Notes on our Surname and its Variants

This article was researched and written by Ronald Merrylees of Hull, England, in 1981.
Ron was a stalwart of the Merrylees Family Association and attended the first International Gathering in Edinburgh in 1998.
He travelled extensively in his quest of family history and was always willing to share his findings with other members of the Merrilees Clan. Ron died of a stroke in September 2009, at the age of 87, after a long confinment in a resthome in Norfolk.

These notes have been compiled to consider the probable origin of the surname 'Merrylees' and to bring together various references to people and places with the name in one of its different forms such as Mureleyis, Merrilees and Mirrlees. A brief note on the general origin of fixed surnames in Scotland is given so that the origin of the particular surname may be better appreciated. The numbers in parenthesis in the text relate to the references used by the author and are available on request.

Ronald Merrylees

1. Fixed Surnames in Scotland
Fixed surnames appear to have been introduced gradually in Scotland from about 1100 AD onwards and initially mainly in the lowlands. In the Highlands, however, fixed surnames were not common until several centuries later. (1)
As in England the surnames were from nicknames (e.g. Wise), placenames (e.g. Glasgow), parent's names (such as 'Donaldson' or 'MacDonald') or from names of occupations (e.g. 'Smith' - the most common name in Scotland as well as in England).
When surnames were first being introduced those from place-names were frequently prefixed with the French "de" meaning "of" for "from". Examples of these may be found in the Calender of Documents relating to Scotland (2) in which there are references to Randulf de Merlay who in April 1247 had six manors in Northumberland, to Robert de Merley who in 1280 was a parson of Westerke, Roxburghshire and to Thomas de Moriley who in 1296 held lands in Brougtone and Alanburghe. The latter's name was spelled Thomas de Morylye in 1297 and Thomas de Moryly in 1298. The "de" was later dropped and the place-name simply became the surname.

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2. Origin of 'Merrylees'
According to Dr G.F. Black's excellent book 'The Surnames of Scotland: their origin, meaning and history' (1) the 'Merrylees' surname was originally a place-name and comes from "Merrilees the name of an estate and hamlet now merged in the estate of Binns, West Lothian". He states that in the Retours the place-name is spelled Mureleyis (1602), Murryleyis (1618) and Mirrieleyis (1683) and that there was a "Mureleyis in Renfrew (1604, Retours, 18)". (3)
(The Binns, map reference NT 060 780, 3.5 miles ENE of Linlithgow has been the home of the Dalyell family since 1612 but is now the property of the Scottish National Trust).
Dr Black may have been correct to reach his apparent conclusion that the surname came from the West Lothian 'Mureleyis' rather than from the Renfrew 'Mureleyis' but it would be necessary to trace back systematically through the lines of ancestry to the first persons who acquired the name to be sure of it in each case. It is possible that some families with this surname (or some variation of it) may have originally come from the Renfrew 'Mureleyis' and some from the West Lothian 'Mureleyis'. There were certainly a number of Merrylees/Merrilees families in both the Glasgow area and the Lothians area in the mid-19th century, which supports this argument.
In the Middle Ages there was no standard system of spelling and a different spelling simply based upon the sound of the name was used at different times for the same place-name or surname. Even writers of official documents were not consistent with their spelling in those days and the spelling of the two place-names referred to as 'Mureleyis' in the Retours in 1602 and 1604 changed over the years. References to these two places in royal charters and other documents in the 16th and 17th centuries included the spellings shown below:

From the above it may seem that the plural form of the name with 'is' on the end was used for the West Lothian place a considerable time before it was for the Renfrew place. (It was also used earlier as a surname (e.g. Thomas Mureleyis or Mureleis in 1533 – see later note). This indicates that the surname was most likely to have come from the 'Mureleyis' ( near Linlithgow) in West Lothian, as Dr Black concluded.
Although the Mureleyis in West Lothian no longer exists as a separate place the Mureleyis in Renfrew is almost certainly the same location as 'Merrylee' (Map Reference NS567599) which is now a district of Glasgow. In a number of early documents it was referred to at the same time as the 'landis of Newlandis, Tankartland (or Thankerland) and Langsyde' ... in the lordship of Cathcart. All these are now part of the Greater Glasgow area (Map references: Newlands NS570604, Langside NS575615).
The word 'Mureleyis' may have come from 'Mure' the Scottish word for 'moor' and from 'ley' meaning untilled land or land used for grazing. The 'is' was commonly added at the end of a word to form the plural (e.g. landis = lands). Thus the compound word may have meant something like 'the untilled lands near or on the moor.'

