This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called Corbishley in the parish of Wilmslow in Cheshire. The placename is first recorded in an early history of East Cheshire of circa 1200: 'the hamlets of styhale, (styal), Curbichelegh (corbishley), and Northcliffe'. The meaning of the name is obscure, but it is thought to derive from the Old Scandinavian personal name 'kon', with the Old Norse 'by', farm or homestead, with the later addition of the Old English pre 7th Century 'leah', wood or glade; the name would thus mean 'koris farm by the wood'. The surname development includes Hugh Curbychley (1527, Cheshire) and Arthur Curbishley (1598, ibid.). One Anne Corbishley was married to Ralph Bancroft at Wilmslow in Cheshire on December 7th 1579. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Curbicheley, which was dated circa 1300, The Cheshire Hundred Rolls, during the reign of King Edward 1, 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272 - 1307. 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.

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