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Sussex
THE NAME BISHOPP
 The surname Bishop was widespread in Sussex during the 13th century, when surnames were just
starting to be hereditary. It must have originated as a nickname, perhaps for someone with what his
friends thought was an episcopal manner
 In the 17th century surnames might be spelled irregularly even within the same family, though that
became less true in the 18th century
 The Bishopps of Parham seem to have settled on a spelling with an extra ‘p’ in the 17th century
 Kimber’s Baronetage, published in 1771, used the spelling Bishopp
 Soon afterwards the family started adding an extra ‘s’ in the middle of their name, calling themselves
Bisshopp. The culprit was probably Sir Cecil, the 8th baronet, who succeeded in 1779
 After his death in 1828 Parham passed to the Curzons through a daughter of the 8th baronet, but the
baronetcy went to his cousin George, the archdeacon of Aghadoe (co. Kerry), and that branch of the
family kept the spelling Bisshopp until they, too, died out in the male line in 1870
 In 1881 there were about 20,000 people in Great Britain called Bishop, about 200 called Bishopp,
and about 20 called Bisshopp
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