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3. References to Surname in 16th and 17th Centuries
In his book on surnames Dr Black referred to Thomas Mereleys or Mureleis who was permitted during the pest 'till cum into his awin house of the Mure' in Edinburgh and stated that he may be 'Thomas Mureleyis "dekin for the time of the Cordinare Craft" in Edinburgh 1533 (Guildry, p103). The same Thomas Mureleyis was also named in a royal charter (No. 1309 Ref. 4.1) dated 2nd October 1533, along with some of his brethren of the cordinare craft.
In the charter of 1533 the Edinburgh Cordinares had sought and were granted the privilege of taking 'ane penny ....' (tax) off all leather goods brought from other parts to be sold in Edinburgh. As 'dekin of the Cordinare Craft,' Thomas Mureleyis was the deacon or, in effect, the president of the incorporated craft or trade of cordinares in the city of Edinburgh. 'Cordinares' were workers in leather or 'cordwain.' Although the word 'cordinare' (or cordinar) was sometimes used to refer to a shoemaker it was used more to describe a skilled worker capable of producing a wide range of leather goods. (This is indicated in the 'Annals of Hawick' where it is recorded that in 1722 the 'Cordiners' petitioned the council to be incorporated and separated from the shoemakers of 'those who make single-soled shoes').
Other persons who were mentioned in official documents in the 16th and 17th centuries included Richard Mereleis who was 'expellit and banist' from Stirling in 1545 and Robert Mirrieleis (or Mirrielies) a messenger of Dalkeith who in January 1622 made a complaint to the Privy Council against one John Dick as a result of which John Dick was declared a rebel. (7) (8)

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4. Variants in Spelling of the Surname
The spelling of words, including surnames, continued to be inconsistent until the 19th century, though the sounds of the names remained almost the same. For example, in the old Parish Registers for Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire (now East Lothian) covering the period 1796 to 1835 the surname is spelled Mirrylies, Merrylies, Merrilees and Merrylees for the same family. (9) The name of this particular branch of the family appears to have settled into its present form of spelling (i.e. Merrylees) from about the time of the 1851 Census. No doubt the other variations in the spelling of the surname (e.g. Merrillees, Merrileas, Mirrlees) settled into their existing form also generally sometime in the 19th century.
It is surprising how many different ways there are of spelling the surname and, apart from those already mentioned, variants of the name found in official records include Merrielies, Mirrielees, Mireylees, Mirylees, Merrilies, Merillies, Merilee, Mirylus, Merilees, Merrlees and Merylees. No one form of spelling is more correct than another as the spelling adopted probably depended upon what the parish clerk wrote when he first heard the name.
From records searched, however, it appears that the most common form of spelling is 'Merrilees.' In the decade 1861 to 1870, for example, there were more than twice as many people born in Scotland named 'Merrilees' as those named 'Merrylees.'
Although it is not a common name, Merrilees and/or Merrylees families may now be found in countries outside of Britain including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A. When considering possible variants of the name in other countries, particularly in America, care is required to avoid any confusion between and variants of the Spanish names 'Morales' and 'Mireles.' To determine, for instance, whether 'Meriles' was a variant of 'Morales' or 'Merrilees' would need close checking through the lines of ancestry to see whether the name originated on Scotland or elsewhere. [DNA testing is also possible -Ed]

