Buckmaster History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Buckmaster

What does the name Buckmaster mean?

The name Buckmaster was carried to England in the enormous movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Buckmaster family lived in the settlement of Buckminster, Leicestershire. The surname's derived from residence at location. The place name itself is derived from the Old English elements, Bucca, which was a nickname for a person with a supposed resemblance to a goat, and mynster, meaning monastery. 1

Early Origins of the Buckmaster family

The surname Buckmaster was first found in Leicestershire at Buckminster, a parish, in the union of Melton-Mowbray, hundred of Framland. Buckminster Park, the family seat of the Earl of Dysart, is a noble mansion situated in a park well stocked with deer and embellished with timber. 2

The parish dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was recorded as Bucheminstre 3

The Pipe Rolls of 1180 record Adam de Bucemenistre in Leicestershire as the first record of the family in early rolls. 4 The Writs of Parliament record Simon de Bokminstre, 1295 and Simon de Bukminstre, 1297 which are presumably entries for the same person. 5

The source Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I. includes an entry for Roger de Bukeminstre, Lincolnshire, Henry III-Edward I (during the reigns of Henry II and Edward I. 6

Early History of the Buckmaster family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Buckmaster research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1513, 1514, 1530, 1532, 1539, 1541, 1545, 1546, 1566, 1618, 1623, 1629 and 1769 are included under the topic Early Buckmaster History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Buckmaster Spelling Variations

Endless spelling variations are a prevailing characteristic of Norman surnames. Old and Middle English lacked any definite spelling rules, and the introduction of Norman French added an unfamiliar ingredient to the English linguistic stew. French and Latin, the languages of the court, also influenced spellings. Finally, Medieval scribes generally spelled words according to how they sounded, so one person was often referred to by different spellings in different documents. The name has been spelled Buckminster, Buckmaster, Buckmasters, Buckminsters, Buckmisters, Buckmuster and many more.

Early Notables of the Buckmaster family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Thomas Buckmaster (fl. 1566), English divine and astronomer, described in one of his works as a professor of physics, of what university has not been ascertained...
William Buckmaster (d. 1545), was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, graduating at Peterhouse, Cambridge...
1545, but his effects were not administered (by his nephew, Hugh Buckmaster) until 5 Dec...

Buckmaster Ranking

In the United States, the name Buckmaster is the 11,734^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 7

Buckmaster migration to the United States +

To escape the political and religious persecution within England at the time, many English families left for the various British colonies abroad. The voyage was extremely difficult, though, and the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving. But for those who made it, the trip was most often worth it. Many of the families who arrived went on to make valuable contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. An inquiry into the early roots of North American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Buckmaster or a variant listed above:

Buckmaster Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Buckmaster, aged 20, who arrived in Virginia in 1623 aboard the ship "Hopewell" 8
Thomas Buckmaster who settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1630
Thomas Buckmaster, who landed in New England in 1646 8
Tho Buckmaster, who arrived in Virginia in 1655 8

Buckmaster Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Royal A Buckmaster, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1850 8

Buckmaster migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Buckmaster Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Pat Buckmaster, a butcher in St. John's, Newfoundland, who was on record in 1871 9

Contemporary Notables of the name Buckmaster (post 1700) +

Jim Buckmaster (b. 1962), native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, an American computer programmer who has been the CEO of Craigslist since 2000
Vice Admiral Elliott Buckmaster (1889-1976), United States Naval officer and Naval Aviator, Commanding Officer of USS Yorktown
Samuel A. Buckmaster, American Democratic Party politician, Member of Illinois Democratic State Committee, 1858-60; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Illinois, 1860 10
L. S. Buckmaster, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Ohio, 1944 10
George Buckmaster, American politician, Member of New York State Assembly from New York County, 1821-22 10
Paul John Buckmaster (1946-2017), Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger, conductor and composer, best known for his work with Elton John
Adrian Charles Buckmaster (b. 1949), 4th Viscount Buckmaster, Chief Executive Officer of Avecia Group PLC (2005-)
Martin Stanley Buckmaster OBE (1921-2007), 3rd Viscount Buckmaster, British diplomat
Charles Buckmaster (1950-1972), Australian poet
Walter Selby Buckmaster (1872-1942), British silver medalist polo player at the 1900 Summer Olympics and at the 1908 Summer Olympics
... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Sources +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Testa de Nevill or "Liber Feodorum" or "Book of Fees," thought to have been written by Ralph de Nevill, for King John (1199â€“1216)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 3) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html