Pardew

This interesting name with variant spelling Pardoe, Pardew, Perdue and Pardey is a good example of the medieval English liking for creating a surname form a nickname. In this instance, the nickname comes from a favourite oath, in Old French "Par Dieu", meaning "by God". There are a number of similar surnames in the modern idiom, such as "Godsafe", "Purefoy" (Par ma foi). 'Pardee' was the common form of the oath in the Middle Ages as in Chaucer's 'Quote'. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Robert Pardey appears in the 1296 'Subsidy Rolls of Sussex' and a Henry Pardell in the 1332 'Subsidy Rolls of Warwickshire'. Joseph Pardy, aged 23, who embarked from London on January 6th 1634 was an early settler in the New World Colonies, (St. Christopher and the Barbados).The Coat of Arms most associated with the family has the blazon of a silver shield, on a chevron embattled counter embattled between three castles sable, as many bombs of the field fired proper, a chief azure. The crest being a silver tower. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Parde, who was a witness, which was dated 1228, in the Feet of Fines Roll, Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as 'The Frenchman', 1216 - 1272. 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.