This unusual name is of early medieval Welsh origin and is one of the patronymic forms of the male personal name "Henry", composed of the Welsh patronymic prefix "ap" (son of) with "Henry", contracted in time to "Penry" and "Pendry" and thence "Pendred". The given name "Henry" was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 in the form "henri", derived from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements "hami, hemi", home with "ric", power. It was a very popular name throughout Britain in the Middle Ages and generated a wide variety of surnames. One mary Pendred married Thomas Broomefield at St. Gregory's by St. Paul, London on the 2nd July 1581. Robert Pendred was an early emigrant to the new World, leaving London on the "Peter Bonaventure", bound for the Barbadoes, in 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elisabeth Pendrede (christening), which was dated 27th July 1554, St. Martin's, Ludgate, London, during the reign of Queen Mary 1, known as "Bloody Mary", 1553 - 1558. 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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