This name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname from the place called "Tyldesley" in Lancashire, near Leigh. The placename is first recorded as "Tildesleia" in 1210, and means "Tilwald's Wood", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Tilw(e)ald", itself composed of the elements "til", good, and "weald", rule, with "leah", generally meaning a wood or a glade, a clearing in a wood. The name Tyldesley and its many variants, among them Tyldeslegh, Tydsley, Tildesley, Til(l)sley and Tilzey, has been found particularly in the Lancashire area since the 14th Century. The name development includes one Jone Tilsley (London, 1558) and one Thomas Tylsley (London, 1595). John, son of Hugh Tildesley, was christened at Roby, in Lancashire on November 26th 1605. Elinor Tildesley was married to James Ogden on the 29th September 1653 at St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo de Tildesle, which was dated 1212, in the "Fees Court Records of Lancashire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.