Recorded as Lamsdale, Lamsdail, Lumsdale, Lumsdall and others, this is an English surname. It is locational from a place called Lumsdale near the small town of Matlock in the county of Derbyshire. The place name and hence the later surname is believed to derive from the Norse words "lundr" meaning a grove or wood, and "dael" a steep sided valley. Certainly the Peak District of Derbyshire which surrounds this area, would find no more suitable surname, the whole area being a mass of valleys and dales. Locational surnames are however "from" names. These were surnames given as easy identification to people who had left their original homes to move somewhere else. This could be the next village, but more often than not it seems to have involved a real pilgrimage. This was what must have seen to be almost endless jouney, walking with their few possessions, to the city of London, whose streets were by tradition "paved with gold". Certainly this surname is well recorded in London area. Early examples being those of Alexander Lumsdell at St Margarets Westminster, on June 4th 1639, John Lumsdale at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on August 13th 1687, and Emma Lamsdale at St Saviour Southwark, on March 10th 1811.