Publications
Genealogical Memoir of the Family of Scrace, by Mark Antony Lower, F.S.A., published 1856 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 8, article, pp.1-16) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2093] & The Keep [LIB/500227] & S.A.S. library View Online
The Scrace Family, by Mark Antony Lower, published 1865 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 17, notes & queries, p.248) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2102] & The Keep [LIB/500236] & S.A.S. library View Online
Family of Scrase, by Mark Antony Lower, published 1875 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 26, article, p.268) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2111] & The Keep [LIB/500244] & S.A.S. library View Online
Some Sussex and Surrey Scrases, by Leslie Scrase, published 1987 (published by the author, ISBN-10: 0951280805 & ISBN-13: 9780951280805) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12249] & The Keep [LIB/509252] & West Sussex Libraries
Early Scrases, by Tony Scrase, published September 2008 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 3, article, pp.132-137) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508970] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:The origins and meaning of the name SCRASE are obscure. This occasioned a good deal of antiquarian speculation in the 19th century. In 1835 Horsfield in his History of Sussex claimed that the earliest reference was to a sheriff of the county for the period 1282-4. Next Lower published a paper on the family in 1854. He pointed out that the sheriff's name was usually given as Nicholas de GRAS and that Horsfield gave no reasons for his identification. He also called attention to the name CRAS which appeared in Sussex records from 1280 to 1320. He continued 'it is not at all improbable, however, that the names variously written as de GRAS, le GRAS and CRAS may have been identical, and that the more modem SCRAS or SCRASE is a corruption or modification of it.' Subsequently, Lower produced another suggestion. This built on the family tradition recorded in the Heraldic Visitation of 1634 that the family came from Denmark and held land in Sussex before and at the time of the Conquest. He therefore linked the name to a Danish word Skraas.
Scrases and the drinks industry, by Tony Scrase, published June 2009 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 6, article, pp.306-310) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508973] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:The inspiration for this piece was two old-fashioned stoneware bottles. The first carries the inscription Scrase & Co, Horsham, Ginger Beer. My branch of the family has known of such bottles for many years and members have collected examples that are now spread from East Anglia to Manitoba. My late brother's research had also revealed that another family member (an uncle of the proprietor of the ginger beer company) operated as a brewer around Burgess Hill in the 1870s. My son discovered the second bottle while working in the Southampton area. It is inscribed Scrase's Brewery Ltd, Southampton. This raised questions as to whether the operations were related. Such questions became more intricate when an web search revealed a further Scrase's Brewery near Lamplough, Victoria. Australia. Furthermore, the proprietors of this were either called Scrase & Co or Scrase Bros.
Further information on Scrases and the drinks industry, by Tony Scrase, published June 2010 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 2, article, pp.80-81) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508843] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:Since my last piece on this topic appeared in the Sussex Family Historian in June 2009, additional information has come to light. This has been due to a helpful response I received from a reader of the piece; my son's further sites for bottles and related memorabilia particularly on eBay; and my own realisation that one had to try a wide variety of spellings or misspellings of SCRASE in searching electronic databases, thus while I had used familiar misreadings such as SERASE I had not previous attempted such an apparently unrelated form as SOROSE.
War Horse and the Survival of a Generation of Scrases, by Tony Scrase, published September 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 3, article, pp.136-139) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508852] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:The popularity of successively the novel, play and film War Horse and the various pieces it inspired, most notably the Channel 4 documentary War Horse: The True Story, suggested a partial answer to something that had always puzzled me.
My great-grandfather, Alfred SCRASE, had a long obituary in the Mid-Sussex Times of January 1925. While it stressed his public service in the Burgess Hill Local Board, the Urban District Council, the local board of guardians and rural sanitary authority, it treated as equally significant the fact that he had had six sons, four grandsons and three sons-in-law serving in World War I. The striking thing was that all 13 had survived the War. This defies the normal odds although it does not mean that all came through unscathed. One son, Alfred, junior, was severely wounded and most tragically the oldest grandson, Alfred Thomas Daynes SCRASE, was such an extreme case of 'shell-shock' that he spent the rest of his life in a nursing home (and he lived until 1977).
The Channel 4 documentary stressed that many of those who handled horses, driving two-horse wagons or leading packhorses up to the front, were town dwellers without previous experience. This was inevitable given the distribution of population and occupations by 1914 but it is also true that more skill was needed for veterinary care of horses and for handling larger teams of 4 or more horses initially used to haul heavier loads behind the line and move the artillery. These areas were appropriate for farmers' sons and it certainly influenced the fortunes of Alfred's sons (my grandfather's generation). However, it will become apparent that other factors were at work. One can be mentioned now. The family had become affected by the patriotism and militarism of the Imperial era. In 1914 Alfred's sons included an ex-soldier, a serving regular soldier and a member of the Territorial Army. This was to influence individual fortunes.
My great-grandfather, Alfred SCRASE, had a long obituary in the Mid-Sussex Times of January 1925. While it stressed his public service in the Burgess Hill Local Board, the Urban District Council, the local board of guardians and rural sanitary authority, it treated as equally significant the fact that he had had six sons, four grandsons and three sons-in-law serving in World War I. The striking thing was that all 13 had survived the War. This defies the normal odds although it does not mean that all came through unscathed. One son, Alfred, junior, was severely wounded and most tragically the oldest grandson, Alfred Thomas Daynes SCRASE, was such an extreme case of 'shell-shock' that he spent the rest of his life in a nursing home (and he lived until 1977).
The Channel 4 documentary stressed that many of those who handled horses, driving two-horse wagons or leading packhorses up to the front, were town dwellers without previous experience. This was inevitable given the distribution of population and occupations by 1914 but it is also true that more skill was needed for veterinary care of horses and for handling larger teams of 4 or more horses initially used to haul heavier loads behind the line and move the artillery. These areas were appropriate for farmers' sons and it certainly influenced the fortunes of Alfred's sons (my grandfather's generation). However, it will become apparent that other factors were at work. One can be mentioned now. The family had become affected by the patriotism and militarism of the Imperial era. In 1914 Alfred's sons included an ex-soldier, a serving regular soldier and a member of the Territorial Army. This was to influence individual fortunes.
The Scrase Family: The Quaker Connection, by Tony Scrase, published December 2013 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 8, article, pp.354-359) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508979] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.
Preview:It is simplest to begin with Lower's 'Genealogical Memoir of the Family of SCRASE' as this is what will confront anybody attempting an online search. This is despite it now being over 150 years old and the fact that his family tree has been corrected and refined by Comber's Sussex Genealogies. Also much more recent research is available. Towards the end of his piece Lower mentions that some 17th century SCRASEs left the Established Church. He then cites the will of Walter SCRASE who was obviously a Quaker but states that he cannot connect Walter with his pedigree for the SCRASEs of West Blatchington. This is rather surprising as the two persons benefiting can be found in his family trees. When he returned to the SCRASEs more briefly in his 'Notes on old Sussex families' he is clearer writing 'after the Reformation tire SCRASEs adhered to the Roman Catholic faith. Afterwards they became Protestants and Quakers - a singular revulsion, not unknown in our own times - and at length members of the Church of England'.