Jury

This interesting surname, with variant spelling Jewry, derives from the Anglo-French "juerie", (Olde French "juierie"), meaning Jewry, and was originally given either as a habitational name to a member of the Jewish Community living in that section of a town, or as a topographical name to a non-Jew living near the Jewish quarters of a town or city. Most Medieval English cities had certain parts occupied exclusively by members of a particular religious persuasion, and the following quotation from Chaucers's "Canterbury Tales", (the Prioress' Tale), reads, "Ther was in Asie, in a gret citee, Amonges Cristen folk a Jewerie". One, William jury was noted in "Archaeologia Cantiana", dated 1495, and on June 2nd 1542 John Jury, an infant, was christened in Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate, London. The Jury Coat of Arms depicts three gold portcullises, (engines formerly used in fortifying and defending the gateway of a city), on a blue shield. A cubit arm in armour, holding a caltrap all proper is on the crest. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard ate Jewerye which was dated 1327 - "The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", during the reign of King Edward 111, "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.