Boshers - Name

Derived from the Old French "Bouschard" or "Buschier", this surname is a medieval job-descriptive term for a timber merchant, or possibly one who prepared and seasoned timber. The term was introduced after the 1055 Norman Invasion, and its use spread rapidly throughout England in the succeeding two centuries. A further impetus to the name was given by the 16th Century Huguenot cause, when successive waves of protestant dissenters left France from circa 1580 onwards. In this case an example of the recordings is that of Francois Boschard, who was a christening witness at the famous Threadneedle Street French Church, on September 4th 1726. The earliest recordings of the surname include Henry Boscher in the Assize Rolls of Warwickshire for the year 1221, whilst Robert Le Buscher appears in the London Rolls of 1276 a.d. The many recorded spelling forms include Bosher(s), Bowsher, Boshere, Boshier, Bowshire, Busher and Boucher, and examples of church recordings taken from the authentic registers include James Bosher who married Mary Waring at St Margarets, Westminster, in 1678. Leonard Busher, in the year 1614 published a book called 'Religious Peace', believed to be the first tract to preach religious tolerance. The coat of arms granted in France has the blazon of a gold fleur de lis on a blue field, indicating service to the monarch. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Le Boschier, which was dated 1205, in the "Pipe Rolls of Dorsetshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216.