie,  19 

Lubbock,  179 

Majendie,  288 

Melville,  229,  375 

Luce,  94,  228 

Major,  67,  251 

Memory,  272 

426 

INDEX 


Mendel,  326                                   Mortimer,  2<n.  3O7,  387 

Nichols,  57 

Menzies,  378 

Morton,  169,  232 

Nicholson,  57 

Mercer,  88,  142 

Moses,  183 

Nihil,  57     " 

Merchant,  142,  252 

Moss,  183 

Nixon,  57 

Merrick,  250 

Mossop,  14 

Noel,  ix,  213,  262 

Merriman,  63,  327 
Merrit,  261 

Mostyn,  394 
Motlawe,  183 

Nollekin,  57 
Norfolk-Howard,  396 

Merry,  261 

Motley,  183,  309 

Norman,  179 

Merton,  169 
Metcalf,  365 

Mott,  262 
Mounce,  233 

Norrice,  179,  252 
Norries,  179 

Meynell,  230 
Michael,  57 

Mounsell,  232 
Mounseer,  231 

Norton,  358 
Notschaft,  338 

Michaelmass,  313 

Mounsey,  233 

Nott,  411 

Micklethwaite,  173,  326 

Mount,  169 

Nourse,  252 

Middlemas,  176,  313 
Middleton,  176,  358 

Mountain,  169 
Mountford.  231 

Nugent,  262 
Nurse,  252 

Midlane,  169                                   Mountfort,  231 

Nurse-  Rivers,  411 

Midnight,  no,  315                        Mowat,  270 

Midwinter,  315 

Mowbray,  230,  390 

Oastler,  142 

Miles,  57,  69,  251 

Mowcher,  315 

Gates,  250-1 

Mill,  Mills,  69,  150 

Moyne,  233 

O'Brian,  36,  384 

Miller,  262 

Moxon,  57,  63 

O'Caroll,  54 

Millet,  57 

Muffet,  272 

O'Connor,  384,  385 

Milman,  no 

Mules,  226 

Odger,  67,  251,  411 

Milner,  no 

Mullens,  262 

O'Donohue,  384 

Milsom,  57 

Mumfey,  231 

O'Donovan,  384 

Milson,  57 

Mummery,  363 

O'Dugan,  384 

Milward,  no 

Munday,  262,  313 

Ody,  257 

Minter,  142 
Mitchell,  57 

Mungay,  362 
Murray,  382 

O'Faelan,  284 
Offer,  Offerer,  142 

Mitchener,  142 
Mitch  eson,  57 

Murrell,  233 
Muschet,  379 

Ogle,  316 
O'Laughlin,  385 

Moggs,  62 

Musgrave,  233 

Oldcastle,  176 

Moggsson,  63 

Musgrove,  233,  343 

Oldcorne,  182 

Mogillapatrick,  385 
Mohun,  97,  230,  262 

Mussard,  233 
Musset,  233 

Olde,  190,  366 
Oliphant,  63,  235,  375 

Moll,  229,  411 

Musselwhite,  326 

Oliver,  57,  69 

Mompeson,  231 
Monceaux,  231,  392 

Mustard,  142 
Musters,  233 

O'Mahony,  384 
O'MalbroRi,  385 

Moncrieff,  382 
Monday,  262,  313 

Mutton,  183,  253 
Mytton,  254 

O'Melaghlin,  384 
O'Neil,  57,  384-5 

Money,  142,  262 

Onion,  97 

Monier,  142 

Naesmyth,  150 

Ore,  170 

Monk,  233,  367 
Monkey,  315 

Nangle,  159,  387 
Nankivel,  93,  170 

Or  me,  411 
Ormrod,  171 

Monro,  282 

Napier,  103,  in,  149,  330 

Ormroyd,  171 

Montague,  231 

Nathan,  20 

Orsini,  77 

Montandre,  283 

Nation,  96 

Osbald,  58 

Montceau,  231,  392 

Nayle,  361 

