This interesting surname with variant spellings Palfreeman, Palfreman, Palframan, Palphreyman, Parfrement, etc., is an occupational name for a man responsible for the maintenance and provision of saddle-horses, deriving from the Middle English "palfrey", Old French "palefrei" meaning "saddle-horse". The surname dates back to the late 13th Century (see below). Further recordings include John Palfreman (1333), Middle English Occupational Terms of Somerset, and John Palframan (1379), the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire. Church records show one Richard Palfreman who was christened on July 9th 1555 in St. Peter's Church, Cornhill, London, Michael, son of William Pallphreman who was christened on July 11th 1773, at Askhaw Richard, Yorkshire, and Edmund, son of Edmund and Mary Jane Palphramand, who was christened on January 19th 1862 in St. Cuthbert's, York. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John le Palfreyman, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1st, 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.

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