Dimberline

This very interesting and unusual surname is an Anglicized form of the medieval German "Diumeln" and is occupational for somebody who was the official torturer in a town. The origin is from "dume" meaning "thumb" and literally means one who applied the thumbscrew! As the name has some popularity it is also probable that some original nameholders were given it as a nickname, possibly because they had suffered the torture themselves. In the original spelling form of "Deimling" a Coat of Arms was granted to "Deimling of Baden". The Arms depict to the dexter side an arm horizontal with the thumb raised against a blue field, and the side a green tree on a gold field. The name recordings include: Mark Dimberline, who was christened at Barrow upon Humber, Lincolnshire, on October 24th 1757; and Richard Demeline, who was christened at Hatfield, New Doncaster, on February 2nd 1777. The German recordings include Catharina Diemerling, who married Johannes Schnidler at Bossweller, Pfalz, Bayern, on July 7th 1764. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Isaac Dimberline, which was dated September 26th 1740, christened at Fishlake, in Doncaster, Yorkshire, during the reign of King George 11, known as "The Last Soldier King", 1727 - 1760. 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.