This unusual name is of Olde English habitational origin and is a dialectually developed form of the original 'Soth-cott'. The dweller at the South Cottage. The name will have derived from one of the several Southcott or Southcot villages in Cornwall, Devon and Berkshire, the latter being recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as 'Sudcote'. The surname recording has many forms, the examples include the following - Richard Southcott of Devon in the Oxford University Register of 1586, Martha Southcoate, recorded in London on November 14th 1649, whilst on December 10th 1782. Charles Southcoat married Faith Hemsley at Rufforth Church, near Wetherby, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey de Suthcot, which was dated 1229, The Kings Pipe Rolls for Kent, during the reign of King Henry III, 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.

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