Birkenhedd History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancestors of the name Birkenhedd date back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from their residence near a birch-covered headland. The surname Birkenhedd is derived from the Old English words bierce, meaning birch, and heafod, meaning head. 1

Early Origins of the Birkenhedd family

The surname Birkenhedd was first found in Cheshire, at Birkenhead, a rising sea-port, market-town, and township, in the union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Wirrall. Another branch of the family was found at Backford, a parish, in the union of Great Boughton, partly in the Higher division of the hundred of Wirrall, and partly in the Lower division of the hundred of Broxton.

"During a great part of the 13th and 14th centuries, the manor was held by the Masseys, of Timperley; about the year 1580 it was sold to Thomas Aldersey, by whom it was soon afterwards alienated to the Birkenheads, who resided at Backford Hall until the family became extinct in the male line in 1724." 2

Early History of the Birkenhedd family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Birkenhedd research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1350, 1400, 1553, 1560, 1571, 1572, 1590, 1608, 1614, 1616, 1617, 1679 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Birkenhedd History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Birkenhedd Spelling Variations

Birkenhedd has been spelled many different ways. Before English spelling became standardized over the last few hundred years, spelling variations in names were a common occurrence. As the English language changed in the Middle Ages, absorbing pieces of Latin and French, as well as other languages, the spelling of people's names also changed considerably, even over a single lifetime. Many variations of the name Birkenhedd have been found, including Birkenhead, Birkehead, Birkenheed, Birkenhedd, Birkead, Birkinhead and many more.

Early Notables of the Birkenhedd family

Notables of the family at this time include Martin Birkhead (died 1590), an English politician from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Member of the Parliament for Ripon in 1571 and 1572; George Birkhead or Birket, alias Hall, Lambton, and Salvin (c.1553-1614), an English Roman Catholic priest from County Durham who served as the archpriest of England from 1608 until his death in 1614; Henry Birkhead (1617?-1696), an English academic...
Another 67 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Birkenhedd Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Birkenhedd 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

Birkenhedd Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Francis Birkenhedd who settled in Barbados in 1635
Francis Birkenhedd, aged 24, who arrived in Barbados in 1635 4
Mr. Francis Birkenhedd, (b. 1611), aged 24, British settler travelling aboard the ship "Expedition" arriving in Barbados in 1636 5

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
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)
Pilgrim Ship Lists Early 1600's retrieved 29th September 2021. Retrieved from https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm