Family Name History
Green
The surname Green originally was used as a regional appellation. Regional surnames stem from place names including rivers, countries, and man made features such as buildings, crossroads and many other objects. A person could be given a name indicating a place which was readily recognised. An individual living near or on a hill would be so designated, perhaps one living or working by a church would have been given the name Church. In this case the surname was used for a person who lived at the green. This was a grassy plat used by the village as a common.
Early records of the surname Green or a variant show Deonisia ate Grene and Warin de Grene in the Hundred Rolls. The Hundred Rolls, which until the 19th Century was a unit of English Government detailing the citizens of a given area. This system of local legal jurisdiction was introduced by King Edmond I 939-946 AD. To provide details which were useed partly as a system to gather revenue for the crown. These records contain no less than 70,000 names.
Petrus del Grene, Adam del Grene and Willelmus del Grene all appeared in the Poll Tax of yorkshire in the year 1379. This tax was instrumental in causing a revolt in 1380. As the tax did not discriminate between rich and poor and was therefore viewed as unfair. The amount was levied on each person regardless of their position in society. The leader of this peasants revolt was one Wat Tyler. This uprising was the main reason for the demise of this form of taxation.
A mantua maker by the name of Ann Green was convicted and sentenced at a court in Old Bailey, London to transportation and imprisonment for 7 years at the age of 28 years. She then was transported to australia aboard the convict ship Lady Penrhyn as one of seven hundred and seventy eight convicts which formed the First Fleet that departed England in May 1787 to establish a penal colony in New South Wales in 1788.
Blazon of arms :Azure three bucks trippant or
Translation : Azure indicates the colour blue which represents fidelity and veracity.
Crest : Out of a ducal coronet a buck's head all proper.
Motto : Virtus semper Viridis.
Translation : Always flourishing.
