3.The Border Hopes.
The first with the recorded surname of Hope in the Borders was Johan de Hope of Peeblesshire who signed the Ragman’s Roll in 1296 at Berwick. This roll, redolent in Scottish history, lists the Scots who swore fealty to King Edward I of England, as it turned out many with their fingers crossed behind their backs! Some writers give a second Hope namely Adam de Hepe from Roxburghshire but as stated earlier this is a different family and was from the area of Hepe (Heip) near Hawick. In earlier times it is possible that there was some crossover of the two names. It is a great loss that John Hope's seal on the roll has vanished. The date of 1296 predates the first Hope recorded in Edinburgh by 200 years!
In addition to Johan de Hope the Ragman’s Roll lists several Border names that include Hope, either as a prefix or suffix, usually the latter. These names include Johan le Squeir of Whyhope, Rauf de Egerhope, Constance de Kyphope, Robert de Waghope (Wauchope ?), Thomas Walghope, Elys de Obrinkel (Hopringle, later Hop-Pringle - see below), William de Birhope (Bowerhope) etc. In later documents of 1303 William de HopkeliouI (Hopkelzie) is listed and in 1321 Robert de Swynhope and in 1346 a Richard Swynhope are listed. These combined names had been around for some time in the Borders and over a fairly short period of time say during the first decades of the fourteenth century some of these names were shortened. This was accomplished where Hope was a prefix by dropping the Hope and where Hope was a suffix by dropping the first part and leaving the name of Hope. A very important example of this is Hopringle mentioned above showing the complete separation of the name is a Mariota De Hope Pringle who was born 1425 in Hoppringill Lauderdale and died at Borthwick Castle in 1473. She was the daughter of Thomas de Hope Pringle c1400. These changes probably happened after the arrival in the Borders of a Hope from England probably in the train of Edward I's army around 1290. This is the Johan de Hope of the Ragman’s Roll who must have been given lands in Peeblesshire by Edward in recognition of his support - he would have to be a landowner to be on the Roll. Many of the longer names have survived such as Hobkirk (Hopkirk), Hopewell. Wauchope etc. The common Borders name of of Waugh is an abreviation of Wauchope. Wauchope, I think, can be considered as a special case as this is the only name that includes hope included in the document "The Families of Scotland" written about 1672. Some names have survived in a form that was how the name was locally prounced - an example being Fawhope in the Teviot valley near Hawick which was pronouned Phaup and this has survived as a surname to the present day.
Apart from shortening of the name many were subject to being corrupted. George Black in his introduction to The Surnames of Scotland states that the "ingenious perversity of Lowland charter scribes, local pecularities of pronunciation were a fruitful source of corruption in the spelling of place names and surnames, e.g. Bauk for Bauchope, Marno for Marnock, Phaup for Fawhope, Pook for Pollock, Rook for Rollok, Wahaub for Wauchope, etc." One will note that of the six examples of corruption given by Black three include hope!
It is probable that Johan de Hope came from the lands of Hope in Flintshire in North Wales. (See next Section 4 - North Wales). The castle and lands of Hope at this time were extensive and apart from the parish of Hope (Yr Hob in Welsh) the lordship extended from the outskirts of Hawarden to the north of Wrexham. The Lordship was held at this time by Eleanor, beloved Queen of Edward I. It is recorded in 1297 that Edward ordered levies of men to be raised in Wales for the expedition in Scotland and one of the locations was Hope and adjoining lands of Inglefield and the Monte Alto valley - copy of extract from the records below.
Welsh archers were in Edward 1 army at all major battles with the Scots and were a very important aspect of his army. The use of the longbow was gradually being perfected by the English and reached its zenith at Agincourt. Johan de Hope was therefore maybe an archer.
Reverting to the Ragman's Roll and later records mentioned above. Apart from the Hopringle mentioned earkier is Hopkelzie when losing the prefix Hop would become Kelzie. In Scotland the letter z is silent hence the name would become Kellie. This is a surname that Black and others would lump together with Kelly. I think however that Kellie (Kello) is a Scottish Borders name in its own right. The lands of Hopkelzie are marked today by Kailzie Gardens the former grounds of Kailzie House - now demolished - just to the east of Peebles.
