This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from Timperleigh or Timperley in North Cheshire. The place is recorded in the Pudsay Deed of 1230 as "Timperley", and in the 1285 Court Rolls of Cheshire as "Tympirleg". The derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "timber", timber, wood, and "leah", glade, clearing in a wood, thin wood; hence, "the clearing where timber for building was obtained". During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Timperley, Temperly, Temperley and Temberli. Recordings of the surname from English Church Registers include: the christening of Henry Timperley at St. Mary's, Stockport, Cheshire, in February 1640; the marriage of Francisous Temperly and Maria Ball on August 11th 1577, at Wirksworth, Derbyshire; and the christening of Gulielmus, son of Jacobi Temperley, at the same place, on October 26th 1677. A Coat of Arms granted to the family depicts three silver inescutcheons on a red field. In Heraldry Silver signifies Peace and Sincerity, and Red denotes Military Fortitude and Magnanimity. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emmet Timberly, which was dated August 30th 1561, marriage to Francis Hatterly, at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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