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Kilner History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables

United States Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Kilner History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancient name of Kilner finds its origins with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from a name for a lime burner, a person in charge of a kiln.

Early Origins of the Kilner family

The surname Kilner was first found in Lancashire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Kilner family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kilner research. Another 94 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1292 and 1627 are included under the topic Early Kilner History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kilner Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Kilner family name include Kilner, Kilnore, Kelner and others.

Early Notables of the Kilner family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

William Kilner of Kilner

Kilner migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Kilner surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Kilner Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

James Kilner, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1683 1

Kilner Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

William Kilner, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1762

Kilner migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Kilner Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mary Ann Kilner, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Sir Charles Forbes" in 1849 2
Mr. William Kilner, (b. 1832), aged 26, English labourer who was convicted in Liverpool, Merseyside, England for 6 years for robbery, transported aboard the "Edwin Fox" on 24th August 1858, arriving in Western Australia, Australia, he died in 1890

Kilner migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Kilner Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

James Kilner, aged 40, a labourer, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Conflict" in 1874
Mary Kilner, aged 36, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Conflict" in 1874
Jane Kilner, aged 10, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Conflict" in 1874
Sarah Kilner, aged 6, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Conflict" in 1874
William Kilner, aged 3, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Conflict" in 1874
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Kilner migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 3

Kilner Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Richard Kilner, aged 25, who landed in Barbados in 1684 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Kilner (post 1700) +

Kevin Kilner (b. 1958), American television and film actor
Roy Kilner (1890-1928), English cricket player
Dorothy Kilner (1755-1836), English writer of children's books
Walter John Kilner (1847-1920), British physician, studied the phenomenon of the human aura

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) SIR CHARLES FORBES originally CHARLES FORBES 1849. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1849SirCharlesForbes.gif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies