Turville

Recorded in several spelling forms including Turvill, Turville, and Tourville, this is an English surname but of Norman-French origins. It is locational, and almost certainly from the village known as Turville la Campagne, in the Department of Eure, Normandy. There is a place in Buckinghamshire called 'Turville', but this is 19th century in spelling, the village having previously been known as Tirfield, and therefore not a source of Turville surnames. It is possible that some nameholders may descend from Huguenot 18th century refugees, but this is not proven. 'Turville' was one of the earliest of all Anglo-French locational surnames, and it spread rapidly, partly because the village supplied several soldiers to the army of William the Conqueror in 1066. The first major landowners of the name held the village of Normanton Turville in Leicester, and they claim descent from a Ralph de Tourville, the son of William de Tourville, in the time of Henry 1st (1100 - 1130). Their coat of arms has the blazon of a red field, charged with three chevronels vair. Another branch of the family held Bosworth Hall, Leicester, whilst a third were at Aston Flamville in the same county. Examples of early name recordings include Maurice de Tuurville (1206) Hampshire, and Robert de Tureville of Yorkshire in the year 1280. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey de Tureuilla, which was dated 1130, in the pipe rolls of the county of Berkshire, during the reign of King Henry 1st of England, 1100 - 1130. 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.