Sambidge

This unusual surname which is found in a number of variant spellings, is locational, the question is from where? There is no such place as 'Sambidge' nor in fact anything quite like it, and this indicates that the original 'hamlet' is one of the many thousands which have totally disappeared since the Middle Ages. The 'modern' spelling suggests that the original place was probably called 'Sandy Ridge' or similar, although it is just possible that it may be a dialectal corruption of the Cheshire village 'Sandbach' or the Yorkshire 'Sandbeck'. What is certain is that the surname was prominently recorded in London from the mid 17th century, another indication that the original village was probably evacuated 'en masse' by the inhabitants possibly as a result of plague, civil war, or agricultural enclosure, and the loss of their original grazing rights. In their new home they would have been given as their surname, the name of their former village but a combination of heavy dialect and indifferent spelling even amongst the clerics, were major factors in the 'creation' of surnames, and Sambidge, also found as Sambatch, Sambeck, Sambiedge, etc, would seem to be an excellent example. Early recordings include Margaret Sambidge who married Charles White at the famous church of St Mary-Le-Bone, on September 8th 1674, and Jane Sambatch who married Thomas Allington at St Mary Magdalene, also London, on the eleventh of September 1716, in the first year of the reign of George 1st of Hanover. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Sambidge, which was dated August 27th 1649, a witness at St Olaves Church, Southwark, during the reign of 'The Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell', 1649 - 1660. 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.