Ince History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancestors of the Ince surname lived among the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. The name comes from when they lived in the region of Ince in Cheshire West. Ince is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.

Early Origins of the Ince family

The surname Ince was first found in Cheshire at Ince, a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and historically in the union of Great Boughton, Second division of the hundred of Eddisbury. The first record of this local was found in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was listed as Inise. 1 Ince-in-Makerfield or Ince is a regenerated township in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, but historically in Lancashire. The earliest mention of the Manor of Ince and the Ince family dates from about 1202 in this area. At that time, it was part of the barony of Newton in Makerfield (Newton le Willows.) "The family of Ince were anciently lords of this manor, which, in the reign of Henry IV., was conveyed by their heiress to the Gerards." 2

Early History of the Ince family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ince research. Another 74 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1635, 1660 and 1679 are included under the topic Early Ince History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ince Spelling Variations

Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, French and other languages became incorporated into English through the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Ince include Ince, Ince, Ins, Ines, de Inces, Inch and others.

Early Notables of the Ince family

Notables of the family at this time include

William Ince (died 1679), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660, Member of Parliament for City of Chester, Sheriff of Chester in 1635

Ince Ranking

In the United States, the name Ince is the 14,589^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3

Ince migration to the United States +

A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants:

Ince Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Gabriel and Jonathon Ince, who settled in New Haven Conn. in 1630
Jonathan Ince, who landed in New England in 1650 4
John Ince, who arrived in Virginia in 1652 4
Thomas Ince, who settled in Virginia in 1654
William Ince, who landed in Virginia in 1664 4
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Ince migration to Australia +

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

Ince Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Charles Ince, (b. 1825), aged 30, Cornish carpenter departing from Plymouth on 31st January 1855 aboard the ship "Epaminondas" arriving in Geelong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1st June 1855 5
Mrs. Alice Ince, (b. 1828), aged 27, Cornish settler departing from Plymouth on 31st January 1855 aboard the ship "Epaminondas" arriving in Geelong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1st June 1855 5
Miss Mary Ince, (b. 1852), aged 3, Cornish settler departing from Plymouth on 31st January 1855 aboard the ship "Epaminondas" arriving in Geelong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1st June 1855 5
Miss Margaret Ince, (b. 1854), aged 1, Cornish settler departing from Plymouth on 31st January 1855 aboard the ship "Epaminondas" arriving in Geelong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1st June 1855 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Ince (post 1700) +

Ralph Ince (1887-1937), American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter
John Ince (1878-1947), American stage and motion pictures actor, a film director, eldest brother of Thomas H. Ince and Ralph Ince
Thomas Harper Ince (1882-1924), American silent film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, known as the "Father of the Western," responsible for making over 800 films
Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (b. 1967), English football manager and a former professional footballer
Joseph Murray Ince (1806-1859), Welsh painter, born at Presteign, Radnorshire 6
William Ince (b. 1804), British co-founder of Ince and Mayhew, a partnership of furniture designers, upholsterers and cabinetmakers in 1759
John Ince (1795-1825), British Protestant Christian missionary to the Chinese at Penang and Malacca
John Ince (b. 1952), Canadian author, lawyer, activist, and entrepreneur
Henry Ince (1736-1808), British Army officer who authored a plan to tunnel through the North Face of the Rock of Gibraltar in 1782, during the Great Siege of Gibraltar
Edward Lindsay Ince FRSE (1891-1941), British mathematician who worked on differential equations, elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1923, awarded the Makdougall Brisbane Prize for 1938-1940
... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Ince family +

HMS Prince of Wales

Mr. John Bret Ince, British Midshipman, who sailed into battle on the HMS Prince of Wales May 1941 and died at the battle of Denmark Strait, before the sinking of the HMS Prince of Wales 7

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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)
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retrieved 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_australia_victoria.pdf
Wikisource contributors. "Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900." Wikisource . Wikisource , 4 Jun. 2018. Web. 26 October 2020
HMS Prince of Wales Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listprincecrew.html