Osbert,  58 

Montnchet,  231 
Montgomery,  203,  283 

Neale,  57 
Neames,  64 

Osborne,  58,  187,  332,  411 
Osegood,  411 

Montmorency,  392 

Neaves,  64,  253 

Oseler,  123,  135 

Montmorris,  333 

Neelder,  142 

Osmund,  58,  411 

Montolieu,  288 

Neeves,  320 

Ostler,  142 

Monyer,  142 

Neilson,  57 

Oswald,  411 

Moody,  310 

Nelson,  57,  392 

Otley,  336 

Moon,  197,  231,  262 

Netherton,  176,  358 

Otter,  363 

Moore,  169 

Nettleship,  160,  326 

Ouvry,  290 

Moorhayes,  169 

Neville,  Nevill,  234,  262,  392 

Over,  170 

Mordaunt,  253 

Nevins,  65 

Overbury,  176 

More,  169 

Nevinson,  65 

Overman,  170 

Morgan,  13 

Newbert,  234 

Overton,  176 

Morell,  254 

Newbottle,  159 

Owen,  58 

Morley,  18,  169,  222 

Newburrow,  234 

Oxenden,  163 

Morrell,  290 

Newcastle,  176 

Oysterman,  178 

Moires,  92 

Newcome,  Newcomen,  118 

Morris,  57,  232 

Newell,  262 

Pack,  142 

Morse,  57 

Newers,  262 

Packer,  142 

Morshead,  96 

Newman.  118 

Packman,  123,  327 

Morson,  57                                 !     Newmarch,  234 

Padman,  123 

Morteville,  233                                Nibbs,  61 

Padson,  58 

Mortice,  262                             ;     Nicholas,  57 

Page,  in,  316 

427 

INDEX 


Paget,  in,  392                        i     Perrier,  123 

Polwheel,  170 

Painter,  142 

Perrin,  58 

Pomeroy,  267-8 

Palfrey,  93 

Perrott,  38,  236 

Pope,  310 

Palfreyman,  in,  327 
Palgrave,  165 

Perriman,  123 
Perry,  236 

Popgay,  94 
Popjoy,  94 

Palk,  58 

Pertwee,  19 

Porcher,  249,  252 

Pallen,  319 

Peterkin,  325 

Person,  58 

Palliser,  Paliser,  54,  10' 

Peters,  58 

Portal,  284 

Pan  tier,  in                                   Peterson,  58 

Porter,  in,  355 

Papillon,  235,  290                         Petherick,  58 

Portman,  327 

Paramore,  169 

Pethick,  58 

Portwine,  179 

Pargiter,  147 

Peto,  179 

Pothecary,  132 

Parish,  311 

Pettifer,  317 

Potter,  143 

Parke,  Parkes,  19,  in,  149 

Pettit,  290 

Pottinger,  in 

Parker,  103,  in,  149 

Pessoner,  142 

Potts,  143 

Parkinson,  58 

Phayre,  14 

Poulter,  143 

Parkman,  in 

Phelan,  384 

Power,  237,  362 

Parminter,  142 
Parnell,  63 

Phelps,  58 
Philbrick,  58,  1  60,  323 

Powlett,  58 
Powlson,  58 

Parr,  58 
Parrot,  94,  322 

Philipson,  58 
Phillimore,  221,  323,  366 

Powter,  143 
Poynder,  in,  150 

Parry,  56 

Phillips,  58 

Poyser,  143,  264 

Parsons,  58,  311 

Phillipson,  58 

Prevost,  286 

Partrick,  94 

Philpott,  Phillpots,  58,  253 

Price,  323 

Partridge,  94 

Phinn,  187 

Prickard,  in 

Pask,  ix     ' 

