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I checked “A Dictionary of British Surnames,” by P.H. Reaney, 2nd edition, published 1976. On page 285, PURKIS is treated under the main entry PURCHAS, from the Old French word purchas meaning "pursuit, pillage." But the name was used for a messenger.

Information about the progenitor of the family and a different meaning of the surname appear on page 279 of “A Dictionary of Surnames” by Mark Antony Lower, published 1988 (first published in 1860 as “A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom”).

Reg Niles