HISTORY OF THE RIPPER SURNAME

Beauripper - Beaurepayre - Ripper - Repper - Rypper - Ripp - Riper - Rippere

Our Ripper family are Cornish. The surname is seen in various forms. Repper and Ripper are the most common but other variants, with a phonetic spelling, such as those shown above have been noted. Many people did not have surnames before about 1500. This was not an essential attribute for farm workers and general labourers such as the progenitors of the Ripper family who did not need much formal or legal identification.

We have traced family roots back to 1480 when they lived at Chyvarloe in the parish of Gunwalloe in the County of Cornwall. Half a kilometre downhill from Chyvarloe is the ancient, but surviving, hamlet of Berepper. According to a 17 sheet Court Roll in The National Archives from the reign of Richard II, dated between 1388 and 1390, the Stannary Courts for Penwith and Kerrier were held in various places, at least one of which was held at "Beaurepayre".

Last names had many sources but can be put into four groups: patronymic, locative, occupational or status, and nicknames. Living in or near Berepper it is not surprising that the locative surname was adopted for the family. Standard texts on the history of place names suggests that the place name may be old French for "beautiful place unto which to retire"; a rough translation of "beau" and "repair" lends weight to this suggestion. Berepper certainly is just as described. The parish church is the renowned church of St Winwallow on the beach at Gunwalloe. This is where family members would have worshipped, been baptised, married and buried; such events predate surviving records.

The 16th-century tax returns and muster rolls for West Cornwall reveal a population where a high number bore surnames that were derived from places in the parishes where they lived. For instance, in the 1569 Muster Roll for Stithians, 37% of those listed bore a surname derived from a place in the parish; this amounts to 19 names but by the time of the Protestation Return of 1641/2, only five are to be found and, later, only two by 1660. Some of this can be explained by population movement, but it is clear that surname changes were also of significant.

Most farms at the period were held on leases; the commonest form was a three-life lease, where the lease ran for three nominated lives, or 99 years, whichever was the shortest period. Commonly the lives were those of the farmer, his wife and one of their children. A 16th century farmer might therefore be born and grow up on one farm, and then move to another when he grew up, possibly moving again to a larger one if he was a successful farmer; at each stage it is possible he was known by a different surname.

Some family members living in Breage had an alternative surname as can be seen with John Ripper or Crohall or Cariohall (meaning "of Crawle"), merely demonstrating the as yet unrefined rules for the growth and use of surnames. Breage is recognised by historians knowledgeable in Cornish history as being a community in which the use of aliases was more prevalent than in most. The record of an alternative surname as a device to differentiate one branch of the family from another has proved to be extremely useful when tracing the family's roots.

You can read more about the historical and geographical context.

The Earliest Known Ripper family in Cornwall

The earliest known member of the family is Richard Beauripper who was born probably about 1450 and lived in the hamlet of Chyvarloe in the parish of Gunwalloe in Cornwall. Richard Beauripper was a reeve on the Carminow Manor, one of the manors of the influential Arundell family. Carminow is a manor with widespread locations, which includes parts of the parish of Gunwalloe and parts of the parish of Breage. The fifteenth century manor court rolls record a place named Beauripper in Gunwalloe parish. This place can still be found, now spelt as Berepper, a small village half a mile south of Chyvarloe.

It is almost certain that the surname had changed from Beauripper to Ripper or Repper after the family had left Gunwalloe and moved to Breage in the period 1480 to 1543. The records in Gunwalloe and Breage which will identify firm relationships in this family during the 1400s and 1500s are scant and many issues are unlikely to be resolved from this distance in time. From 1560 onwards there are many entries of baptisms, marriages and burials of Ripper/Repper family members, indicating the presence of the family in Breage from 1540 onwards, and potentially even earlier. The family derived income from farming and mining. Their early interest was as farmers at Crawle. The earliest known date for their residence on Crawle is 1543.

By 1543 the family had moved to the nearby parish of Breage. It would seem from the available records that the "Beau" part of the names dropped around this time and the surname became a version of Ripper. At this time Cornwall was divided into Manors which were controlled by Lords and the move from Gunwalloe to Breage was within the same Manor of Carminow. The Lords of this and other manors were the Arundell family, at whose behest the move would have been ordered or sanctioned. In the next 300 years they lived in many places in the parish but notably at Ruthdower, Crawle or Crohall, Trenwheal, Trew and in the main village centre of Breage, known as Churchtown.

Studies by Stoate have shown that Cornish households in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries predominantly provided homes for families of about eight people. It is reasonable to expect that these would frequently be extended families of three generations.

Establishing relationships has been supported in some instances by the use of aliases. Some incumbents of the parish of Breage, when recording baptisms, marriages and burials of their flock have helpfully identified them by using place names or other family names as aliases. There are records which show the use of the surname Ripper and an alias, but some which just show the alias as the surname. For instance Edward Ripper or Crohall is a reasonable indication that Edward Ripper lived at Crawle. In the Poll Tax returns of 1660 we find two entries which read "Edward Ripper and wife". One Edward is recorded as living at Crawle, the other at Trescawe. This use of aliases has been critical to the construction of this family tree. The Crohall/Crawle alias has been used over 6 generations of the descendants of John and Janet Ripper.

