Deverell - Name

This surname is an English locational name deriving from Deverill, a parish in Wiltshire, which comes from the Old Welsh "dwfrial" meaning "the river of the ial" or "fertile upland region", or, the British (the extinct Celtic language of the ancient Britons) "Dubroialon", "the ial on the stream". The surname dates back to the 13th Century, (see below). Recordings include Eustace de Deverel - "The Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire" (1273) and Johannes Deverell "The Poll Tax Records", Yorkshire (1379). The modern idiom of the spelling includes Deverale, Deveril, Deverall, Deveral, Deverille, Devorill. Robert Deverell married Alice Richardson in London in 1590. George Deverill and Grace Forward were married in Wiltshire on June 17th 1666, and Roger Deveril married Jane Newman on March 13th 1726, at Westwood in Wiltshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Flyas de Deverel, which was dated 1272, in the "The Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.