OS1/19/4/1A

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 1A

Ordance Survey Office
Aberdeen.
15th Sept [September] 1863
Revd. [Reverend] Sir,
As there appears
to be some doubt regarding
the correct orthography of
your parish name, whether
it should be written with
or without the final "e", I
am constrained to request
your valuable assistance
in enabling me to arrive
at the correct mode of
spelling, and that which
you would recommend
to be written upon the
Ordnance plans of Scotland.
An early reply
upon the opposite margin
will greatly oblige
Yr. [Your] Most Obedt. Servt. [Obedient Servant]
Thomas Porteous Sergr. R E [Sergeant Royal Engineers]
pro Captn. [Captain] Courtney RE [Royal Engineers]

The Manse Benholm
17th Sept. [September] 1863.
Sir,
It has always seemed to
me preferable to spell the name
of this Parish without the final "e" &
I have uniformly done so for the follow
ing reasons:- 1st The last syllable
of the name is the Saxon word
"holm,"- meaning a flat piece of land,
which indeed was once . according to
the old fashioned mode, spelt "holme,"
but is now always by recognized modern
practice, spelt "holm" in recently ap
proved Dictionaries &c. 2nd: I find
that the names of all other places
in Scotland so ending, are uniformly
written without the final "e." Ex:
gr [Example grammar]:- Bartonholm, Denholm, Green
holm, Kirkholm, Longholm, Leithholm,
Smailholm, Springholm, Twynholm
Getholm.
It may be accounted by some more
venerable or aristocratic to spell
Benholm with the final "e," just as some
persons named Brown or Green
spell their names, Browne or Greene,
but predominant use is against
such an exceptional mode now of
spelling the name of this Parish.
I am, Sir
Your very obedt. Servt. [obedient Servant]
Alexander Smart Myers