Critcher - Name

This interesting and unusual name is an example of a form of surname - making usually peculiar to Kent and Sussex i.e. the addition of "er" to a name to indicate that a person lived in such a place, often a topographical feature, for example "Bridger" and "Brooker". In this instance "Critcher" means someone who lived at or near a cross from the Old English pre 7th century "cruc" Middle English "crouch". Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. Dialectal differences account for the change in spelling from "cro(u)" to "cri". James Critcher married Sarah Bliss Jolly on the 4th June, 1850, at St. Paul's, Bunhill Row, Finsbury in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Critcher m. Sarah Keene which was dated 15th July 1681, in All Hallows, London Wall during the reign of King Charles 11, known as "The Merry Monarch", 1660 - 1685 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.