Recorded as Burberry, Burberye, Burbury, Burberow, Burborow, Burberrow, Burborough, Burburough, and others, this is an English surname It is locational from one of the estimated three thousand villages and hamlets that have disappeared from the maps of the british Isles over the past five centuries. The prime cause of these "disappearances" was the enforced clearing and dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade in the 14th Century, although natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. The place name is composed of the elements "burh" meaning a fort, and "beorg" a hill or mound. Early examples of recordings in surviving church registers include Hesther Burberry, who was christened at St. Michael's Queenhithe, in the city of London, on May 27th 1681, Amy Birboure christened at St Mary Whiechapel, on January 1st 1583, and Mary Burborough who was married to John Hudson at the famous church of St Mary le Bone, on February 16th 1790. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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