This interesting surname is of English locational origin from either of two places thus called. Adderley in Shropshire, recorded as "Eldredelei" in the Domesday Book of 1086, derives from the Old English pre 7th Century female personal name "Ealdred" plus "leah" meaning a wood or a clearing. Adderley in Staffordshire, recorded as "Aldredeslega" in the 1130 Pipe Rolls, contains the male given name "Aldred" as its first element; hence "Aldred's wood or clearing". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). In the modern idiom the surname has many variant spellings including Aderly, Adersley, Adderly, etc.. On September 10th 1599, William Adderley and Marie Houshawe were married at St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Magdalene Milk Street, London and Elizabeth Adderley married Francis Barber at South Mimms, London, on April 9th 1604. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Addreleg, which was dated 1272, "Testa de Neville", Shropshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.

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