Phipson,  58 

Prickett,  111 

Patey,  58,  253 

Physick,  362 

Prickman,  in 

Patner,  142 

Pickard,  179 

Primrose,  96 

Patrick,  58 

PickersgUl,  323 

Prior,  Pryor,  236 

Patrickson,  58 

Pickman,  123 

Probert,  58 

Patterson,  58 

Pierce,  58,  251 

Probyn,  58 

Pattison,  58 

Pierrepont,  236 

Procter,  Prockter,  in 

Patton,  58 

Pierson,  58 

Prodger,  43,  361 

Paul,  Paull,  58,  284 

Pigeon,  90 

Prosser,  179 

Paulet,  58 

Pigg.  93 

Prouze,  Prouse,  253 

Paulson,  58 

Piggot,  Pigott,  64,  93,  238, 

Province,  179 

Pavey,  179 

324 

Pruss,  179 

Pawley,  324 

Pigman,  123 

Prust,  179 

Pawson,  58 

Pigou,  296 

Pudsey,  263 

Paxman,  123 

Pike,  Pyke,  92 

Pugh,  56 

Payne,  235 

Pilcher,  142 

Puissard,  285 

Paynter,  142 

Pillsbury,  323 

Pulman,  Pullman,  119,  327 

Peach,  235 

Pimple,  1  8 

Punchard,  237 

Peachy,  235 
Peacock,  75 

Pinch,  263 
Pinchard,  237,  263 

Puncheon,  Punshone,  264 
Pulter,  143 

Pearce,  251 

Pinel,  263 

Purcay,  236 

Peascod,  377 

Pineton,  283 

Purkis,  58 

Pear  man,  123 

Pinker  ton,  263 

Purser,  143 

Pechill,  281 

Pinkney,  236,  263 

Purseglove,  334 

Peddar,  123 

Piper,  316 

Pursey,  264 

Pedlar,  123 

Pitt,  170 

Pusey,  263 

Peer,  50 

Place,  Plaice,  237,  263 

Puttenham,  325 

Peggoty,  254,  324 
Pellew,  Pellow,  210 

Plaister,  142 
Plantagenet,  96 

Petter,  138,  142 

Plainer,  143 

Quesne,  285 

Pempol,  1  8 
Pendennis,  170 
Pender,  150 

Platt,  143,  170 
Player,  143,  311 
Plimsoll,  171 

Quiller,  112,  143 
Quilter,  143,  150 

Penington,  307 

Plough,  88,  97 

Quintin,  244 

Penlee,  150 

Plower,  124 

Pennant,  170 

Plowes,  124 

Radman,  115,  143 

Pennell,  235,  264,  302 

Plumer,  Plummer,  143 

Radmore,  176,  188 

Penninger,  in 

Plunket,  237,  263 

Raffles,  143 

Penny,  in 

Podger,  363                                     Raff  son,  sS 

Pennyfather,  305,  310 

Poggis,  238 

Raflfman,  143 

Penrose,  171 

Pointer,  131,  150 

Raikes,  315 

Pepper,  58,  97,  142 

Poins,  Pointz,  179,  237 

Rainbow,  97 

Percy,  73,  391 

Poitevin,  179 

Raine,  Rayne,  170 

Perkins,  58,  325 

Poland,  174 

Ralph,  58 

Perks,  58,  325 

Poldue,  170 

Ram.  95 

Pernell,  Parnell,  63 

Poley,  254 

Ram  bottom,  160 

Perowne,  263 

Pollock,  179 

Ram.  jy,  163 

428 

INDEX 


Randal,  58                                     Ronald,  411                                   Sandiman,  no 

Randers,  58                                     Rooke,  95,  142                           ;     Sandman,  no 

Ranson,  Ransome,  58                   Rookard,  143                                  Sands,  172,  368 

