Bemrose

Recorded as Bemrose, Bimrose and apparently the very rare Bumros, this is a surname of English origins. It is clearly locational from a village or hamlet whose original spelling was presumably the same as one of the surname spellings, but we have not been able to identify such as place. Thje nearest would seem to be Bembridge in the Isle of Wight, and it is just possible that this surname is a transposed spelling of Bembridge. A more likely proposal is that this surname originates from a now 'lost' medieval village whose name like Bembridge derived from the Old English 'binnan' meaning under, and 'rhos', a hill. However we have no definitive proof except to say that since the 15th century it is estimated that over three thousand places in the British Isles have completely disappeared, and most, if not all, gave rise to surnames. In this case the surname is quite well recorded in the surviving registers of the city of London. The earliest recordings from these register include the confusing ones of one Thomas Bemrose whose daughter Mabel was christened at St Giles Cripplegate on November 11th 1638, and that of Thomas, given as being the son of Thomas Bimrose, who christened at St Botolphs without Aldgate on April 1st 1642.