Readman

This long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and is an occupational name for someone who thatched cottages with reeds. The derivation is from the Middle English "red(yn)", to thatch with reeds, from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hreod", reed, with the addition of the agent suffix "-er". In its original sense "a man who has to do with", the "-er" designates persons according to their profession or occupation. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. In 1279, one Symon le Redere was noted in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk, and in 1420, William Redere was rector of Baldswell in Norfolk. A quotation from Blomefield and Parkin's "History of Norfolk" reads, "In 1512 John King, reder, was buried in the churchyard, and gave 20s. towards building St. Vaste's new porch", and in 1533, we are told that "the Reders, Thaxters and Rede-sellers" formed part of the Corpus Christi Guild Procession in Norwich. In the modern idiom the surname has three spelling variations: Reader, Reeder and Reder. On October 24th 1568, John Reeder and Grace Edwardis were married at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London. A Coat of Arms granted to the Reeder family is described thus: "Ermine, on a fess azure a leopard's face between two crescents or. Crest: A leopard's head azure, collared or." The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam le Redere, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", 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.