The Robert de Swynhope mentioned above is important . Firstly he was probably a descendant of John de Hope of Peeblesshire of the Ragman's Roll and secondly his inclusion in the record of 1321 reproduced below under item 724. Swynhope is represented today by the lands of Soonhope just east of the Peebles Hydro Hotel and not far,as the crow flies, to Kailzie Gardens. This document of 1321 is important as it gives a date to the process of evolution of the name Hope from a valley name - Swynhope - to the shortened version.
Robert is listed as one of the "Gentifs" and among the servants is Symon de la Hope who must be the squire of Robert. Apart from Robert and Symon there are other Peebles men there - John Barn, John de la Chambres (Chambers) Alein de Hey. The record states that the men are poor which is an euphemism for being landless. In this case they have undoubtably have been stripped of their lands by King Robert the Bruce for backing and receiving lands from Edward I. ie they were on the wrong side during the First War of Independence. Unfortunately no land charters survive for the Sywnhope lands until the sixteenth century when the Hays of Smithfield owned the land. Fortuitously Swynhope (The valley of the Swine) appears in the origins of another family namely the Border family of Kerr (Marquis of Lothian). In their records the first Kerr to be recorded in Scottish history c1200 was John Kerr of Swynhope who was a hunter. Also according to Kerr history the lands of Swynhope at that time was on the "de Bruys" estates. Hence when King Robert the Bruce stripped Robert Swynhope of his lands he was, in his own eyes at least, recovering his own family lands.
There was a Richard Swynhope who in 1346 was a clerk in Roxburgh. This surname of Swynhope was missed by Black.
The change of the Peebles name of Swynhope to Soonhope must have gradually taken place sometime in the middle of the eighteenth century. In a birth entry in the Peebles records of a Jean Cairns in 1761 shows that her father Robert Cairns was a Miller at Swine Hope Mill - her mother was concidently a Hope - Anne Hope! (Ann is included in the family tree of the descendants of James Hope and Agnes Hatly on the Hopes of Traquair page of this site.) I don't suppose that Ann Hope appreciated that her own Surname probably had its origin in Swynhope. Edgar's map of 1742 shows Soonhope M on the Soonhope burn a short distance from its confluence with the River Tweed. Also Armstrong's map of 1775 also shows it spelt Soonhope.
So far the origin of the Hope name has been centred on what was called the Central March of the Borders but there were Hopes in the Eastern and Western Marches in the later records of the fifteenth/sixteenth centuries. A selection of examples follow :-In the records of Berwick there are frequent mentions of a messenger in 1571 variously known as Tom Hope, Thome Hope or Thomas Houip who carried important messages, including royal messages between Berwick and Edinburgh. There was also a William Hope in 1594 who was a messenger on the Berwick-Edinburgh route. - son of Tom? In 1567 there was a John Hope who was a tenant farmer in the lands of Kelso Abbey. A selection of Western March records follow:- in Eskdale in 1459 an Alexandri de le Hop and in Dumfriesshire in 1465 a Stephano Hop appear in the Exchequer Rolls. In 1541 an Adam and William Hope were witnesses in Parton and in 1593 there was another Thomas Houppe who was robbed of eight horses at Burnmouth near Drumlanrig - the felon was a Reiver known as Jock of the Peartree. The name Hope here could have drifted across the Borders from the Central March area but the proximity of Dumfriesshire to the English Border and a main entry point in to Scotland would suggest that the name possibly came in direct from England particularly as the valley names of the Central March are not found in this area. Edward Is army did pass this way on occasions particularly when Caerlaverock Castle was being beseiged during 1300 hence there is the possibility of a second or even further levies from North Wales named Hope coming this way and staying in the country. In fact Edward in July 1307- known to his own people as "Longshanks" because of his commanding height, but more familiarly to us Scots as "Hammer of the Scots" - breathed his last at Burgh-le-Sands beside the salt marsh of the Solway estuary in Cumbria, a few miles short of the Scottish border, preparing yet again for another incursion into Scotland.
The surname Hope is just as common in the English Border Counties as well as the Scottish hence their origin here must be interwoven with that of the Scottish Border Hopes. The Border Hopes on both sides must have been involved in the "Reiving Times" of the Fourteenth-Sixteenth centuries and hence at times sadly must have been in conflict with each other.
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