This name is of English locational origin from either of the two places in Cheshire thus called, one near Whitchurch and the other near Stockport, or from Norbury in Derbyshire, Shropshire, Surrey and Staffordshire. Recorded variously as Norberie, Nordberie and Nortberie in the Domesday Book of 1086 for the above counties, the name, in all cases, derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'north' meaning north, plus 'burh', a fort or fortified settlement; hence, 'the northern settlement'. The surname was first recorded towards the end of the 12th Century, (see below). In 1260 one, Robert Northbury and a Lyulph de Norbury appeared in 'Records of East Cheshire', and in 1515 and 1616 respectively John Northbury and Thomas Norbury, of Oxfordshire, were recorded in 'The Oxford University Register'. John Toler (1745 - 1831), chief - justice of the common pleas in Ireland, 1766, and attorney general, 1798, was made Baron Norbury in 1800 and created first Earl of Norbury in 1827. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas de Norburie, which was dated circa 1190, 'Records of East Cheshire', during the reign of King Richard I, Richard the Lionheart, 1189 - 1199. 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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