This ancient and interesting surname is English locational and derives either from residence by rush beds or more likely from one of the several English villages called Rishworth (Yorkshire) or Rushford in Norfolk and Warwickshire. Both these latter two villages appear in the 1086 Domesday Book as 'Risseworth'. The derivation is Olde English "Ryssce - Worp" from the pre 7th Century A.D.. Most of the early recordings are from East Anglia, although in the 20th century the name is also popular in the Yorkshire region. Examples of the early surname recordings include William de Rushworthe, rector of Santon in Norfolk in 1368, and John de Russeworthe in the county subsidy rolls of the same period. The name development includes John Rushworth M.A. (1612 - 1690) Clerk to the House of Commons and Secretary to Oliver Cromwell (1650), whilst Mr. John Rushworth is recorded as being a Plantation owner in Barbadoes in 1679 and a member of the Honourable Colonel Symon Lamberts' Regiment of Horse Militia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Dominia de Ruseworth, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls Records of County Norfolk, England, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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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