There are also naming patterns for children to which many of the families conform. A first son is frequently named after the father of the child, a second son after the paternal grandfather, a first daughter after the mother etcetera. This has also been useful in reasoning the correct lineage of family members. The relationships for the first generation have been reasoned in the following manner:

• There appear to be eight Rippers who were born in the mid 1500s with proven marriages from whom the current families descend.

• It has been assumed that these are all descendants of Richard Beauripper and all of the same generation as the marriage dates identified are in a narrow range from about 1560 to 1578.

• The naming patterns provide an indication of relationships.

• It is not reasonable to link them all as siblings (bearing in mind the levels of infant mortality at the time), but their surnames are all variants of Ripper with life events in Breage.

• Dividing the family group into parts would be reasonable

• Whilst large families are not uncommon, family sizes of two or three surviving children are more the norm than eight surviving breeding children at this time

The Three Sons

As the family developed William's (born about 1505) branch stayed at their homestead at Crawle whilst other branches may have moved to other parts of Breage.

• William (born about 1505) had two sons. William, the eldest son, took over the mill at Ruthdower in 1577; John the youngest remained on Crawle. Both sons are mentioned as miners of Polladras mine in 1584 on the toll tin accounts prepared in 1590. The families are also mentioned in land leases as well as in wills which record the passing of estate from one generation to another. As well as the content of these documents and the aliases, the relative prosperity of the families has been useful in establishing relationships. It is from this branch of the family that many Australian and American members of the family are primarily descended.

• Richard’s descendants have branches that left Breage and settled in nearby Helston amongst other places. Some London based members of the family come down this line. Whereas William’s family are largely farmers, this branch had many artisans who make shoes, cut hair etc. This is the line which leads, ultimately to Ken Ripper, author of this website.

• John’s descendants stayed in the Breage area for many years and provided miners for the many tin and copper mines in the area. Many then moved to Stithians, Perranzabuloe and Cubert in Cornwall where farming also featured in their list of occupations.

During our research into the Ripper family we have encountered other families with which our own family have a connection. These connections are invariably as a result of a marriage by a member of the Ripper family. On occasions it has been necessary to research into these families more than we had expected to do, so that we can better understand our own. Links to the respective family trees can be found on the Families page.

During our research into the Ripper family we have encountered other families with which our own family has an association. These connections are invariably as a result of a marriage by a member of the Ripper family. On occasions it has been necessary to research into these families more than we had expected to do, so that we can better understand our own. Links to the respective family trees can be found on the Families page.

The Ripper family in London and Middlesex

The majority of people named Ripper who were based in London before the start of the 19th century have not been found to have a connection with either the Cornish or East Anglian Ripper families. The International Genealogical Index (IGI) has a list of baptisms and marriages of London Rippers dating from the beginning of the 1700s. London was a much smaller place at the time as can be seen from a contemporary map. The earliest known surviving record is the baptism on 23 October 1612 of Mary Ripper, the daughter of George Ripper, at St Margaret's in Westminster.

The IGI records that over the ensuing centuries other Ripper family members are baptised in London and Middlesex. Using these records we have attempted to create families based upon geography and dates, largely to determine who may link back to our own family. We have, therefore, deduced that there are likely to be at least two Ripper families present in London. We have notionally named the head of each of the two primary families as LondonA Ripper and LondonB Ripper.

The people are shown on the family tree along with their primary vital details, where known, and associated surnames. These trees are the result of deduction based upon IGI entries and a small amount of research. They should be regarded as a starting point for further research and not the basis for proven connections. We have biographical details on some family members and are happy to share this with people researching their London Ripper roots.

• LondonA RIPPER Family Tree

• LondonB RIPPER Family Tree

The Ripper family in Eastern England

There is also a substantial Ripper family which originates from East Anglia. We have some detailed knowledge of this family based upon research undertaken by members of that family with whom we have contact. Please let us know if you wish to be put in touch with them. Their research will be significantly better than what you can see here. As we have assembled this family largely to identify Rippers who would not appear on our family tree, please only use our report as the basis for an introduction to the family.

• East Anglian RIPPER Family Tree

The Ripper family in Germany

There is a significant German family which also glories in the name Ripper. The following was received in January 2001 from Lynn Ripper who is of German Ripper descent.

“My Ripper ancestors (in fact most all of my German ancestors) came from the Odenwald region in the German state of Hesse. They settled in Tazewell County in Illinois. Some members of these families moved on to Wayne County in Iowa and Cass County in Nebraska. Their descendants have settled all over the United States but they can all trace their ancestors to the above named areas. My wife and I currently live in Edwardsville, Illinois which is near St. Louis, Missouri.
"Our earliest known Ripper ancestor is Georg Ripper who was born about 1545 in Schönnen bei Erbach im Odenwald. Georg had at least one son, Hanß Ripper, who had three wives each named Catharina. I am descended from each of the first two marriages.”