Calderbank

This is an English topographic name for someone who lived on the bank of one of the rivers Calder, which are in Cumbria, Lancashire and West Yorkshire. The river got its name ultimately from the Welsh 'caled', harsh or violent, and 'dwfr' stream. The element of 'bank' in the surname is from Middle English 'banke', from the Old Norse 'bakke'. Leonard Calderbank (1809-1864), was a Roman Catholic priest and canon of Clifton. Educated in England and in Rome, he was a missioner in the West of England from 1833, and vice-president and professor at Prior Park, Bath, 1849-50. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Miriam Calderbanke which was dated Christened January 1581 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Good Queen Bess 1558-1603. 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.