Humphrey Clearke Brewster, I

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/160756746/humphrey-brewster

Son of Robert Brewster of Rushmere by his wife, a daughter of Christopher Edmond of Crossing Temple, Essex.

In 1550 he purchased the manor and living of Wrentham, where his descendants continued to reside until 1797.

Inscription
Here lyeth the bodye of Hvmphrye Brewster Esqvier whoe deceased the 29 of Ivne 1593 and in the 67 yere of his age.
Gravesite Details
Monumental Brass mounted on North Wall of chancel.

The surname BREWSTER was an occupational name 'a brewer of ale'. This was in early times a female occupation. Early records of the name mention Roger Breuestere, 1221 County Suffolk. Thomas le Breuester was documented in Lanarkshire in 1296. Alicia de Breuster was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Robert Brewester was burgess of Glasgow in the year 1487.Thomas Brouster was a curate in Arbroath in 1515. Robertr Brewster of County Northampton, registered at Oxford University in 1587. John Brewster married Rebecca Wild at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, London in 1749. The acquisition of surnames in Europe during the past eight hundred years has been affected by many factors, including social class and social structure, naming practices in neighbouring cultures, and indigenous cultural tradition. On the whole, the richer and more powerful classes tended to acquire surnames earlier than the working classes and the poor, while surnames were quicker to catch on in urban areas than in more sparsely populated rural areas. These facts suggest that the origin of surnames is associated with the emergence of bureaucracies. As long as land tenure, military service, and fealty were matters of direct relationship between a lord and his vassals, the need did not arise for fixed distinguishing epithets to mark out one carl from another. But as societies became more complex, and as such matters as the management of tenure and in particular the collection of taxes were delegated to special functionaries, it became imperative to have a more complex system of nomenclature to distinguish one individual from another reliably and unambiguously. At first the coat of arms was a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face, and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield, and embroidered on his surcoat, the draped and flowing garment worn over the armour.