The Mayhew Manor of Tisbury

Address Prepared for The New York Branch
of
The Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America
by Ida M. Wightman under the supervision of Colonel Charles Edward Banks


Pg. 11

....The origin of the name is explained satisfactorily by a learned historical scholar of England, himself a descendant, and the following extracts are made from his account:

"As an English family name it is most frequently met with in the South and West of this island, and few parish registers in the Counties of Hereford, Gloucester, Wilts and Dorset can be opened without presenting us with examples. It is spelt in many ways, varying from the extended form of Mayhowe to that of Mao, and often, as it will frequently appear, clipped down and reduced to May to the loss of its concluding syllable. One lesson is taught by the diversity and variety, viz: - the identity of Mayhew and Mayo, and from this consideration a ray of light is thrown upon the derivation of the name. An early occurrence of the name, and in its extended form, is found in Glover's Roll of Arms, supposed by Sir Harris Nicholas to date from between 1245 and 1250. Herbert le Fitz Mayhewe is there mentioned as bearing 'party d'azur & de goulz one trois leonseaux rampant d'or,' and Woodward in his History of Wales, page 415, narrates that account to the old copy of S. Davids Annals. The Welsh slew Sir Herbert Fitz-Mahu apparently in 1246, near the castle of Morgan Cam. The same Roll of Arms gives the clue to the origin of the name as a Christian name; in the case of Mahewe de Lovayne, Mayhew de Columbers and Maheu de Redmain. There can be little doubt that it is here a softened form of Matthew. Bardsley in his "English Surnames" mentioned two other instances, Adam fil. Maheu, and Mayhew de Basingbourne, from the Parliamentary Writs. Lower, (Patronymica Brittannica, 219, 221), takes the same view."