Endley

This interesting and unusual name is of Medieval English origin and is locational from a so called "lost" village called Endle, likely to have been situated in Devon. This is suggested by the fact that both Endleight (Endley being a dialectal variant of this) and Endle are prevelent in Devon. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century "ende", end with "leah", a clearing or grove, and may also be a topographical surname for a dweller at the grove end. The phenomenon of the "lost" village was a result of enforced land clearance to make way for sheep pasture, during the 12th and 13th Centuries, and people leaving these places would often adopt the village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. John Endly was christened on January 24th 1674 at St. Clement, Dartmouth and Christopher Endley on July 8th 1791 at Clitheroe, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Margaret Endleigh, which was dated January 30th 1579, in "Otherton", Devon, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.