This name is of English locational origin from a township called Battersby in the parish of Ingleby Greenhaw, the North Riding of Yorkshire recorded variously as Baderesbi in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Baderesby in "The Curia Rolls of Yorkshire", dated 1203, and as Batheresby in the 1240 Fine Court Rolls of that county, the first element is the genitive case of the Old Norse personal name Bothvarr (a compound of "both", messenger, and "var", guard), plus the Old Norse "byr", a settlement, hence, "the byr of Bothvarr". The surname was first recorded in the latter part of the 14th Century, (see below). Locational names were originally given to the Lord of the Manor or as a means of identification to those who left their place of birth to seek work elsewhere. On April 2nd 1589, Elizabeth Batterbee was christened in Gnosall, Staffordshire, and on September 28th 1760, one, Elizabeth Batterbee was christened in St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rogerus de Bathersby, which was dated 1379 - "The Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Richard 11, "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. 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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