Raper,  143                                '     Rooker,  143 

Sandvs.  168 

Rapson,  58 

Roope,  Roupe,  238                    •     Sanger,  403 

Raven,  411 

Rooper,  238                                   Sangster,  144 

Rawes,  Rawe,  58,  264 

Roosmale-Cocq,  407 

Sankey,  325 

Rawkins,  58 

Roper,  143,  149,  238 

Sanson,  58 

Rawle,  58 

Roscoe,  264 

Sarell.  Sard.  so.  241 

Rawlins,  Rawlings,  58 

Rose,  88,  96,  239,  382                   Sarson,  179  '  " 

Rawlinson,  58 

Rosenberg,  306                             Sartres.  288 

Rawson,  58 
Rayne,  Rayncs,  170 

Roskelly,  171 
Rothschild,  28,  306 

Saunders,  54 
Saunderson,  54 

Rayner,  14,  264,  411 

Rouse,  Rowse,  179,  239,  254,  ;     Saurin,  289 

Read,  310 

261                                           !     Savage,  96 

Reader,  124 

Rouvigny,  281                          '     Saville,  266 

Redcliff,  176 

Rowe,  264                                  i     Savory,  96 

Redcock,  307 

Rowlandson,  58                              Sawner,  252 

Redhead,  310 

Rowlett,  58                                   Sawyer,  144,  327 

Redhill,  176 

Roye,  Roy,  246,  282                     Saye,  240 

Redman,  115 

Rudall,  58,  272                             Sayer,  59,  105,  124 

Redstone,  176 

Ruddiman,  171                             Sayler,  253 

Reed,  310 

Ruddle,  Rudell,  58,  273                Saxton,  144 

Reeder,  129 

Rudyard,  171                           !     Scales,  171 

Regnard,  92 

Rugby,  176                                i     Scales,  171,  214 

Reid,  310                                  i     Rugeley,  176                            j     Schelm,  329 

Renaud,  92                                ;     Ruggles,  264                                   Schenk,  329 

Rennell,  58,  92,  251 

Rule,  264                                        Scholey,  264,  411 

Rennie,  58 

Rumbelow,  264 

Schomberg,  19,  281 

Renshaw,  362 

Rumbold,  264 

Sclater,  124 

Renson,  58 

Runciman,  143,  150 

Scofield,  264 

Reuse,  52 

Rupell,  171 

Scorey,  411 

Reve,  in 

Rush,  124,  179 

Scribncr,  112 

Reynolds,  411 

Rushman,  124 

Scrivener,  112 

Rhodes,  171 

Russell,  239,  353,  354 

Scroggs,  172 

Richard,  58,  67 

Ryder,  149 

Scott,  1  80 

Richardson,  58 

Rye,  171,  239 

Seabright,  59 

Richenough,  362 

Rymer,  112 

Seager,  59 

Richfield,  264 

Scale,  144,  171 

Rickards,  58 

Sacheverel,  260 

Sealey,  171,  181 

Ricketts,  58,  264 
Rickson,  58 

Sacker,  143 
Sackville,  240 

Seamer,  131,  144,  243,  249 
Seamore,  258 

Ridell,  238 

Sadler,  143 

Searle,  59,  241 

Ridler,  316 
Ridge,  170 
Ridgeway,  170,  357 

Sagar,  124 
Saggerson,  65 
St.  Amary,  239 

Sears,  59 
Seaward,  59,  187,  411 
Seeker,  59,  143 

Rigge,  170 

St.  Armand,  400 

Seeley,  171,  181,  265 

Ritson,  65 

Ste.  Barbe,  239 

Seguin,  240 

Rivers,  238 

St.  Chevrol,  266 

Selby,  171 

Riviere,  290 

St.  Clere,  239 

Sellars,  106,  143 

Robartes,  58,  392                         St.  John,  243 
Robbins,  58     "                               St.  Leger,  266,  393 

