Cookson

This name is one of the patronymic forms of Cook, itself deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "coc", ultimately from the Latin "Coquus", a cook, and originally given as an occupational name to one who sold cooked meats, baked pies, or kept an eating house. One, Hugo filius (son of) Coci was recorded in "The Curia Rolls of Suffolk", dated 1208, and a Gilbert Fit le Key (son of the cook) appears in the 1279 "Assize Court Rolls of Northumberland". One, Henry Cukeson was entered in "The Register of the Guild of the Corpus Christi in the City of York", (1547), and an Agnes Cukeson appeared in those records in 1511. Elizabeth Cookson and James Dvnne were married in Saint Mary's church, Somerset, London, on December 2nd 1582. George Cookson (1760 - 1835) was made major-general of the Navy in 1814 having served with distinction in Egypt, 1801, and with Sir John Moore in 1808. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Cokson, which was dated 1379, in "The Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.