Bureham History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The vast movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of England of 1066 brought the Bureham family name to the British Isles. They lived in any of several places of this name in the counties of Middlesex and Kent having derived from the Old English words beorg, meaning hill, and ham, meaning homestead. 1

Early Origins of the Bureham family

The surname Bureham was first found in Kent, where Barham is a village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury. An ancient Saxon village, it was listed as Bioraham in 799 1 and later as Bercheham in the Domesday Book. 2 There are also parishes in the Dioceses Ely, Chichester, and Norwich.

The first record of the surname was Warine de Berham, as holding lands in Kent in 1203. 3

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included some early spellings for the name: Simon de Bernham in Norfolk; and Walter de Bernham in Suffolk. 4

The Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III listed John de Bernham, Kent, 20 Edward I (during the twentieth year of King Edward I's reign) and Thomas de Bernham, Suffolk.

"The family were lords of Barham, in Kent, at an early period, and according to Philipot, the Kentish genealogist, descendants of Robert de Berham, son of Richard Fitz-Urse, and brother of one of the assassins of Thomas a Beckett. " 5

"The Sussex Barhams are probably connected with the ancient Kentish family of Barham. In the 13th century Baham was a Suffolk name. " 6

Early History of the Bureham family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bureham research. Another 133 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1390, 1391, 1535, 1577, 1595, 1621, 1625, 1626, 1634, 1667, 1670 and 1726 are included under the topic Early Bureham History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bureham Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Barham, Bareham, Barrham, Braham, Bearham, Bereham and many more.

Early Notables of the Bureham family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Richard de Berham, Sheriff of Kent (1390-1391); Sir Edward Barkham (died 1634), an English merchant, Lord Mayor of London in 1621; and Sir Edward Barkham, 1st Baronet of South Acre (1595-1667), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1625 and 1626. Nicholas Barham (d. 1577), was an early English lawyer, "a native of Wadhurst, Sussex. His family had been settled there for some generations, being a branch of...
Another 78 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bureham Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Bureham family

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Bureham or a variant listed above were: Anthony Barham who settled in Virginia in 1626; L. Berham arrived in San Francisco, California, in 1850; Mary Barham settled in Virginia in 1654; Thomas Barham settled in Maryland in 1720..

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.