Broxholme

This surname is of Old Norse origin, and is a locational name from a place thus called north west of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. Recorded as "Broxholme" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Brokesholme" in the 1219 Episcopal Registers of that county, the place was so called from the genitive case of the Old Danish "brok", marsh, with the Old Norse "holmr", island, dry land in a fen. Locational surnames were originally given to local landowners, and to the lord of the manor, and especially to those former inhabitants who left their place of origin to live and work in another area. The surname, with the variant spelling Broxolme, is still largely confined to Lincolnshire, with smaller concentrations in the nearby areas of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. On January 5th 1572, Margery Broxolme and Edward Holland were married at St. Peter at Gowts, Lincolnshire, and on April 2nd 1591, Robartus Broxholme, an infant, was christened in Wrawby, Lincolnshire. A notable namebearer, mentioned in the "Dictionary of National Biography", is Noel Broxholme (1689 - 1748), the physician, Radcliffe travelling fellow, 1715, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, 1725. A Coat of Arms granted to the Broxholme family of Lincolnshire is a silver shield, on an azure chevron between three boars' heads couped of the second, five bezants, the Crest being a bear standing against an elm tree all proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralfe Broxholme, which was dated January 21st 1562, a christening witness at St. James', Grimsby, Lincolnshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "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.