Desforges

This is a surname of French origins. Introduced into England after the famous Invasion and Conquest of 1066, it is residential, but also possibly occupational. It is a surname which in its different forms is widely recorded heraldically, and particularly in the French regions of Brittany and Normandy. There are several alternative spellings including del Forge, de la Forge, de Forges, Desforges and Forge, but all have the same origin and meaning of 'one who resides at a Forge', that is to say a place where iron and steel was worked. This apparently humble begining has nevertheless produced no less than seventeen coats of arms, a representative example having the blazon of a silver pascal lamb on a red field, one of the signs of a pilgrim, and one associated with the famous Crusaders of the 12th century. Although after 1685 there are strong Huguenot connections many of the name coming to the British Isles at the time to escape the attacks by the rel;igious maniac King Louis X1V of France, the name was very early into England, as shown below. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Ralph del Forge. This was dated 1297, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward 1st of England , and known to history as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.