Bagshaw

This unusual and interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a habitational name, from a place in Derbyshire. The placename is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Bacga", of uncertain etymology, and the Olde English "sceaga", wood, copse; hence, "Bacga's wood" or "Bacga's copse". The placename was first recorded as "Baggeshage", and "Baggeshawe" in 1318 in documents recorded in the "Place Names of Derbyshire". A family by the name of Bagshawe are associated with Wormhill and Ford Hall near Hucklow in Derbyshire; they can be traced back to a certain William Bagshawe, lord of the manor of Hucklow in 1662. An interesting namebearer was Henry Bagshaw (1632 - 1709), a divine, who was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford. He received his M.A. in 1657, and his D.D. in 1671, and became chaplain to Sir Richard Fanshaw in 1663; to the archbishop of York in 1666; and to the Lord-chancellor Danby in 1672. Bagshaw was successively prebendary of York and Durham; and his sermons were also published. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is silver a bugle-horn black between three roses red seeded gold, the Crest being an arm couped at the elbow and erect proper grasping a bugle-horn black stringed green. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholaus de Bagschaghe, which was dated 1379, in the "Poll Tax Records of the West Riding 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.