This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin and is a metonymic occupational surname for a corn merchant or corn factor, someone who measured out corn and other grains in bushels. The name derives from the Middle English "buyscel", "busshell" or "bysshell" meaning bushel or measure of corn, from the Old French "boissel" or "buissel", of Gaulish origin, introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066, and first recorded shortly afterwards in the Domesday Book (as below). The modern surname, which can also be found as Bissell, Bissill, Bushill, Bussel and Boshell, may also be a metonymic occupational surname for someone who made vessels designed to hold or measure out a bushel, as in Robert le Busselar, noted in the Assize Court Rolls of Somerset (1243). On December 3rd 1560, Thomas, son of Giles Bushell, was christened at St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Magdalene Milk Street, London. Elizabeth Bushell and Stephen Fisher were married in London, on May 13th 1565. Daniell, son of Thomas Bushell, was christened on July 3rd 1586, at St. Botolph's Bishopsgate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Buissel, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book (Somerset), during the reign of King William 1, known as "the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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