This name is of English locational origin from a place thus called in Warwickshire. The place name is first recorded as Hlodbroc in "The Crawford Collection of Early Charters" A.D. 998 and as Lodbroc in the Domesday Book of 1086. The first element derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hlod" meaning "lot", plus "broc", a stream. The meaning is therefore taken to mean, "a stream used for the purpose of drawing lots of divining the future". The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century. In 1618, one, Robert Ladbrooke of Warwickshire is entered in "The Oxford University Register". An interesting name bearer was Robert Ladbrooke (1768 - 1842) a landscape painter (chiefly Norfolk scenery) who helped establish the celebrated Norwich Society of Artists. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Lodbroc. which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Warwickshire. during the reign of King Edward 1, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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.