This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the borough'; v. Bury. The final 's' is appended as in Brooks, Styles, Briggs. Perhaps the patronymic as in Jennings, Jones, Simonds, &c.

John atte Boroghe, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Richard atte Boroghe, Somerset, 1 Edward III: ibid.

Thomas Burewe, Somerset, 1 Edward III: ibid.

1742. Married — William Burroughs and Elizabeth Knight: St. George's Chapel, Mayfair.

1752. — Hercules Burrows and Sarah Whitehead: ibid.

Local. "In Scotland the name is limited and never attained to any eminence" (Scot. Nat.). Robert de Burghe of Lanarkshire rendered homage in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 212). William Burgh witnessed confirmation of a charter by Robert Herys of date 1498 (Bamff, p. 39), Gilbert Burgh was a follower of Campbell of Lundy, 1529 (RSS., II, 59), and Malcolm Burghe, a rebel, was rescued from officers of the law in 1630 (RPC., 2. ser. III, p. 560). Four individuals of the name are recorded in the Commissariot Record of Dunkeld, James Burgh (1714—1775), author, born at Madderty, Perthshire.

(English) Dweller at the fort or fortified place.

“They who assumed the surname of Burgh, or Burke, are descended from William Fitz-Adelm, steward of Henry II., and Governor of Wexford in Ireland.”—Sir Egerton Brydges. This refers to the existing family, whose splendid pedigree, giving them “an Imperial Carlovingian descent in the male line, and a more dignified origin than the houses of Bourbon, Hanover, Saxony, Savoy, or Stuart,” dates only from about the middle of the last century, when it appeared for the first time in an Irish peerage, and is utterly ignored by Dugdale and the older authorities. “Burgh” must here stand for Serlo de Burgh, a powerful Northern baron in the time of the Conqueror, who built Knaresborough Castle, and appears to have taken his name from the manor of Burgh, “Serlo had his name evidently from Aldburgh, then simply ‘Burg,’ as in Domesday Book; whereas it was his contemporary Robert de ‘Burch,’ of Burgh, in Norfolk, who was ancestor of Hubert and the Irish Burkes.”—A. S. Ellis. in Yorkshire. He left no son, and was succeeded by his nephew Eustace Fitzjohn, who married two of the greatest heiresses in England, and founded the illustrious houses of De Vesci and De Lacy. (See Vescy and Lacy.)

William Fitz-Adelm or Adeline, t. Henry II., the ancestor of this house, was son of Adelelm, Adeline, Adelm, or Alelm of Aldfield in Yorkshire, younger brother of Eustace Fitz- John, Baron of Alnwick, and son of John Fitz-Ponce, brother of Serlo de Burgh, who was of the house of Fitz-Ponce or De Pons. (See Clifford, Vesci.) Adelm of Aldfield probably bore the name of De Burgh. He with Ralph his son gave lands at Fountains to the Abbey, which gift was confirmed by Roger de Mowbray (Burton, Mon. Ebor. 166). Ralph Fitz-Adeliu held one fee in Yorkshire from Mowbray, 1165 (Lib. Niger), and witnessed a charter of his brother William Fitz-Adeline or Adelm to the Knights Hospitallers (Mon. i. 510); and as Ralph de Burgo, t. Henry II., witnessed a charter of Trentham Priory (Mon. ii. 261). From him descended Sir Alan de Aldfield, who confirmed his gifts to Fountains (Burton, Mon. Ebor. 166). William Fitz- Adelm, the brother of Ralph de Aldfield, appears first in 1152 as witness to a charter of Henry de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, York, and in 1165 as holding one fee from Lacy of Pontefract (Lib. Niger), and a barony of three fees in Hants and Essex, with the office of marshal to the king, which he had obtained by m. with the dau. of Robert Doisnell (Ibid.). This family adopted the arms borne by the elder line De Vesci, descended from Eustace Fitz-John, viz., a cross. From it descended the Earls of Ulster, Earls and Marquises of Clanricarde, Earls of Mayo, &c.

Burgh: Serlo de Burgh came over with the Conqueror, but left no issue. His nephew succeeded. An apocryphal pedigree of the de Burghs appeared in the eighteenth century, giving the family an imperial Carlovingian descent. It has not a shadow of foundation. The family has become Burke in Ireland.