Frodsham

This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from a market-town and parish thus called, north east of Chester in Cheshire. Recorded as "Frotesham" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Frodesham" circa 1100, in the Chartulary of the Abbey of St. Werburgh, Chester, the place has as its initial element the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname "Frod(a)", cognate with the Olde orse "Frodi", wise, prudent, plus the Olde English "ham", homestead; hence "Frod's homestead". Locational surnames were originally given to local landowners, and especially to those former inhabitants who left their place of origin to live and work in another area. Adjoining parishes having the same component elements are Frodsham Bridge, east of Frodsham, and Frodsham Lordship in West Cheshire. In 1595 Robert Frodsome and Anne Smythe were noted in the Marriage Licence Records of London, and in 1606, one Margaret Frodsham of Eccleston was entered in the Wills Records of Chester. On May 13th 1606 Mary Frodsham and Jo Rutter were married in Frodsham, Cheshire. A notable bearer of the name was Bridge Frodsham (1734 - 1768), the actor, known as the "York Garrick". His Hamlet was considered by the critics of the day to be second only to that of Garrick and Barry. A Coat of Arms granted to the Frodsham family of Elton, Cheshire, is a silver shield with five gold estoiles on a cross engrailed sable. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward Frodesham of Elton, which was dated 1548, in the "Records of East Cheshire", during the reign of Edward V1, known as "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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.