Fielder - Name

This interesting name is a good example of a method of creating surnames by adding the suffix '-er' to some topographical term, that is peculiar to the southern counties of Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent and Essex. The name thus created denoted residence at or by such a topographical feature, or employment at that place. 'Fielder' means 'someone living by the field' or 'worker in the field', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century 'feld', field meaning specifically land that had been cleared of forest but not yet brought into cultivation, open country or pasture land. Francis Fielder was married to Martha Woodman on the 16th of December 1698 at St. James's, Dukes Place, London. A Coat of Arms granted to the Fielder family is divided quarterly gold and blue with a cinquefoil (five-leaved flower) in the first and fourth quarters. A lion rampant holding in the dexter (right) paw a fleur-de-lis is on the crest. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey le Felder, which was dated 1327, The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex, during the reign of King Edward 111, The Father of the Navy, 1327 - 1377. 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.