Fawbert

This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a now "lost" place, thought to have been in Yorkshire, due to the large number of recordings in this county. The placename is derived from the Norman given name "Fau(l)ques", which was originally a Germanic byname meaning falcon, and the Old English pre 7th century "burh", fort, thus, "Fau(l)ques" fort. An estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets are known to have disappeared in Britain since circa 1100, due to such natural disasters as the Black Death of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished, or to the widespread practice of "clearing" large areas of land to make sheep pastures during the height of the wool trade in the 14th and 15th centuries. Among the recordings in Yorkshire are the christening of Robert, son of Thomas Fawbert on January 6th 1574 at Stokesley, and the marriage of Robert Fawbert and Isabell Wilson on May 8th 1569 at Ripon. The christening was recorded in Lancashire of Jane, daughter of Thomas and Margaret Fawbert on May 15th 1785 at St. Peter's, Liverpool. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Fawbert (witness), which was dated March 16th 1572, Stokesley, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.