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5. Some 19th and 20th Century Persons
It is commonly thought that most families have a 'skeleton in the cupboard' somewhere and perhaps the Merrilees skeleton is one Andrew Merrilees who unfortunately during the body snatching era early in the 19th century became notorious in Edinburgh due to his involvement in 'the trade' and in particular because he sold the body of his dead sister to the anatomists. However, other persons with this surname became well known for their good work and mention is made of a few of them in the following notes.
George Merrylees (b. Prestonpans 1835, d. Gloucester 1908) was involved in the early development of the Co-operative movement in Scotland and became the first President of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society from its formation in 1868 until 1871. (10) He later founded the firm of Merrylees, Pugh & Co. in Gloucester.
Sir Frederick James Mirrielees KCMG (d. 1916) of Woking, but whose father was a native of Aberdeen, achieved prominence in the early part of this century after residing in Russia, Switzerland and Germany and becoming a linguist. (11)
Major-General William Henry Buchanan Mirrlees CB, DSO, MC (b. 1892, d. 1966) served with distinction in both world wars. (12)
William Merrilees OBE (b. 1898, d. 1984), the former Chief Constable of the Lothians and Peebles Constabulary and an outstanding citizen of Edinburgh is perhaps the best known 'Merrilees' in Scotland. He did much good work for charities in Scotland but first came to prominence for outstanding police work and was responsible for catching a German spy at Waverley Station in Edinburgh during the Second World War.(13)
Wee Willie Merrilees (PDF)
Other persons with a variant of this surname have included members of the architectural, engineering, legal and medical professions but for the most part have been ordinary people who have done their duty in time of need and quite a number gave their lives in both world wars.
MFA Roll of Honour

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6. A Place in England
There is no doubt that 'Merrylees' (and other forms of spelling the name) is a Scottish surname but there was also a 'Merrylees' mine in Leicestershire, England which was in operation from 1948 until it closed in 1969. This took its name from an adjacent hamlet called Merry Lees (Map Reference SK 470058) which is about 4 miles west of the city of Leicester. (NB: The name of the hamlet consists of two words, although these were combined for the name of the mine).

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7. References in Literature and Poetry
That romantic author, Sir Walter Scott, created the character 'Meg Merrilies the gipsy' in his novel 'Guy Mannering' which he wrote in 1814. Meg Merrilies became so well known that in 1831 one Highland firm went to the trouble of producing 'Meg Merrilees' tartan plaids for ladies wear despite the name being of Lowland origin. (14)
There seems to be no mention of a 'Merrilies' (or Merrilees or Merrylees) being a gipsy before that time but it would not have been surprising if there had been if vagrants were considered to be gipsies. In the eighteenth century Scotland had been a very poor country and early in the century when the population of Scotland was about 1 million there were about 200,000 vagrants. It is therefore possible that some of these vagrants could have been called Merrilies - or McDonald, or Campbell, or Smith - or nearly any other Scottish name.
At the time Scott wrote 'Guy Mannering' the head of the Prestonpans' family referred to earlier, Walter Merrylees or Mirrylies, was the village blacksmith in Prestonpans and his son, Thomas was an apprentice blacksmith.

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Meg Merrilies by John Keats (1795 - 1821)

Old Meg she was a Gipsy,
And liv'd upon the Moors,
Her bed it was the brown heath turf,
Her house was out of doors.
Her apples were swart blackberries,
Her currents, pods o' broom;
Her wine was dew of the wild white rose,
Her book a churchyard tomb.
Her Brothers were the craggy hills,
Her Sisters larchen trees:
Alone with her great family,
She liv'd as she did please.
No breakfast had she many a morn,
No dinner many a noon,
And, 'stead of supper, she would stare
Full hard against the Moon.
But every morn, of woodbine fresh
She made her garlanding,
And, every night, the dark glen Yew
She wove, and she would sing.
And with her fingers, old and brown,
She plaited Mats o' Rushes,
And gave them to the Cottagers
She met among the Bushes.
Old Meg was brave as Margaret Queen*
And tall as Amazon;
An old red blanket cloak she wore,
A chip hat had she on.
God rest her aged bones somewhere!
She died full long agone!

John Keats, the English poet, was told by his friend, Charles Brown about Meg Merrilies the gipsy in Scott's novel whilst they were on a walking tour of Scotland and used the character created by Scott for his peom which he wrote on 3rd July 1818 between Dalbeattie and Auchecairn in the Scottish lowlands.

The sketch below depicts Meg's malediction on the Laird from 'Guy Mannering'

Margaret Queen is Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI in Shakespeare's play, Richard III