This unusual surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a locational name from a place south east of Wigton in Cumberland called Brocklebank. The derivation is from the Middle English "broc(k)", ultimately from the Olde English pre 7th Century "brocc", badger, with the Middle English "bank(e)", bank; hence, "bank of earth that was a favourite haunt of badgers". Locational surnames 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. Regional and dialectal differences subsequently produced several variations in the original spelling of the name, which in the modern idiom is found as Brecklebank, Bricklebank, Brokilbank and Brooklebank. On October 27th 1589, Franc Briclbanck and Jane Dallen were married at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, and in 1632, John Brockelbank or Brockilbancke was entered in the Oxford University Register. On March 18th 1689, the christening of Mary Bricklebank(e) took place at Allhallows, London Wall, and on August 15th 1842, George Bricklebank and Ellen Roughsedge were married at St. Nicholas', Liverpool, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Joanna Brocklebank, which was dated April 27th 1354, marriage to William Bothomley, at Halifax, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "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.

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