This name is of English locational origin, from a place thus called in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The name derives from the Northern Medieval English "post(e)" meaning a post or pole, plus "gate", a road (ultimately from the Old Norse "gata", a way or street), hence, "a road marked by posts". The surname from this source is first recorded in the mid 14th Century, (see below). One, Richard Poskett appears in the 1514 "Register of the Corpus Christi Guild in the City of York" and a William Posgate in the Wills Records at Yorkshire, dated 1648. An interesting namebearer was John Postgate (1820 - 1881) of Scarborugh, F.R.C.S., who practised as a surgeon in Birmingham and committed himself to the passing of a bill through parliament which would make "the adulteration of food substances punishable by the law". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Postgate, which was dated 1349, "The Chartulary of Whiteby Abbey, Yorkshire", 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.

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