Loadsman

This unusual and interesting name, recorded in the surname spellings of Loader, Lodder, Loder, Loades, Loadsman, Loadman, etc, has two possible origins. The first of which is an Anglo-Saxon topographical name denoting someone who lived by a road or a watercourse. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "lad", itself derived from the verb "laedan", to lead, or to go. Where the word "lad" is an element of a placename it usually refers to a man-made drainage channel. The second possible origin is from the medieval occupational surname for a carrier or carter, derived from the Middle English "lode(n)" to carry or transport, derived from 'lad' as above influenced by "lade(n)", to load. Early examples of the surname recordings include Simon Le Lodere, in Warwickshire in the year 1332, and John ate Lode in Sussex in 1327. John Lademan appears in the Subsidy Rolls of York in 1301, whilst Annys Loadman, the daughter of Robert Loadman, was christened at the famous church of St. Botolph without Aldergate, London, on July 15th 1610. The original coat of arms granted in London, although of uncertain date, has the blazon of a silver field, a red pale, over all a black lion rampant. The crest is a red chapeau charged with two lions proper supporting a garb. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emma la Lodere, which was dated 1279, in the "Oxfordshire Hundred Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.