Hulse

This distinguished surname, with several notable entries in the "Dictionary of National Biography", is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from Hulse, a township in the parish of Great Budworth, Cheshire. Recorded variously as "Holes, Holis" and "Holys" circa 1250 in the Feet of Fines for Cheshire, the place was so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hol(u)", hollow, depression, to which was later added the nding "-es". Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. On January 21st 1544, Jonne, daughter of James and Emme Hulce, was christened at Nantwich, Cheshire, and in September 1564, Emma Hulse married Randulphus Steele at Barthomley. Robert Hulse of Cheshire was entered in the Oxford University Register in 1581. Notable bearers of the name were Edward Hulse (1631 - 1711), court physician to the Prince of Orange; Sir Edward, first baronet Hulse (1682 - 1759, physician to George 11; and Sir Samuel, third baronet Hulse, vice-chamberlain (1827) of the household to George 1V, and field-marshal (1830). A Coat of Arms granted to the Hulse family of Cheshire is a silver shield with three black piles one issuant from chief and two from base, the Crest being a buck's head couped proper, collared gold, between the horns a sun of the last. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Hulse, which was dated 1473, in "Medieval Records of East Cheshire", during the reign of King Edward 1V, known as "The Self Proclaimed King", 1461 - 1483. 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.