English surnames, from an ethnological point of view / by Dr Beddoe.

  • John Beddoe
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: English surnames, from an ethnological point of view / by Dr Beddoe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the professional nnmber in the middle ages. One reason assigned for the name was probable: that it represented the descendants of the married secular or parochial clergy, A useful comparison, which would define the facts, could be obtained from comparison with the Directories of Paris, Rouen, Belgium, Holland, and Hamburg, not only for the trade names, but for epithets like Black, Brown, &c. These latter would in Prance be nicknames, and not clan names. The trade names have a particular significance, and require special attention in Dr. Beddoe’s scheme. These do not represent the lowest class, nor do they represent the thanes; but in a more proper sense, a middle rather than an artisan class. In the middle ages, or at other times, it was not the pauper who became a Miller, Brewer, Maltster, Tanner, Butcher, Baker, &c.; neither did he become a Smith, Wright, &c. These were recruited rather from the younger sons of the yeomanry. In this way the proportion of trade names was an index of the share of the well- to-do people in the several classes of society mapped out by Dr. Beddoe. The flux and reflux of this trade class to and from London and the great towns affected the proportions. If the Great North Road were taken, for instance, a regular distribution of the same family names, clan, trade, and others, would be found pointing towards London, and so of other roads and towns. Thus local distribution was affected. So, as London was entered from the east, north, south-west, or south-east, would names be found on the shops and in the streets derived from the outer regions. In fact, Dr. Beddoe had opened a wide field of inquiry, in which he had already laboured with that scientific skill and interest which distinguished his works. Mr. R. B. Holt, Mr. J. Park Harrison, Mr. Prideaux, k£r. G. M. Atkinson, Mr. C. Roberts, and the President took part in the discussion. Dr. Beddoe briefly replied. He said that he was willing, with Mr. Hyde Clarke, to go somewhat further than he had done in his paper in the matter of survival of English clan names. As for patronymics in S, he was far from saying that they were all Welsh. Doubtless the English (in the south especially) often formed patronymics in that way ; but as a rule they first cut down the Christian name, and appended the S to the abraded form ; thus you had Robb and Robertson in Scotland, Robson and Robinson in Northumbria, Robins and Dobbs in southern England, but Roberts chiefly in Wales. So, too, Phipps in the south, Phipson and Philipson in the north, Phillips in Wales. As for Cornish patronymics, they had been pretty thoroughly investigated; and their old fellow-worker, Dr. Charnock, had pub¬ lished a little volume on the subject, entitled “ Patronymica Cornu Britannica.” ^Reprinted from the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, November, 1882]. Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Martin's Lane.
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