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Early Origins of the Leech family
The surname Leech was first found in County Galway (Irish: Gaillimh) part of the province of Connacht, located on the west coast of the Island, where the family was first recorded, and members were chiefs of a district between Athenry and Athlone.
English: variant of Leach . Irish (Galway):English name adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Ó MaolMhaodhóg (see Logue ).
Where does the surname Leach originate?
English: occupational name for a physician, from Middle English leche, lache 'physician' (Old English lǣce 'leech; physician, blood-letter, surgeon'). The name refers to the medieval medical practice of bleeding, typically by applying leeches to a patient.
The name Leech is from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name was given to a person who was a doctor. Throughout the Middle Ages, doctors were known as "leaches" as the practice of bleeding sick people was the generally accepted manner of curing them. There are countless people in the Middle Ages who died thanks to the common cold; not because the virus killed them, but because they bled to death on the advice of their physicians. Bleeding was accomplished by placing a dozen or so leaches on the person who was ill so that they could remove the poisons that were making them ill, hence the name "leach" for the occupation of doctor. It is small wonder that illness was so feared in the medieval period; many people died from illnesses that would not have otherwise killed them because their doctors were weakening them through loss of blood.
The surname Leech was first found in Oxfordshire where the earliest records of the family were found as Edmund le Leche and William le Leche who were both listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. A few years later, Robert le Leche was listed in the Writs of Parliament of 1307. 1
Further north in Scotland, many records were found including: Henry Leche held a tenement in Glasgow in 1325. "Henry Leche, is later referred to in a safe conduct by Edward III of England in 1348 as "Hector medicus David de Bruys." From another reference to him in 1369, he turns out to be a MacBeth, perhaps one of the family of hereditary doctors of that name so famous in West Highland history. Wilham de Lech or Leche was burgess of Aberdeen, 1362. He may be William Leche, merchant of Aberdeen, whose goods were plundered in England, 1370, when his ship was driven ashore in Kirklee Rode, Suffolk." 2 They also settled in Monteith where they gave their name to Leitchtown
Leech Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
Mr. Charles Leech, British settler travelling from London via Plymouth aboard the ship "Tasmania" arriving in Otago, South Island, New Zealand on to Lyttelton on 26th February 1853 10
Mr. John Leech, British settler travelling from London via Plymouth aboard the ship "Tasmania" arriving in Otago, South Island, New Zealand on to Lyttelton on 26th February 1853, listed as for Lyttelton 10
Mrs. Leech, (b. 1826), aged 27, British settler travelling from London via Plymouth aboard the ship "Tasmania" arriving in Otago, South Island, New Zealand on to Lyttelton on 26th February 1853, listed as for Lyttelton 10
Mr. A. Leech, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Lord Ashley" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 14th October 1858 11
Mr. John Leech, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Nourmahal" arriving in Dunedin, Otaga, South Island, New Zealand on 5th May 1858
https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Leech
Last name: Leech
SDB Popularity ranking: 743
This interesting surname has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Leach may have originated as an occupational name for a physician, from the Olde English pre 7th Century "laece", one who practises healing, a physician. The above meaning was brought about as a result of the medicinal use of the leech for healing by blood-letting. The surname may, however, also have been a nickname from the bloodsucking creature, denoting a particularly demanding person, one eager to extract maximum advantage from a given situation. A quotation from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" reads: "The divel made a reve to preche, Or of a souter a shipman, or a leche". Edmund le Leche was recorded in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire. The second possible origin is that the name is topographical from residence by a lake, from the Olde English "laca", cognate with the Old High German "lache", lake. One John Lache was noted in records of Cambridgeshire, dated circa 1272, and in 1586, Elizabeth Leach and Nichoas Ellsworth were married in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Leche, which was dated circa 1250, in the "Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey", Huntingdonshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272.