SLATER
This is a copy of an article published in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 20th May 2002,
reproduced by kind permission of the author, the late Desmond Holden.
The “What's in a Name” series was a regular
feature in the Advertiser over the period 1993‑2004,
taking a refreshing look at the derivation of some typically
Derbyshire surnames.
Articles are confined to the origins and meanings of surnames,
and do not indicate any particular interest on Desmond's part in
the genealogy, descent, or family history of individuals bearing
the surnames featured.
Editor's Note: Articles are provided for general interest and
background only. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive treatise
for any individual family history - investigations of which may yield
quite different results. Or, in Desmond's own words:
“In the end it must remain with individual bearers of the names to
draw upon family traditions and to seek out such documentary
evidence as is available to decide the matter for themselves.”
WHAT'S IN A NAME …
Are you called SLATER?
This is an occupational name and in most cases will have referred to a
man who made roofs. The caveat "most cases" indicates that families
with Scots connections and especially if they retain the old spelling
"Sclater" may derive their name from Kirkwall, Orphir or Sanday
(Orkneys). There, the use of nicknames prevailed and in this case would
have been conferred upon a member of the community who was thought to be
sly or cunning. It was derived from the Old Norse "slottigr" and the
earliest example dates from 1492 in the person of Adam Sclater of
Orkney.
The name is now usually spelled "Slater" but "Sclater" is not infrequent
in the north of England and in Scotland where the spelling "Sklater" was
still in use in 1823.
There are about 250 entries in the local directory under "Slater" but
other forms such as Slater
[Ed: Slatter?], Sclater and Slate are less represented.
Note: "Slatemaker" is not necessarily a related name.
The term "slate" is now so firmly associated with the familiar grey
stones on roofs - geologists would describe it as a form of argillacious
sedimentary rock - that it might come as a surprise to many readers that
it did not acquire this meaning until about 1650. This was some 400
years after the occupational name of Slater itself had been first
recorded. Until then the word had been used to describe any thin
rectangular piece of stone which was used primarily for use in roofs.
The origins of the word are not certain. The earliest forms of spelling
are variations on "sclat" an "sklatt" and it is no difficult to relate
them to the old French "esclat". This meant "to splinter" and it emerges
in the modern French "eclat". Beyond this point the trail disappears.
The best suggestions indicate that there is a link with a Germanic term
"slitan" signifying "to split." The first use of the word occurs in
Wyclif's version of St. Luke's Gospel (ch. 5, v. 19 - sick-man lowered
through a roof) "slattis" is used.
Evidence that "slate" was not at first confined to that form of roofing
now so familiar is provided from the fact that although the quarries in
the south-west are recorded as being great centres of production, the
stone slates of Collyweston in Northamptonshire were very highly
regarded.
Apparently Collyweston stone had the useful quality of being easier to
split after having been exposed to frost - a fact which is noted by
Roman historians. A similar feature was also taken advantage of among
the extracts from Stonesfield (near Woodstock in Oxfordshire). Note:
that place-name is not significant in this respect.
In fact the slates from Northampton and Oxford were so regularly in
demand that whereas those at Lostwithiel were sold at three shillings
and a penny (16p) a thousand in 1385, the same quantity from Collyweston
cost 8/- (40p). Another favoured source of supply was from Horsham in
Sussex but eventually their use had to be discontinued because they were
too heavy for roofs with a wide span.
The actual work involved in extracting the stone and shaping it was
deemed to be unskilled and the going rate was, at the most two pence
(1p) a day. However, in the case of a Slater, only he could fashion the
roof and actually set the slates in their places. His remuneration was
considerably more. There is a record of payment made in 1583 to a
certain William Browne at twice that figure. Furthermore, while the
quarrymen were paid according to the number of slates they produced, the
slaters demanded payment according to the square footage they covered.
Still, since their work tended to be spasmodic, comparisons in the way
they were paid are not entirely valid. Even so the art or craft of
slating must have been profitable and worth taking up because in a list
of the 50 surnames derived from occupations and in order of frequency,
that of a "Slater" stands almost half-way and alongside "Tiler".
Bearing in mind that variations in spelling are not significant and
merely reflect regional and dialectical usage, the earliest records are
to Thomas le Sclatere (Worcester : 1255), then Thomas Slater (West
Riding: 1992). In Scotland we find Henry Sclatur (Aberdeen : 1399). Both
the surname and the occupation unite with John Sklaitter, employed as
the Slater for the palace and church at Dunkeld in 1514. In Ireland it
is recognised as being imported from either Scotland or England during
the Cromwellian times and it prevails in Longford and Louth.
Here in Derbyshire there is a local interest in the name by way of
Samuel Slater (1768-1835) who originated from Belper. He trained in Sir
Richard Arkwright's workshops, then emigrated to the United States in
1789 and re-designed, entirely from memory, machines for making
textiles. In American history he is designated as "The Father of
American Manufacture."
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© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 20th May 2002.
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