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The question has often been asked 'where does the name of Scrope come from in our family?' The name first appeared with the children of Zachariah Shrapnel and Lydia Needham who married in 1753 at Colerne in Wilts. Lydia's grandmother was Helena Scrope who married John Clark of Hilperton, Wilts. They produced Lydia Clark who married Joseph Needham and were Lydia Needham's parents who then, of course, married Zachariah Shrapnel.
Although the Scrope connection was tenuous and two generations away from the Shrapnels, It is supposed that Lydia and Zachariah wished to associate their descendants with the heavily titled Scrope family which was so prominent in the 1700s. So to this day one can reasonably assume that the many Shrapnels who also bear the name Scrope are descended from Zachariah and Lydia.
The one prominent member of the family who seemed to ignore this tradition at least for himself was The General. There are documents and letters written and signed by him including his will but one has yet to emerge where he wrote the name Scrope. The name, of course, appears on his memorial plaque, which was written by his family, but they got his date of death wrong by SEVEN years (1849 instead of 1842) anyway!
The General and his wife, of course, named three of their children with the name Scrope and one of those also as Needham. The name Needham has been used on six occasions as far as I am aware. Odd that the source of this name was a misnomer because Rev Joseph Needham (who married Lydia Clark - see above) was not of the Needham family. He was born plain John Need, son of William Need. However, when he went to Cambridge University he changed his name to Joseph Needham. This is recorded in the University archives but there is no reason given for the change. |
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WHY THE NAME SCROPE and NEEDHAM? |
