This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the places called "Harthill" in Cheshire, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire. The place in Cheshire is recorded as "Harthil" in 1259, the place in Derbyshire as "Hortil" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the place in Yorkshire as "Hertil", also in the Domesday Book. All the placenames share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the hill frequented by harts, stags", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "heorot", hart, stag, with "hyll", hill. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The development of the surname includes Robert de Herthul (1273, Derbyshire), Edmund de Herthille (1379, Yorkshire), and Francis Hartill (1603, London). The modern surname an be found as Hartell, Hartill, Hartle and Hartles, the latter being a "genitive" form, indicating "of Hartle". Elizabeth Hartless was christened on December 8th 1738 at St. Andrew's, Holborn, London, and on February 1st 1748, Carolina Hartless married Edmund Rutland at St. Mary Magdalene's, Old Fish Street, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Herthil, which was dated 1176, in the "Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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