Matt, It wasn't only butchers, though they were probably the most frequent. Here's an example of an alias Baker from 1510, third entry: Robert Mychell alias Baker of St Albans, baker http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/H8/CP40no990/bCP40no990dorses/IMG_0682.htm

On Monday, May 23, 2016 at 7:12:55 AM UTC+1, Vance Mead wrote: > Matt, > It wasn't only butchers, though they were probably the most frequent. Here's an example of an alias Baker from 1510, third entry: > > Robert Mychell alias Baker of St Albans, baker > http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/H8/CP40no990/bCP40no990dorses/IMG_0682.htm I do occasionally see early 16C presentments of men for selling bread in breach of the assize of bread surnamed Baker (again, just Baker alone, not as an alias), but not nearly as often as I see clusters of butchers all surnamed Butcher. For eg, on 12 May 1506 10 men were presented at the manor court of the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire for being butchers and taking excessive profit - fully 5 of them were surnamed Butcher (most of them had been presented for the same offence, under that surname, regularly for several years previously). By this date surnames had been hereditary in this part of England for more than a century, and I think it's extremely improbable that these men either had unstable occupational bynames or all belonged to families which had been butchers for at least four or five generations. The explanation probably lies in the fact that the five butchers NOT surnamed Butcher were all from Loughborough, whereas the 5 with that surname all came from neighbouring villages (Sileby, Wymeswold, Syston, Mountsorell and Dalby). I think it's very likely that in their home village they had a hereditary surname, but when trading in Loughborough market they were known by the alias Butcher (rather like Ian's John the Gas). To me the strange thing is that they were recorded by this name alone in a formal legal document such as a manor court roll - did the clerk of the court never ask their real name? And why is this phenomenon, which I have noticed in quite a number of court rolls from different places, largely confined to the late 15C and early 16C? Some of these rural butchers were also occasionally presented for being fishmongers and selling sea fish against the assize. Consider how far Loughborough is from the sea! I suppose the fish must have been brought up the Trent and then carted overland - one wonders what condition they were in when they reached Loughborough market. Matt

Matt, These examples in Common Pleas are relatively rare - no more than a dozen cases in a term with 5000 entries. But they occur often enough that it suggests to me that surnames at least in some cases were still fluid. Here's another example in 1538: Thomas Parkyns alias Myller of Newbury, Berkshire, miller. http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1096/aCP40no1096fronts/IMG_1873.htm Vance

On 23/05/16 12:07, Matt Tompkins wrote: > Some of these rural butchers were also occasionally presented for being fishmongers and selling sea fish against the assize. Consider how far Loughborough is from the sea! I suppose the fish must have been brought up the Trent and then carted overland - one wonders what condition they were in when they reached Loughborough market. Dried or salted? I also wonder about the state oysters were in when one finds oyster shells well inland. -- Hotmail is my spam bin. Real address is ianng at austonley org uk