Lamacraft

Originally recorded as Lamcroft and Lamecraft as shown below, this is an English locational surname. It almost certainly originates from a now 'lost' medieval village probably called Lambcroft and which derived from the words 'lamb' and 'croft', or literally the small sheep farm. In ancient times a croft was regarded as being an area of ground large enough to support a family or four. Whether this original sheep farm developed into a hamlet or village of the same name or whether it was never more than a sheep farm, is unknown, as is the original site. Some three thousand British surnames are known to originate from 'lost' sites, and this seems to be another example of the genre. What we do known is that the surname has been quite well recorded in the surviving registers of the diocese of Greater London from at least the time of King Charles 1st (1625 - 1649). Indeed it is possible that the nameholders as shown below, could even have been present in Whitehall, when that unhappy monarch met the axeman's blade on January 30th 1649. These early recordings show how the name spelling was uncertain even then, with Mary Lamcroft, the daughter of Michael and Mary Lamcroft, being christened at St James Clerkenwell on May 20th 1647, and her brother Christopher, but now called Lamecraft, also being christened at the same church on May 29th 1648. Two centuries later, John Lamacraft married Eliza Penny at St James Paddington, on September 9th 1838.