Shosbree Locations

Where do the Shrosbrees come from ? Or where can they be found ? This is an interesting question because as we have seen from the origin of the name it is locative in that it tells us where the Shrosbree came from , but of course it would normally be a surname given to some body from Shrewsbury who was now living away from that location . So far the earliest Surname I have found is for Johanne Shrousburye who was a blacksmith living in Middlesex in the area called Norton Foregate. He is named in a Will dated 1406 . also named is his son Thomas Filio . A later Will is also for a Johanne Shrouseburye in Holborn dated 1461 . this could be a grandson.and there they stayed in Middlesex for over 500 years . We can plot the families movement around the county although in reality that means around a very small area of the east end Of London. of course some did move away, but not in enough numbers to affect the overall pattern.
There is a John Shrowesburye in Buckingham 1543, a Shrowsbury in Uxbridge. Middx 1553 and a Shrowsberie in Nonington.Kent 1560 and again in Holborn a Shrosberry 1585 .
The name variant Shrowsridge appears around 1595 in St Botophs Parish. Middx and lasts up to 1693 although around 1663 it also appears as Shrowesbridge coincidental to a branch appearing in St Dunstans Parish , where it survived until 1824 .
The name also occurs as Shrowsbery,Shrowsberry,Shrowbury in St Botolphs from 1665 through to 1821.
The variant Shrosebberry is found in Holborn Middx from 1585 to 1683 the name then appears to change to Shrousbury around 1689 in Westminster [Stepping St Dunstan] where it survies to 1776. We also have a Shosbry in 1748 t St Barthomews and the first Shrosbree Appears in 1749 in a marriage at St Georges ,Mayfair. [but was probably born around 1728] and from 1772 they are found in Findsbury. Middx through to 1869. From 1823 they appear in Shoreditch.. It is from around this date that the clan begins to expand , but they only move as far as the next parish, or remain in situ as the parish boundaries expand and contract about them [ see a later article]
Some venture as far afield as the next district but even then they are within the the Greater London Area of Middlesex. We do have some 'Outliers' , but it is interesting to note that these were destined to migrate further afield . One to Scotland and later 'en famile ' to south Africa One went to Birmingham. and eventually he and nearlyall his offspring went to America . some went to Australia . some others went away and came back [more later]
There are of course several small pockets of the Shrosbree varaint in other places but not in sufficient No's to affect the fact that The Shrosies are predominately a Middlesex Family.

The Origin of the Surname

Having established a surname pattern, we now have to consider the origin of the Shrosbree surname and decide if it is topographical, patronymic , or locative . The name can be seen to exist in will dated 1401 [John Shrousbrye ] which is about the time surnames began to be adopted in England and were established by about 1540. The name is not indicative of an occupation or a nickname and it does not contain elements of landscape so a locative element seems the most probable . The place a person came from was usually added to the forename i.e John French. but only when that person was living away from their place of origin.
The Name Shrosbree is interesting because it suggests Shrewsbury. However the early surname spellings Shrowsburye/Shrosbreye is probably closer phoneticaly to the name Scrobbesbrig [pronounced Shrosbbesburi] which was the Saxon word for the town of Shrewsbury. The nornams could not pronounce it and changed it to Salopesberia and the region from Scrobbesbyrigcir to Salopescira [ hence our abbreveaions to Salops ]
The early adoption of the surname spelling and its continued use of the leading O would suggest that it is a name that stretches back into antiquity. whereas the Shrewsbury variant with an E would be a later name copying that of the Earl of Shrewsbury in his title [ a title which had been dormant for nearly a century ]
Finally : there has been a suggstion that Shrobree and Sowerby are one and the same and it has been stated " That it is a geographical distinction that it is Shrosbree in the south of England and Sowerby in the north of England and Scotland " This is patently incorrect since Sowerby is a locative name and its variants Sowerby.Sorbie, Sorsbie can be seen in and around the region of Sowerby in Yorkshire a short review of the 1881 census I.G.I etc will establish the limit and extent of its distribution throughout the north of England. There is no demonstrable evidence to link to the two together
* Shrewsbury Journeyings by Patsy Griffin .U.S.A

Surname Maping

The principle object is to try and establish a first Srosbree family for our own family tree.
an examination of the 1881 census reveals a list of 75 people with the surname Shrosbree, this includes spelling and transcription errors .
There are other similar but distinctly different names .A list compiled of the Shrosbree variants from the soundex codes. surnames from the I.G.I Databases of births ,marriages and deaths , plus a further list from from the B.M.D archives helps to narrow down the name options to but a few . By looking at the birth places, dates and locations it is possible to begin to make some sort of sense out of the chaos, and show something of the name development and the regions from where they began.
The names have been grouped together by location and variation in order to merge the obvious errors and to establish a list of specific surnames. This now gives us list of the following variants Shrowbridge,Shrowsbridge,Shroseberry,Shrowsberry,Shrowsburry,Shrosbery,Shrousberry and Shrobreye.
We also have the variants of Shrewsbury. and although the name sounds the same there is the distinction between them, being spelt with a leading E as opposed to an O. it is an important difference, as we shall see.

Statistics & Mapping

As a result of my studies into the Shrosbree family name , I have acquired sufficient data to begin a project on mapping the Shrosbrees through their history.
It has been and continues to be a lengthy process of indexing and re-indexing all the available data in the various indices such as the Free B.M.D the B.M.D and the I.G.I and Census returns and our own family tree .
The resulting searchable database , links children to parents,parents to spouse,birth,marriage , death dates and locations . some 600 plus records for these events .
It is now possible to plot,map, and understand the origins and make up of the wider Shrosbree family,and extract data in a meaningful way which family tree' programmes generally cannot.
One result of this, is that we can now answer some of the missing persons questions.

From the data collected so far it would appear that nearly over third [36%] of the Shrosbree children born between 1838-1901 did not survive their first year ! a further 25 children did not reach the age of ten ! This means that they slipped through the census net. Another three died in their early teens . Altogether 77 Shrosbrees or 40% of the children did not make it past their teens. this data is to comparable with the national statistics.
Sadly we can also see which families lost the most children and in what years ,which is useful when comparing with the national pattern for illnesses etc.

How it all began

This picture of my mother Ada Kathleen[Kit] and her sisters Grace and Edie Shrosbree was taken at 14 Augustine road in Gravesend, Kent about 1925.
they were the daughters of Walter Thomas Shrosbree and Ada Acton. it was the research into my grandparents background where my journey began, a journey which has taken me from Kent into Middlesex and as far afield as America, South Africa and the Antipodes . From the Great war to the American Gold rush via the Mexican wars and the Zulu Wars , Japan and back via India, as my enquiries into the Shrosbree family widened into a quest to find the 'Allfather' who links them all .

Welcome to my Shros blog

Hello my name is Peter Masters and I am a half Shrobree.

although born in Kent we moved to Sussex when I was 14 and I spent much of my adult life there raising a famliy . My wife and I moved to north Wales about twenty years ago.

I have had a long standing interest in history since my early years and

I have also been studying family history for many years .

This site is created for the Shrosbree family history group

I hope to be able to provide a platform of interesting information about the Shrosbree Family history.
We have to remember that family history is not just about names and dates, but about people too, where and how they lived. The study of social history is important to us as it puts into context the statistics of infant mortality. Health and housing , the mobility and migration of people both around the locale, nationally and geographically.

An additional and worthwhile study is that of Surnames their origins and their variatons.
But first how it all began;