This very unusual and interesting name is English but of pre 10th century French medieval origin. Introduced after the Norman Conquest of 1066, it was occupational for a builder of horse drawn carts called tumbrels or tumbrils. In their basic form these were a type of cart which was still in use on most farms in England as late as 1950. Their long period of success was owing to their ability to tip their load backwards. The tumbrel was usually used for transporting farmyard manure, but was also sometimes used to accompany artillery in times of war to carry the ammunition. The tumbrel is perhaps most famous or infamous, for its role in the French Revolution, when it was apparently used to take condemned prisoners to the guillotine. The derivation is from the Olde French word "tomberel", from tomber to fall. An early example of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London is that of Beata Timbrell. She married George Browne at St. James's church, Dukes Place, Westminster, on the 7th May 1696. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Tymbrel. This was dated 1327, in the Tax Subsidy Rolls of the county of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward III, known as the father of the English Navy, 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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