LEADBEATER

LEADBEATER. This name- variously corrupted to Leadbetter, Leadbitter, Lidbetter, and still further, in vulgar pronunciation, to Libbetter — signifies a beater of lead. In old times, before the process of rolling that metal into sheets by machinery was employed, it was laminated by the laborious manual operation of hammering ; and as most churches and other large buildings were roofed with this material, the occupation of the Icad-hcater was a very common and necessary one. Le Ledbetre. H.R.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.