Irish and English surnames were formed from first names, nicknames, places from whence persons came, and persons' occupations. English occupational surnames are Butcher, Baker, Cook, Farmer etc., while in Ireland we have Mac an tSagairt (sagart, priest), Mac an tSaoir (saor, craftsman), Mac an Chleirigh and O Cleirigh (cleireach, a clerk) etc.
Among the occupations listed in the index to The Dublin Guild Merchant Roll, c. 1190-1265 are 60 cooks, 57 bakers, 36 butchers, 31 millers, 24 glovers, 18 goldsmiths, six blanket-makers, five hatters, etc.
The butchers were termed "carnifex", and The Calendar of Justiciary Rolls (1308-1314) lists Symon Carnifex among the jurors at a hearing in Dublin in 1310 regarding theft of goods from the church called "la Whytechurche near Ballygegh".
In 1314 a large number of men were charged at Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, with "divers trespasses and felonies" - mainly persons named McCodiltan - among whom was Thomas le Boucher of Tamelyng (Timolin, Co. Kildare).
In the 1472 will of Richard Burton it is noted he owed money to Manus Bowcher and Sloo the butcher. Le Boucher, an Anglo-Norman surname, is variously rendered Bouchier, Busher and Butcher.
Telephone directories south of the Border contain 28 Boucher entries, mainly in the Dublin 01 area, while the 21 Bouchiers are largely in the same area and in south Leinster. Butcher is listed 10 times, with 31 in The Phone Book of Northern Ireland. There are 27 Busher entries, mostly in mid- and north Leinster. Sean de Bhulbh's Sloinnte na hEireann/Irish Surnames accepts Woulfe's Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall that Buiseir is the Irish for this name. Busherstown names townlands in Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny and Offaly, the received Irish for the latter two being Baile an Bhuisearaigh.
Needless to say, the descendants of those who first bore the surname Bouchier/Butcher/Busher were not necessarily butchers, nor did all persons practising butchering continue to bear this surname. The Dublin City Franchise Roll, 1468-1512 lists 29 butchers bearing a variety of surnames.
The Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns 1521-1603 noted the 1540 grant to David Bossher of the curacy of Saint Columkille, Co Kilkenny. This surname features in a further 46 fiants from 1566 to 1602, many of which belonged to places in Leinster.
A pardon of 1602 names William, Walter, and Patrick Busher, of Langraige, the Skurr, and Newcastle, respectively. Twenty-eight fiants related to Englishman George Bouchyer, gent. In 1571 he was granted the site of the monastery of the canons of Gallen in M'Goglan's country; the tithes of the rectories of Fyrrye alias Fywyre, Gallen and Rennagh, "late in the county of Westmeath, now united to the King's county", also the moieties of the monastery of Larragh in O Ferrell Bane's country. Among the many other grants he received during the period up to 1602 were the manor of Onaght, Co Tipperary; the Great and Little Saltees, and Ballibegan, Co Wexford; Much and Little Riverston, and Annagh, Co Meath; Enescoo, Co Westmeath; Calliaghstown, Carge, Carrick, Rosbrenagh, and Donabate, Co Dublin; and extensive holdings in Co Cork.
He was also among the commissioners to "take muster and array of the inhabitants of King's county"; at different times he was among the commissioners of the provinces of Leinster, Connacht, and Ulster, and in 1581 in Munster, under Sir Warham St. Leger, knt., "to make journey against the traitors there, destroying as much as possible of their goods and corn".
Taylor & Skinners' Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778) has Boucher, esq, at Maidenhall, east of Charleville, Co Limerick, while in the 1814 Directory four of the seven Bouchier entries are in Co Limerick, two in Co Clare, and a single one in Bray, Co Wicklow.
Was John Bouchier, Smithville, Co Tipperary, listed in Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) as owning 152 Co Kildare acres, the John Bouchier, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, who owned 2,252 Co Clare acres?
John Bouchier, Cork, owned 261 acres also in Co Clare; J.M. Bouchier, Co Galway, owned 233 Co Kilkenny acres, and John Bouchier, Baggotstown, Co Limerick, had 845 acres in that county. Rev Somerset B. Bouchier, Rome, had 357 Co Kilkenny acres, and Right Rev Dr Butcher, Ardbraccan House, Navan, Co Meath, had 733 acres in Co Cork.
(In last week's ASKEATON some 200 words were inadvertently omitted. This was Ess Geibtine in 1199, and in 1781 it was rendered "Rockberkely orse Askeiton orse Askeaton". It derives from Eas Geitine, "the waterfall of Geitine", Geitine possibly being a personal name).