Two dialogues in English, between a doctor of divinity, and a student in the laws of England, of the grounds of the said laws, and of conscience (London, 1687) has an ownership signature of Lupton Topham -- whose name reminds me irresistibly of Lipton's Tea! Do a Google search, and the first result which comes up is the online version of the Victoria County History, for vol. 1 of the history of the North Riding of Yorkshire, entry for the parish of Coverham, from which I learn the following:
"The Fitz Hughs retained Bellerby, and in 1518 Sir Thomas Parr was said to have died seised of the manor of Coverham, although his title was disputed by Lord Scrope of Bolton. The manor probably escheated on the attainder of William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, in 1553. From this time its descent is obscure, but it was probably, like the demesne lands of Middleham (q.v.), mortgaged by the Crown and ultimately sold to the freeholders. From the freeholders it has probably been purchased in recent times by the Tophams, Thomas Topham being lord in 1879 and Mr. Lupton Topham Topham of Lutterworth, Leicestershire ... being the present lord."
I am learning miscellaneous heraldic terms, in pursuit of the identification of owners of heraldic bookplates, but I think mastering the technicalities of land tenure terms is probably beyond the call of duty!
The next Google result takes me to ancestry.com, which has records for three Lupton Tophams, the first of whom (born 1702, died 1769) was born to parents named Christopher Topham and Barbara Lupton, but the other two of whom had fathers named William and William Watkinson -- plus a Lupton Topham Topham whose father was Edward Charles Topham. So the name doesn't seem to have passed directly from father to son. There is probably an extremely tedious thesis to be written on the subject of the use of surnames as forenames ... !
No comments:
Post a Comment