The surname Roscoe is thought to originate from Lancashire. It is a habitual name derived from the Old Norse elements "ra" a roebuck plus "scogr" a copse or thicket - or deer forest. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). In the modern idiom the surname appears as Roscow and Roscoe. Current research identifies our line of the Yates family as originating around Bolton, Lancashire in the early 1700s.

The earliest known member of our Roscow line is Peter Roscoe born about 1710. However little is known of the Roscoe family before the migration to Australia of his great great grandson, David Yates

Biographies are available for the following members of the Roscoe line

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