Baskerville (surname)
Baskerville is an English surname of Anglo-Norman origin. It is believed to have been used by Norman invaders from Bacqueville in Normandy, many of whom settled along the English-Welsh border.
At the time of the British Census of 1881, its relative frequency was highest in Herefordshire, followed by Cheshire, Devon, Radnorshire, Oxfordshire, Brecknockshire, Cornwall, Wigtownshire, Carmarthenshire and Staffordshire. It has also been corrupted to Basketfield in some families.
The name Baskerville may refer to:
- Albert Henry Baskerville, a New Zealand pioneer of rugby league football
- Charles Baskerville, American chemist
- Charles Baskerville, American painter, son of the above
- Howard Baskerville, an American missionary, revered as the "American Lafayette" in Iran
- Sir John Baskerville, a Royalist during the English Civil Wars
- John Baskerville, typographer
- John David Baskerville, a Canadian politician
- Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, an American social worker and activist
- Ralph de Baskerville, son of Robert de Basqueville who held Eardisley Castle in Herefordshire
Fiction
- William of Baskerville, a fictional character in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- In The Hound of the Baskervilles Conan Doyle suggests the family are of Irish descent. Sir Henry Baskerville has 'the rounded head of the Celt which carries inside it a Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment'.
