This ancient English surname of ASHMOLE may represent a lost habitation name derived perhaps from an Old English personal na,e AESCHELM, composed of the elements AESC (ash) + HOLH (hollow) literally meaning the dweller at the settlement in the hollow near the ash trees. Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, a stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. Elias ASHMOLE (1617-92) was the English antiquary, born in Lichfield. He qualified as a lawyer in 1638 and subsequently combined work for the royalist cause with the study of mathematics, astrology and alchemy, entering Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1646 he became acquainted with other famous astrologers and in 1650 he edited a work of the astrologer John Dee to which he added a treatise of his own. In 1652 he issued his 'Theatrum Chymicum' and in 1672 his major work ' A History of the Order of the Garter'. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. In the Middle Ages the Herald (old French herault) was an officer whose duty it was to proclaim war or peace, carry challenges to battle and messages between sovereigns; nowadays war or peace is still proclaimed by the heralds, but their chief duty as court functionaries is to superintend state ceremonies, such as coronations, installations, and to grant arms. Edward III (1327-1377) appointed two heraldic kings-at-arms for south and north, England in 1340. The English College of Heralds was incorporated by Richard III in 1483-84. The associated coat of arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. Registered in Staffordshire.