Bech

This name has several possible origins. It can be a locational name derived from the Olde English "Bece" which means residence by Beech Trees or it could derive from "Baec" a word meaning Brook used to describe a small river or stream. It is also possible that some modern spellings were derived from Beehe, another Olde English word meaning "The Valley". Beech is also topographical being used to describe someone who lived by a beech tree or beech wood. Adam Beach (Beche), the Abbot of Colchester, was executed in 1539 for opposing Henry V11's dissolution of the monasteries. On October 9th 1575, Grace Sarken married Thomas Beech at St. Michael, Cornhill, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de la Beche, which was dated 1236, in the Worcester County Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.