Recorded as Henwood, Henworth, and even Inworth and Insworth, this is an English surname. It is locational from such places as Henwood in the parish of Linkinhorne, Cornwall, named from the pre 7th century word "henn" meaning a domestic fowl, plus "wudu", a wood. Henwood in Warwickshire, appears as Hinewude in the Pipe Rolls of that county in 1132, and is believed to be from the word "hiwan", meaning a nunnery, plus "wode", a wood. No place as Henworth appears in any known gazetters, which suggests that either one of the existing Henwood villages was originally spelt as Henwort or simiular, or the village was "lost" sometime in the last five or six centuries. Either are possible as the existing surname must have come from somewhere! Early examples of the surname recordings taken from surviving church registers include that on May 15th 1558 of Ann Henwood and Peter John who were married at Saint Neots, Huntingdon, William Hensworth at St Giles Cripplegate in the city of London, who was christened there on November 14th 1613, and Thomas Inworth who married Joane Pawlin at St James Clerkenwell, on August 23rd 1618. An interesting namebearer was William Jory Henwood, (1805 - 1875), mineralogist; and supervisor of tin mining in Cornwall. His name was given to hydrous phosphate of aluminium and copper. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes 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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