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The Birkinshaw surname is habitational, taken on from the name of the Chapelry of Birkenshaw in the Parish of Birstall, county Yorkshire. The place literally means "small wood or copse where birch trees grow" from the Old English "bircen" 1
The surname Birkinshaw was first found in Yorkshire, where they held a family seat from very ancient times, most likely even before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D., given the Old English roots of their name.
The first on record was William del Birkenschawe listed in 1274 in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire. A Thomas Birchynshaw was listed in the Poll Tax Rolls of that same county in 1379. 2
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Birkinshaw research. Another 70 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1408, 1587, 1634, 1664, 1672 and 1739 are included under the topic Early Birkinshaw History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Birkinshaw family name include Birkenshaw, Birkinshaw, Bircumshaw, Burtenshaw and many more.
Distinguished members of the family include John Birchensha (fl. 1664-1672), a Welsh musician, "probably a member of the Burchinshaw, Burchinsha, Byrchinshaw, or Byrchinsha family, the senior branch of which were settled...
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Birkinshaw Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, 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 Birkinshaw surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Burchenshaw, who arrived in Virginia in 1642; Joseph Birkinshaw, who was naturalized in New York in 1834; and Joyce Birkinshaw, a bonded passenger who arrived in Annapolis, MD in 1726..