This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Burton.' There are at least twenty-nine parishes called Burton in England (v. Crockford).

Richard de Burton, mercator, 5 Edward Edward.

Willelmus de Burton, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Emma de Burton, 1379: ibid.

1754. Married — Giles Burton and Hannah Abberley: St. George's Chapel, Mayfair.

(English) belonging to Burton = the En­closure, Farm, or Village [Old English tún] of 1 the Boor or Peasant [Old English ge)búr] 2 the Byre or Cattle-Stall [Old English byre] 3 the Stronghold [Old English burh] 4 the Hill [Old English beorh] 5 Be(o)rht(a [Old English be(o)rht, bright, glorious] The diversity of origin of this name accounts for its commonness.

Burton-on-Trent occurs repeatedly in the Anglo-Saxon will of Wulfric, Earl o£ Mercia (A.D. 1002), as Byrtún (‘æt Byrtúne’).

Bibl; App. infra

Place name in England.

(English) One who came from Burton (village by a fort, or a fortified manor), the name of many villages in England.

A fortified enclosure. (A-Sax.). Hence the names of no less than forty parishes and places in England, and hence the commonness of this surname. The B.'s of Longner are deduced from Boerton or Burton, in Gondover, co. Salop, B.L.G.

Local. A town in Leicestershire, England. The name signifies either the town on the hill, or, as Bailey says, the Bur—town, from the abundance of burs growing thereabouts. There are several places by this name in England.

Or De Richmond. This is a branch of the Musards, Barons of Staveley, t. William I. Hasculph, son of Roald, was Viscount of Nantes, Bretagne, c. 1050 (Lobineau, Hist. Bret., ii. 117), and had four sons who came to England in 1066, viz., I, Hasculph or Hascoit Musard, a great baron in Derby, &c. in 1086 (Domesd.); 2, Hugh M. of Lincoln, 1086; 3, Enisand M.; 4, Roald. Enisand had vast grants in Yorkshire from Alan, Earl of Richmond and Penthievre, in Bretagne, with the feudal dignity of Constable of Richmond. The seat of this seigneurie was at Burton, near Richmond.

His grandson, Roald I., founded Easby Priory, 1152 (Mon. ii. 649). His son Alan, Constable of Richmond, witnessed a charter of Duke Conan of Bretagne, t. Henry II. (Mon. ii. 883,903). From him descended Roald III., Constable of R., t. Henry III., whose son Roald IV., De Richmond or De Burton, performed military service for the Archbishop of York in the Welsh war, 1282 (Parliamentary Writs). Sir Thomas de Richmond, 1300, was returned as holding above 40 l. per ann., and was summoned by writ for the Scottish war. His son Thomas de Burton, Constable of Richmond, t. Edw. III., sold his estates to Lord Scrope of Bolton (Gale, Registr. Appendix). From his brothers descended the families of Burton and Richmond, in Yorkshire, who bore a cross between four roses or mullets. Sylvan, one brother, was father of Thomas de Burton, who gave lands to Form tains (Burton, Mon. Ebor. 183). His grandson Sir Edward Burton acquired Longnor, Salop, t. Edward IV., and from him descended the Burtons of Longnor, and their branches the Burton-Conynghams, Marquises Conyngham, the Barons Londesborough, and the Baronets Burton.

A frequent location name.

Burton. —Confined mostly to the midland counties and to the eastern half of England. Singularly rare or absent in the west of England. Barton is the name of not less than forty parishes and places.