Senior,  121 
Sergeant,  145 

Roberts,  58                               '     St.  Lo,  266 

Serle,  59,  241 

Robertson,  58,  382                        St.  Marte,  266 

Serleson,  59 

Robethon,  283                          |     St.  Ville,  266 

Service,  265 

Robins,  58                                     Sales,  253 

Seward,  59 

Robinson,  58 

Salmon,  59,  411 

Seymour,  243,  358 

Robson,  58 

Salmons,  187 

Sexton,  144 

Rock,  143 

Salt,  143 

Shailer,  144 

Rockster,  143 

Salter,  143,  253 

Shakelady,  327 

Rockstro,  143 

Saltman,  143 

Shakespeare,  366 

Roe,  93 

Salvin,  240 

Shand,  Shandy,  265 

Rogers,  58 

Salwyn,  240 

Shaper,  145 

Rogerson,  58 

Samms,  58 

Shayler,  144 

Rohaut,  264 

Sampson,  58 

Sheepshanks,  320 

Roland,  58,  69 

Samson,  58 

Sheller,  144 

Roley,  58 

Samuel,  20,  58 

Shepherd,  124 

Rolf,  58,  411 

Samuelson,  58 

Sheppard,  124.  145 

Rolle,  58,  251 

Sandercock,  54 

Shield,  97 

Rollson,  58 

Sanders,  54 

Shillitoe,  173 

Romer,  264 

Sanderson,  54. 

Shillson,  527 

Romilly,  284,  286                    i     Sandford,  240                           i     Shipman,  144 

429 

INDEX 


Shore,  172 

Sparshot,  167 

Sutton,  358,  386 

Short,  309 
Shorter,  309 

Spencer,  102,  107,  220,  392 
Spenser,  108,  220 

Swan,  98 
Swaine,  Swayne,  59,  411 

Shovel,  264,  363 

Sperling,  290 

Swainson,  59 

Shower,  112 

Spicer,  144,  150 

Swayneson,  59 

Shufflebottom,  160 

Spiller,  144 

Swier,  108 

Shutter,  174 

Spillman,  141 

Swinburn,  411 

Sibbald,  59 

Spittle,  315 

Swinherd,  124 

Sibbaldson,  59 

Spooner,  145 

Sydenham,  326 

Sibbson,  59 

Spratt,  92 

Syer,  59 

Sibthorpe,  172,  361 

Spurrell,  108 

Sykes,  172 

Sidebottom,  160 

Spurrier,  145 

Symes,  59 

Siggers,  59 
Silke,  144 

Squeers,  108 
Squire,  108,  310 

Symonds,  411 

Silliman,  181 

Squire-Bancroft,  403 

Taberner,  124 

SiUitoe,  173 

Stabler,  112 

Tabor,  Taborer,  124 

Simbarbe,  266 

Stace,  Stacey,  55,  220,  251 

Taburner,  145 

Simcoe,  59 

Stag,  93                                         Tackle,  241 

Simcox,  59 

Stallard,  124                             !     Tadman,  113 

Simkin,  59 

Staller,  112                                    Tagg,  63 

Simmens,  59 

Stammers,  145                              Taggett,  63 

Simonds,  Symonds,  59 
Sims,  59 
Simper,  266 

Stamper,  145                            !     Tahel,  241 
Stanhope,  167                          1     Tailor,  Taylor,  131,  145,  249 
Stanley,  169                                  Tait,  Tate,  96 

Simple,  Simpole,  266 
Simpson,  59 

Staples,  145,  265                           Talbot,  241 
Starke,  Starkie,  145                 |     Tallboys,  254,  307 

