This interesting and unusual name of English origin is a locational name from Gartside or Garthside in Oldham, Lancashire. The surname first dropped the "h", secondly the "t", and is now almost universally Garside. The derivation is from the Northern Middle English "garth", an enclosure, garden or paddock, and Old English pre 7th Century "side", a hill or a slope. In the Middle Ages it became increasingly common for people to migrate from their birthplace to seek work elsewhere, thus resulting in the wide dispersal of the name. The surname development (in Lancashire) includes Garsit (1589), Gartheside (1625), Gartsyde (1635), and Garsid (1648). One Alice Gartside was christened at Manchester Cathedral on March 23rd 1589, and the marriage of Henry Gartside and Jane Crompton was recorded at Saddleworth in Yorkshire on November 24th 1653. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Garcesside, which was dated circa 1327, in Oldham, Lancashire, during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "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.

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