Middlemore History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Early Origins of the Middlemore family

The surname Middlemore was first found in Warwickshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Edgbaston, held by Drogo from William FitzAnsculf, a Norman noble, who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086.

Early feudal rolls provided the king of the time a method of cataloguing holdings for taxation, but today they provide a glimpse into the wide surname spellings in use at that time. Thomas Medulmoor was listed in Cheshire in 1340; Edmund Middlemore and Roger Middelmore was found in the Feet of Fines for Warwickshire, 1466-1467. 2

Middlesmoor is a chapelry, in the parish of Kirkby-Malzeard, union of Pateley-Bridge, Lower division of the wapentake of Claro in the West Riding of Yorkshire 3 and Middlemoor can be found in Sutton, Cheshire. Middle Moor is in Renwick, Cumbria and in Ramsey Huntingdonshire. 2

In Scotland, the name arrived quite late and was very rare: John Middlemore of Donavourd was listed in 1799. 4

Early History of the Middlemore family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Middlemore research. Another 120 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1100, 1167, 1424, 1505, 1510, 1535, 1549, 1560, 1563, 1592, 1600, 1617, 1618, 1711 and 1886 are included under the topic Early Middlemore History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Middlemore Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Middlemore, Midlemore, Middlemoor, Midlemoor and others.

Early Notables of the Middlemore family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Humphrey Middlemore, (died 1535), an English Catholic priest and Carthusian hermit who was executed for treason during the Tudor period. He is considered a martyr by the Catholic Church, and was beati...
Henry Middlemore (d. 1592) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was a younger son of Henry Middlemore of Hawkesley (d. 1549) and Margery Gatacre. He may have been a steward to the ambassador in Fr...
Mary Middlemore (died 1618) was a Courtier and Maid of Honour to Anne of Denmark, subject of poems, and treasure hunter. On 29 April 1617 Middlemore was granted a licence by the king to have workmen s...
Joseph Middlemore established almshouses for eight persons in 1711, with an endowment of more than £100 per annum at Stanton by Dale in Derbyshire. 3

Middlemore migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Middlemore Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Geo Middlemore, who arrived in Virginia in 1654 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Middlemore (post 1700) +

Maria Trinidad Howard Sturgis Middlemore (1846-1890), née Sturgis, an American-Filipina author who is notable for her collection and translation of Spanish-language folktales into English
Sir William Hawkslow Middlemore (1908-1987), 2nd Baronet of Selly Oak in the Parish of Northfield in the County of Worcester, English peer
Sir John Throgmorton Middlemore (1844-1924), 1st Baronet, an English Liberal Unionist politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham North
Thomas Middlemore (1842-1923), English mountaineer who made multiple first ascents of Monte Rosa, the Strahlhorn and the Wetterhorn and many more, head of the Middlemores Saddles leather goods company in Birmingham, England which he inherited from his father, William Middlemore, in 1881
General George Middlemore (d. 1850), British Army officer and the first Governor of Saint Helena (1836-1842)
Amphilis Throckmorton Middlemore (1891-1931), British writer and teacher from Selly Oak, Birmingham

Citations +

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)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)