This interesting surname of Anglo-Saxon origin is a metonymic occupational name for a butcher or slaughterer, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "slyth" meaning "slaughter". The suffix "s" denotes "son of". Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation and later became hereditary. The surname dates back to the early 14th Century (see below). Further recordings include William le Sleghtere (Sleyter), (1327), the Subsidy Rolls of Essex, and William le Sleter (1327), the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex. Church records of the variants include Richard Slider who married Margarett Savage on May 23rd 1592 in St. Mary Abchurch, London, Johanna Slyder who married John Woode on November 30th 1616 at Edmonton, and Richard, son of Ricardi and Janae Slider who was christened on March 8th 1639 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Sleghtere, which was dated 1304, the "Feet of Fines of Essex", during the reign of King Edward 1st, "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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