Simson,  59 

Starre,  97                                      Tallis,  254 

Sinclair,  240,  378 

Stayner,  14,  179                           Tancock,  53 

Sinclere,  240 

Stead,  172                                     Tanner,  145 

Singer,  144 

Steadman,  Stedman,  172            Tapling,  59 

Sison,  63 

Stebbing,  59                                 Tapson,  59 

Skene,  343,  382 

Stenson,  59                                   Tapster,  145 

Skinner,  144 

Stephens,  59                                 Tardew,  19 

Skrimmiger,  107 
Skrimshire,  107 

Stephenson,  59 
Sterne,  97 

Tasker,  124 
Taverner,  124 

Skryne,  386 

Sternhold,  366                              Tays,  241-2 

Slade,  172 

Stevens,  59                                   Teale,  265 

Slater,  124 

Stevenson,  59                               Tebbits,  59 

Slatter,  124 

Stewart,  112                                 Tegg,  63 

Slaughter,  144 

Steyner,  145 

Tenant,  307 

Slayer,  144 

Stibbs,  59 

Tennison,  Tennyson,  54,  55 

Slee,  172 

Stier,  Steer,  187,  411                    Tentor.  i4S 

Sleeman,  172 

Stiff,  57,  326 

Terell,  59 

Slodger,  266 
Sloper,  144 

Stiggins,  360,  411 
Stomer,  243 

Terry,  59 
Tessier,  281,  286 

Slow,  266 

Stone,  172,  307,  411 

Tester,  145 

Smale,  411 

Stoneman,  327 

Thacker,  124 

Smaley,  411 

Stoner,  14,  307,  411 

Thackeray,  174 

Smart,  266 

Stonewig,  328 

Theed,  59 

Smith,  Smythe,  etc.,  27,  133, 

Stormey,  220 

Thellusson,  289 

144,  148,  150,  195,  368 

Stowe,  172 

Theobald,  59 

Smithson,  65,  148,  391 
Smollett,  58 

Straker,  148 
Stranger,  220,  320 

Thirlwall,  333 
Thorns,    Thomson,    Thomp- 

Snake, 97 

Street,  172 

son,  38-9,  196 

Snell,  310,  411 

Strutt,  152 

Thorburn,  411 

Snooks,  329 

Stuart,  102,  112,  376 

Thoreau,  83 

Soaper,  144 

Sturgess,  323,  411 

Thorley,  244,  411 

Sobey,  59 

Sturmer,  220 

Thorne,  88 

Soley,  172,  241,  411 
Somerfield,  163 

Sturt,  148 
Stutfield,  265 

Thorney,  242 
Thorold,  59,  411 

Somerlid,  411 

Such,  272 

Thoroldson,  59 

Somers,  241 

Suckbitch,  329 

Thoroughgood,  59,  174 

Soper,  144 

Suckerman,  113 

Thorpe,  172,  207,  326 

Sordwell,  241 

Suckman,  113 

Thorzeau,  ix 

Soules,  241 

Sumeld,  163 

Thrale,  117 

Souter,  144 

Sugden,  93,  163 

Thresher,  124 

Southcott,  358 

Sugg,  93 

Thrupp,  326 

Sower,  112 
Sower  butt,  160 

Sulley,  241 
Summers,  Soraers,  149,  312 

Thurell,  59 
Thurkell,  59,  411 

Spain,  1  80 

Sumner,  145 

Thurlow,  115,  187 

Sparrow,  88 

Sunday,  313 

Thynne,  115,  190,  308 

Spark  e,  91 

Sutherland,  382                       1    Thwaites,  173 

430 

INDEX 


Tibbald,  59,  254                       ,     Trotter,  113 

Wade,  174,  252 

Tibbets,  251 

Trower,  145 

Wadman,  147 

Tibbs,  59 

Truebody,  181 

Wadster,  147 

Tighe,  174 

Tubbs,  59,  146 

