fabric with small and even check pattern, 1891, so called because it was similar to the traditional design of horse blankets, in reference to Tattersall's, a famous London horse market and gambler's rendezvous, founded 1766 by Richard Tattersall (1724-1795). The surname is from the place in Lincolnshire, which is said to represent "Tathere's nook," "probably in the sense 'nook of dry ground in marsh'." [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]