Brewer's: Shoreditch

according to tradition, is so called from Jane Shore, who, it is said, died there in a ditch. This tale comes from a ballad in Pepys' collection; but the truth is, it receives its name from Sir John de Soerdich, lord of the manor in the reign of Edward III.

I could not get one bit of bread Whereby my hunger might be fed. ... So, weary of my life, at length I yielded up my vital strength Within a ditch ... which since that day Is Shoreditch called, as writers say.

Duke of Shoreditch.
The most successful of the London archers received this playful title.

“Good king, make not good Lord of Lincoln Duke of Shoreditch!” —The Poore Man's Peticion to the kinge. (1603.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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