Wager,  113 

Tiler,  Tileman,  124 

Tucker,  131,  147 

Waggoner,  124 

Tilewright,  124 
Tillett,  63 

Tuckett,  244 
Tuer,  148 

Wagner,  18 
Wagstaff,  1  80,  365 

Tillotson,  63 

Tuggett,  59 

Wakeman,  147 

TUlie,  TiUy,  124,  241 

Tuke,  273 

Wakling,  252 

Timble,  254 

Tupman,  146 

Waldegrave,  165 

Timbs,  59 

Tupper,  146,  150 

Walker,  147,  150 

Timcock,  59 

Turnbull,  334 

Wallace,  247 

Timkins,  59 

Turner,  Tourneur,  147 

Waller,  141 

Timson,  59 
Tindall,  163 

Turney,  266 
Turpin,  14,  69,  411 

Wallis,  Walleis,  180,  355 
Walmsley,  247 

Tingler,  146 

Turton,  290 

Walrond,  59 

Tinker,  145-6 

Twopenny,  266 

Walters,  59 

Tipkin,  59 

Tye,  174 

Ward,  113,  218-9,  247 

Tippets,  59,  251 

Tyler,  124,  147 

Warder,  113 

Tiptoft,  242 

Tyrell,  59,  244 

Wardroper,  113 

Tireman,  146 

Tyson,  242 

Waring,  59,  70 

Tittler,  147 

Tyzack,  182 

Warley,  247 

Toby,  Tobey,  59 

Warne,  113 

Todhunter,  113 

Udall,  266 

Warson,  59 

Todman,  112 
Toeni,  217,  269 
Toft,  173 

Uhtred,  411 
UmfraviUe,  244,  271 
Underwood,  357 

Warren,  59,  247,  392 
Warren  er,  113 
Waterer,  147 

Toller,  148 

Upcott,  358 

Waterfield,  247 

Tomkins,  39 
Tomling,  Tomlyn,  39,  59 

Uphill,  307 
Upperton,  358 

Waterman,  147 
Wath,  174 

Toms,  59 

Urquhar*-,  382 

Watkins,  59 

Tomson,  54 

Ussh»T,  113,  411 

Watson,  59 

Toney,  54 

Watts,  59 

Tonkin,  54 

Vache,  la,  83 

Way,  252 

Tonkinson,  325 

Valence,  244,  275,  306 

Wayburn,  411 

Tonks,  54,  325 

Vandeleur,  14 

Wayland,  197-8,  246,  411 

Tonson,  54                                    Vansittart,  IQ 

Wayman,  124,  147 

Toogood,  59,  310 
Tooke,  273,  411 

Varville,  266 
Vaudrey,  266 

Waymund,  411 
Waynwright,  147 

Tootle,  272 

Vautier,  59 

Wayte,  147,  252 

Toots,  265 

Vaux,  55,  219,  245 

Weaver,  130,  147 

Toovy,  187 
Toplady,  180 

Vavasour,  104,  244 
Vaville,  245 

Webbe,  130 
Webber,  130,  147,  306 

Torre,  187,  242 

Veale,  105 

Webster,  130,  147,  150 

Torrens,  265 
Totman,  327 

Veitch,  272 
Velayne,  246 

Weekes,  174 
Weewall,  367 

Tottenham,  325 

Venables,  245,  266 

Weir,  379 

Totthill,  181 

Veness,  180 

Welcombe,  181 

Tower,  145 

Venner,  105,  245 

Welland,  197 

Towers,  265 

Verdant,  266 

Wellesley,  391 

Towler,  145 

Verderer,  245 

Wellings,  59 

Townend,  163 
Townsend,  Townshend,  163 

Verdon,  245,  266 
Vere,  246,  266 

Wellstead,  172 
Welsh,  1  80,  247 

Towzer,  131,  146 

Verney,  266 

Wemys,  382 

Toye,  258                                      Vernier,  105 

Wenman,  124 

Tozer,  ix,  131,  145                        Veysey,  306 

Westcombe,  161 

Tracy,  242 
Trant,  Tranter,  124 

Vickary,  411 
Vile,  19 

Westcott,  358 
Westhead,  172 

Travers,  173,  263 

Villane,  246 

Wesley,  169,  391 

Travis,  173 

Villiers,  266 

Weston,  358 

Treble,  243 

