FROM HILL, RIVER AND ROOF

Our surnames expert, Derek Palgrave finds links to places, occupations and nature in his research into this month’s selection of readers’ names.

- Derek Palgrave

REED

This is a very high-frequency surname, almost certainly derived from the ubiquitous waterside weed associated with rivers and lakes throughout the UK. There are well over a quarter of a million recorded instances.

Joseph Reed (1723-1787) was a dramatist who produced several plays in London theatres with indifferent success. Sir Thomas Reed (1796-1883), a general in the British Army, commanded forces in Punjab on the outbreak of the mutiny in 1857.

Sir Edward James Reed (1830-1906) was a naval architect and was Chief Constructor (1863-70) who designed and launched Bellerophon, on which he introduced the longitudinal and bracket frame system in 1865. He later designed ships for foreign navies. In 1884 he published ‘A Treatise on the Stability of Ships’.

General Sir Thomas Reed (1796-1883) was in command of forces in Punjab at the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857. Sir Herbert Stanley Reed (1872-1969) was a newspaper editor and politician in India, supporting Indian Independence.

Sir Carol Reed (1906-1976), film director, was educated at the King’s School Canterbury who directed his first film, ‘Midshipman Easy’ in 1935. Austin Leonard Reed (1873-1954) was the founder of clothier Austin Reed Ltd after having studied business methods in the United States. He became chairman of the Regent Street Association in 1927 and president of the City of London Trade Association and Master of the Glovers Company.