The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Vschere : or Le Huissier.^[103] This name, as Hostiarius, is three times found in Domesday. "Johannes Hostiarius" was a tenant in capite in Somerset; "Robertus Hostiarius" held a barony in Leicestershire; and "Willelmus Hostiarius," another in Devon and Notts. I can find no subsequent mention of the first of these barons; and of the second, Nichols only tells us, that "he was the son of William the Usher, and his lordships devolved to Roger de Busli." The third, William Ostiarius, "was seated at Bramcote and Trowell; his interest at the latter place came to Mortimer."—Thoroton's Notts. The first mention of the name as Usher is in the reign of King John, and belongs to an entirely different family. "James Ussher, the celebrated Archbishop of Armagh, was a son of A. Ussher, one of the six clerks in Chancery, descended from a branch of the Norman family of De Neville, which assumed the name of Le Uschere or Le Huissier, from the office of Ostiarius granted to them by King John. Of this family was the gallant Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher."—The Norman People.