Instone

This unusual and interesting name, is of English locational origin, from the place in Worcesteshire called "Innerstone". The derivation of the placename is from the Old English personal name "Isnard", itself from a Germanic name composed of the elements "Isan", iron with "hard", meaning brave, hardy or strong, with the Old English pre 7th century word "tun", meaning "enclosure or settlement" and later "village or town". The surname can be found as Instone, Inston or Innerstone and is recorded mainly in the West Midlands. Examples of the recording include Gulielimi and Mariae Instone of Leigh with Bransford on April 4th 1705 at the christening of their son Josephus, and Mary Instone who married David Watkins at St. Michaels Church, Bedwardine, Worcester on May 1st 1747. Rather further afield the marriage of "Francis Instone" and "Betty Abley" is recorded at St. Georges' Chapel, Mayfair in London in 1742. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Sibilla de Inardeston, which was dated 1275, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", 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.