Recorded in several spelling forms including Baxill, Boxall, Bexell, Boxhill, Boxill, Boxshell, Bicksall, and Buxel, this is a locational name from a place in Surrey and Wiltshire, called Boxhill or from Boxwell, in the county of Gloucester. The place name derives either from the Olde English pre 7th Century "box" meaning "box tree", plus "wella" a spring or stream; or "box" plus "hyll". Locational surnames were acquired firstly by the lord of the manor and his decendants, and later by former inhabitants who moved to another area, usually in search of work. These people were thereafter identified by the name of their birthplace. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from the authentic registers and charters of the late medieval period include Giles Boxell, who married Frances Warner at the London church of St Bartholomew the Less, on April 10th 1597, Sarah Boxhill, who married John Whitby at St Botolphs without Aldgate, London, on August 14th 1769, Daniel Boxall, at christened St Georges Chapel, Hanover Square, London, on July 1st 1790, and Thomas Boxill, christened at St Brides church, Fleet Street, London, on June 13th 1830. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Robert Boxall, which was dated 1575, in the "Oxford University Register". This was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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