This is one of the rarest of recorded surnames, so rare that only one example is recorded in the London Directory of 1985. The derivation is believed to be either from the olde Derbyshire 'sceacol-cros' plus the job descriptive 'ere' to translates as the dweller or worker at the cross to which criminals were shackled (as in the village name Shallcross) or it may be an 'anglicization' of the Germanic 'Schalker' meaning a jester or comic, - one employed for that purpose. The fact that the earliest recording that we have been able to prove conclusively is mid Eighteenth Century would suggest that a 'Huguenot' origin is very possible as the name does not appear in early Derbyshire records. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elizabeth Shallakers, which was dated May 5th 1755 married at St. Clement Danes, Westminster, during the reign of King George II, The last Warrior King, 1727 - 1760. 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.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2024