Vipont,  271 

Wheatman,  148 

Tree,  173 
Trefry,  173 

Vivian,  67 
Vizard,  266 

Wheeler,  147 
Whewell,  367 

Tregoz,  242 

Vokes,  55,  323 

Whiffler,  147 

Trelawney,  173                        <     Vowell,  306,  323 

Whistler,  123 

Trench,  281,  289 

Vowler,  323 

White,  Whyte,  305,  307,  368, 

Treville,  243 

Vowles,  266 

386 

Triggs,  170,  411 

Voysey,  246 

White-Bell,  407 

Trimmer,  131,  146 

Vyner,  147 

Whitelamb,  94 

Trist,  254 
Trowbridge,  160 
Trotman,  310 

Wace,  246,  308 
Waddilove,  187 

Whiteslade,  172 
Whitburn,  176 
Whitby,  176 

431 

INDEX 


Whiting,  92 
Whitmore,  176 
Whitstone,  176 
Whitster,  147 
Whitwell,  176 
Whitwood,  176 
Whittier,  148 
Whittington,  355 
Wicks,  174 
Widdop,  167 
Wigglesworth,  174 
Wight,  1 80 
Wightman,  140 
Wigram,  363 
Wilcox,  107 
Wilde,  96 
Wilkie,  325 

Wilkinson,  Wilkins,  59 
Willard,  252 
Willett,  59,  251 
Williams,  59 
Williamson,  59 
Willon,  116,  246 
Wilmot,  251 


Wilson,'  59 
nbold,  59 


Wiml 


Windsor,  170 
Wingate,  253 
Winnifrith,  26 
Winterbottom,  160 
Winthrop,  172,  326 
Winson,  Winston,  55 
Wirer,  148 
Wiseman,  125 
Wishart,  113 
Wolfe,  20,  95 
Wollacombe,  366 
Wood,  174,  254,  357 
Woodcock,  95,  323 
Woodhouse,  168 
Woodman,  124,  327 
Woodreve,  124 
Woodrich,  327 
Woodrow,  in,  124 
Woodville,  245 
Woodwall,  95 
Woodward,  in 
Woodyat,  175 
Woody er,  124,  327 
Woolaston,  366 
Woolcombe,  366 
Wooller.  148 


Woolner,  148 
Wordsworth,  174 
Wormall,  266 
Worth,  Worthey,  174 
Wrath,  411 
Wrenches,  362 
Wright,  124 
Wroe,  764 
Wroth,  411 
Wyatt,  361 
Wyeman,  124,  327 
Wyke,  174,  266 
Wyld,  96 
Wylie,  59 
Wynne.  13 
Wyon,  266 
Wyvill,  245,411 


Yates,  147,  165,  175 
Yeatman,  124,  165,  327 
Yelland,  323 
Yole,  57 
Yorkshire,  181 
Young,  187 
Younghusband,  123 


THE    END 


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ABBOTT,  Rev.  E.  A.,  D.D. 

Hints  on  Home  Teaching.     Crown  8vo,  35. 

How  to  Parse.     An  English  Grammar.     Fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

How   to   Tell    the    Parts    of   Speech.      An   Introduction  to  English 

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Latin  Gate,  The.     A  First  Latin  Translation  Book.     Crown  8vo,  35.  6d. 

Via  Latina.     A  First  Latin  Grammar.     Crown  8vo,  35.  6d. 
ABBOTT,  Rev.  E.  A.,  and  Sir  J.  R.  SEELEY. 

English  Lessons  for  English  People.     Crown  8vo,  45.  6d. 
ADY,  Mrs.    See  CARTWRIGHT,  JULIA. 
A  KEMPIS,  THpMAS. 

Of  the  Imitation  of  Christ.     With  Illuminated  Frontispiece  and  Title 

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ALLDRIDGE,  T.  J. 

A  Transformed  Colony.     Sierra  Leone  as  it  was  and  as  it  is.     With 

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ANDERSON,  Prof.  W. 

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