Contents [hide]

Whitelock History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables

Ireland United States Australia West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Whitelock History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

The name Whitelock comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It was a name for a person with white hair. Looking back further, we find the name Whitelock was derived from the Old English words whit, meaning white and lock, meaning tress or hair. 1 2

Early Origins of the Whitelock family

The surname Whitelock was first found in Devon, but much later "the Whitlocks were best represented in the Halstead [Essex] district." 3

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 has only two listings for the family with very early spellings: Emma filius Witlok, Huntingdonshire; and William Witlohc, Oxfordshire. 4

Kirby's Quest also had two early entries for the family in Somerset: William atte Whytelak and Walter Whytelock. Both were "1 Edward III," in other words entered in the first year of King Edward III's reign. 5

Much further to the north in Scotland, "Th Quhyteloke" was Burgess of Edinburgh in 1403 and Robert Quhytlok was a tenant under the Abbey of Kelso in 1567. 6

Early History of the Whitelock family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Whitelock research. Another 133 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1537, 1564, 1565, 1570, 1584, 1586, 1605, 1608, 1610, 1622, 1624, 1625, 1631, 1632, 1654, 1659, 1675, 1701 and 1709 are included under the topic Early Whitelock History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Whitelock Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Whitelock has undergone many spelling variations, including Whitlock, Whitelock, Witlock and others.

Early Notables of the Whitelock family

Notables of the family at this time include

Edmund Whitelocke (1565-1608), English courtier, born in the parish of St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street, London, on 10 Feb. 1564, the eldest son of Richard Whitelocke, merchant. His youngest brother, Sir...

Migration of the Whitelock family to Ireland

Some of the Whitelock family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Whitelock migration to the United States +

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Whitelock were among those contributors:

Whitelock Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Anne Whitelock, who arrived in Virginia in 1652 7

Whitelock Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Isaac Whitelock, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1740-1741 7

Whitelock Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Mr. James Whitelock, British settler who arrived in New York aboard the ship "Cynosure" in 1863
Mr. William Whitelock, British settler who arrived in New York aboard the ship "Cynosure" in 1863

Whitelock migration to Australia +

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

Whitelock Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. James Whitelock, English convict who was convicted in London, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Bardaster" on 7th September 1835, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 8
Marian Whitelock, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Jenny Lind" in 1850 9

Whitelock 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. 10

Whitelock Settlers in West Indies in the 18th Century

William Whitelock, who settled in Barbados in 1776

Contemporary Notables of the name Whitelock (post 1700) +

Loran M. Whitelock, American botanist, a specialist in Cycads, a prehistoric plant
Richard Whitelock (b. 1930), American Libertarian politician, Candidate for Michigan State Senate, 1982 (13th District), 1998 (23rd District); Candidate for Presidential Elector for Michigan, 1984 11
Charles Whitelock, American politician, Postmaster at Salisbury, Maryland, 1849-53, 1861-65 11
Adam Whitelock (b. 1987), New Zealand rugby union footballer
Luke Whitelock (b. 1991), New Zealand rugby union footballer
George Whitelock (b. 1986), New Zealand rugby union player
Samuel Lawrence Whitelock (b. 1988), New Zealand rugby player
Henry Whitelock Torrens (1806-1852), English Foreign Office worker who assisted in the editing of the Calcutta Star, a weekly paper in 1839, Vice-President to the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1843–1845)
Thomas Whitelock Kempthorne (1834-1915), Cornish-born, New Zealand manufacturing chemist and businessman who co-founded Kempthorne Prosser in 1870 in Dunedin

Citations +

Arthur, William , An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. London: 1857. Print
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Dickinson, F.H., Kirby's Quest for Somerset of 16th of Edward the 3rd London: Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St, Martin's Lane, 1889. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 16th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/bardaster
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) JENNY LIND 1850. Retrieved http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1850JennyLind.gif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html