An Historical Account of the HAMER Surname
The name Hamer means a person from the manor of Hamer, a village which lies about 15 miles to
the north east of the city of Manchester, between the towns of Rochdale and
Littleborough. The village has now been swallowed by Rochdale but some signs of it still
exist, there is a Hamer village
post office, a Hamer social club and a few small businesses bearing the name. There is also a
residential street called Hamer Hall Road which marks the location of the the old manor hall which
was demolished towards the end of the 1800s.
The earliest record of the name is a John de Heymer Lord of the manor of Hamer dating from the
1190s in the reign of Richard I (Lionheart) which interestingly would indicate that the name or the title
do not appear in the Doomsday Book, the list of all properties and possessions in England,
commissioned by William I (The Conqueror) just over one hundred years earlier for the purpose of
raising taxes from the Saxon English people. John was then probably Norman but either came to
England a centuary after the Norman conquest in 1066 or only aquired the title at that later time.
I have found a reference from the late 1470s to a Hamer being cousin to the Edward who later
became the boy King Edward V who, along with his brother Richard was murdered in the Tower of
London by their uncle, Richard who then became Richard III.
Not all Hamers though are direct decendants of these men (though, the English Feudal System being
what it was, most of us still probably have a little of the their blood). the name also came to be used by
the Lord's servants, estate workers and tennant farmers etc. At that time the ordinary people did not
have surnames someone called Richard for example would specify which Richard he was by adding
the name of his Lord of the Manor ie. Richard of Hamer. Most of us are decended from them in which
case our origins are Saxon not Norman.
There is however another possibility. The nearest town to Rochdale is Oldham, now most place
names in England containing "ham" are saxon, ham being the saxon word for town. Oldham however
is an exception, it is based on the Viking word "hayme" which means a farm or homestead. I have
never read about that being a possible derivation of Hamer but it makes you think doesn't it ? This
area is far enough north to have been ruled by the vikings not the saxons.
Most Hamers remained in that general location until the mid 1700s, the time of the coming of the
Industrial Revolution which saw the move from agriculture and cottage industries to manufacturing.
The towns grew, the population increased rapidly and people including the Hamers moved around in
search of work. In this area manufacturing was mainly cotton based as we are blessed with the damp
atmosphere which is ideal for preventing cotton threads from breaking during mechanical spinning.
These days Hamers can be found in virtually every phone directory in the UK and of course, some of
them crossed the water to the (at that time) Colonies.
My 5Greats Grandfather was a Thomas but he was born in July 1691 and my 3 Greats Grandfather had a brother called Thomas but he was born in
June 1777.
Interestingly my 5Greats Grandfather was the last one to live in Rochdale moving some 15 miles to
Edenfield sometime before the birth of his son John in October 1738. My branch didn't go into
industry, they migrated north into the Lancashire countryside and remained as farmers until the early
1800s.
Andrew Hamer - February 2000
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