Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/499

 10 s. VIL MAY 25, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

411

liam Page in 200Z. for performance of covenants. Same date.

Fine for recovery of a messuage in Harrow Hill by William Page to John Warner and Elizabeth his wife at Westminster, in the Court in Michaelmas term 1553, before Ric. Morgan, Humf. Brown, and Edw. Saunders, Justices of the Queen's Bench.

Copy of will of Wyllyam Page, yeoman, of Uxenden, dated 12 Jan., 1558, wherein he bequeaths to each of his children, Kathe- rine, Dorothy, Mary, and Audrey, 40Z. ; to Katherine also his house and freehold land at Alperton ; to all his said daughters two beasts and a score of sheep, all on their attaining eighteen years, &c. ; and the residue of his goods to his wife Agnes Page, whom he makes executor.

Sale for 14.01. from Richard Nicoll, yeo- man, of Haywood Hill in Hendon parish, and Katheryne his wife, daughter and heir of the late William Page of Uxenden in Harrow-on-the-Hill parish, to John Lyon and Johan his wife, of a messuage in Alperton in Harrow parish, which the said W. P. bought of John Warner of Ilcleton, co. Cambridge, on 10 Aug., 6 Edw. VI. Dated 14 Oct., 1572.

Extract from roll of Court held at Harrow Hill Rectory by Dame Margaret Northe, widow, on 21 April, 1574, wherein Henry Page, son and heir of Thomas Page, is admitted to his father's lands.

Extract from roll of Court of Dame Margaret Northe, widow, held at Harrow Hill Rectory on 13 April, 1575, wherein John Lyon and Joan his wife are admitted to lands at Harrow Hill surrendered by Henry Page, son and heir of Thomas Page.

In 1628 Mr. John Page of Wembley bequeathed 201. to the school. The estate called Flambards, part of which is now represented by the Park and is the property of the school, was at the end of the eighteenth century in the hands of Mr. Richard Page of Wembley Park, a governor 1774-1803. He it was who began to build the present mansion, but he does not seem to have lived there at the end of his life. At his death it was bought by Lord Northwick. A de- scendant of the Page family was Deputy- Chamberlain of the Exchequer in 1634.

William Page, D.D. (1590-1663), Fellow of All Souls, a native of Harrow, was master of Reading Grammar School, a post he lost in 1644 through having joined the royal army (v. ' D.N.B.,' xliii. 44).

After the death of Joan Lyon (the founder's widow) in 1608 the present Old School began to be erected, a Mr. Thomas Page of Roxey

(Roxeth) being chosen as builder. See P. M. Thornton's ' Harrow School and its Surroundings ' and Messrs. E. W. Howson and G. Townsend Warner's ' Harrow School ' passim. A. R. BAYLEY.

"MATROSS": " TOPASS " (10 S. vii. 348). Every one who cares about Anglo- Indian terms should, without hesitation, acquire a copy of Yule's * Hobson-Jobson,' being " a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases," now in the second edition. " Matross " is explained fully, with four quotations ; " topass " likewise, with eigh- teen quotations. It is almost a pity to mutilate Yule's article ; but I give his definition of " topass " :

" A name used in the 17th and 18th centuries for dark-skinned or half-caste claimants of Portuguese descent, and Christian profession. Its application is generally, though not universally, to soldiers of this class."

There are some books of reference so extremely good that they require no recom- mendation beyond a mere statement of their existence. Yule's book is one of them. The etymology of " topass " is uncertain ; but Yule gives all that can well be said about it. WALTER W. SKEAT.

The etymology of " topass," an old name for half-caste soldiers, is somewhat doubtful. It is possible that it may be a corruption of Turkish top-ji, an artilleryman, a gunner. Having regard, however, to the fact that it was applied to Eurasians, it seems more likely to be from the Tamil and Malay alam word tupashi, or topdshi, which means an interpreter, literally a man of two tongues, i.e.. speaking both Portuguese and the ver- nacular. Some authors call these half- castes " Black Portuguese."

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

The use of " matross " in India was probably due to the Dutch, in whose language it meant a sailor. In the Com- pany's early days the terminology of the artillery was naval. The officer commanding the artillery at Fort St. George was the Gunner or the Chief Gunner ; other officers were gunner's mates ; the common room was the gun-room ; the men were termed " Matross." After 1760, when drafts from the R.A. were sent to the coast, the nomen- clature underwent a change ; there were sergeants, corporals, bombardiers, gunners, and matrosses (Duncan's ' History of the R.A.'), the matrosses being the general assistants in working a gun apprentices without skilled knowledge, but learning to be gunners.