Cosford

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from either of two places thus called. Cosford in Warwickshire was recorded as "Cosseford" in the Index to the Charters and Rolls in the British Museum (1246), and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Cossa" with "ford", ford; hence "Cossa's ford". Another Cosford, near Hadleigh in Suffolk, was recorded as "Corsford" in the 1206 Curia Regis Rolls, and has as its first element the Welsh "cors", bog, fen; hence "bog by the ford". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Recordings of the surname from English Church Registers include; the marriage of John Cosford and Margery Bowdron, which took place on August 7th 1581, at St. Bartholomew the Less, London; the christening of Dorothie, daughter of John and Margrat Cosford, which took place on September 6th 1617, at St. Andrew's, Holborn, London; and the christening of Richard, son of George Cosford, which took place on May 30th 1624, at Wolfhamcote, Warwickshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Annis Cosford, which was dated August 22nd 1570, christened at Watford, Northamptonshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.