I cannot classify this singular surname. Mr. Lower says (quoting Shirley's Noble and Gentle Men), 'The first recorded ancestor of the family is John Knatchbull, who had lands in the parish of Lymne, Kent, in the reign of Edward III, and there some of the name remained down to the time of Charles I. The main branch were at Mersham Hatch, in the same county, by purchase temp. Henry VI, and there the present baronet yet resides' (Patronymica Britannica).

1593. Buried — Thomas, s. Richard Nashbull, of Madehatche, Kent: St. Michael, Cornhill.

1613. Married — George Knatchbull and Jone Gilbarde: Canterbury Cath.

1667. Richard Sheafe and Mary Knatchbull, of Cranbrook, Kent: Marriage Lic. (Faculty Office).

1734. Married — Edward Hearst, of New Sarum, and Alicia Knatchbull, of Mersham, Kent: St. George, Hanover Square.

(English) a nickname of strength and bravado (cp. Turnbull), in present- day English = Bull-Basher [Dialectal English knatch, to strike, knock: cp. Dutch knakken, to strike, crack = Ger. knacken, to crack = Dano-Norwegian knage, to crash, crack + English bull, Old English bull-]

The first recorded ancestor of the family is John Knatchbull, who had lands in the parish of Lymne, co. Kent, in the reign of Edward III., and there some of the name remained down to the time of Charles I. The main branch were at Mersham-Hatch, in the same county, by purchase, temp. Henry VII., and there the present baronet yet resides. Shirley's Noble and Gentle Men. The etymology of this singular surname is not very obvious, but, in the absence of a better, I will suggest-knatch, a northern provincialism, meaning to strike or knock, and bull (taurus)-perhaps from some courageous adventure with an animal of that species. See Turnbull.

Or De Molbec, from M. in the Cotentin. Hugh de Molbec held Chenebella, Bucks, from Walter Giffard, 1086 (Domesd.). His descendants were named De Kenebel, Kenebol, Kenetbole, Kenechbole, and Knatchbull. In 1165 Matilda de [Mol]bec held a fee from Earl Walter Giffard, Humphry de Kenebelle (her son), in Gloucester, and William Fitz-Matilda, another son, four fees in Bucks, from Earl Walter (Liber Niger). In 1205 Adam de Kent paid a fine to have custody of the land and heirs of Hugh de Kenebel in Kent and Bucks (Hardy, Obl. et Fin.). The Viscounts of Kent and Bucks were informed 1217 that John de Kenebell had returned to his allegiance (Hardy, Rot. Claus. 327). Temp. Richard II. Kenebel, Bucks, was styled ‘Gentbole’ (Hunter, Fines, 172), and in Kent the name had become Kenechbole t. Henry VIII., as appears in the records. The name of Kemble is the modern form of Kenebel, and the arms of Kemble bear resemblance to those of Knatchbull.