This most interesting and unusual surname, with variant spellings Bollis, Bullas, Bullous and Bullus is of English occupational origin for "a person employed at the bull-house", from the old English pre 7th Century Century elements "bul(l)e, bo(l)e", bull and "hus", house. Occupational surnames were originally job descriptive and later became hereditary. The surname itself first appears in Hampshire in the early 13th Century (see below). One Henry de (of) Bolus was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Derbyshire in 1327, while the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset record a William Bolehouse also in 1327. Both Thomas Bulluse and John Bolouse appear in Sheffield, Hallamshire; A Descriptive Catalogue of Sheffield Manorial Records (Yorkshire) in 1478, which also mentions one William Bullos in 1502 and Thomas Bullus in 1564. On October 18th 1702, Thomas Bulus married Mary Howell at St. James, Dukes Place, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de la Bulehuse, which was dated 1224, "The Calendar of the Patent Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.

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