Elwick
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Elwick One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Elwick One-Name Study

I have been collecting all references worldwide to the names ELWICK and ELLWICK since 1989. My grandfather Robert Imbrey ELWICK disappeared in 1922 and I was trying to find his death. Initially I wrote to many people with the name in the telephone books of England and US and as a result have drawn up many trees but still not found out what happened to my grandfather.

Variants

The most common variations are ELWICK, ELWICKE, ELLWICK or ELLWICKE but I have found instances of ELSWICK and HELWICK being used for known ELWICK families. In the USA the name ELSWICK is quite common and is not part of my study.

Origin of the surname

According to 'A Dictionary of English Surnames' by P.H.Reaney & R.M.Wilson the name ELWICK is thought to derive from a village of the same name but there are 2, one in Durham and the other in Northumberland.

Historical occurrences

The earliest reference I have found is a John ELLISWYK mentioned as receiving a pension of ?20 per year in 1468 in the Registers of the Archdeaconry of Richmond.

In the US the earliest reference I have found is of a John ELWICK in 1653. He is mentioned as one of 20 persons being imported from York England to land in Lancaster County owned by Charles GRYMES.

The most famous ELWICK must be Nathaniel ELWICK, he was a Director of the East India Company and was Governor of Bombay 1721-1725.

Second place must go to Edward ELWICK who was a furniture maker of Wakefield from 1745-1771 and whose chairs are on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Frequency of the name

In the 1881 UK Census there were 172 people with the name

In the 1880 US Census there were just 41 people with the name

In September 2002 in the UK there were 368 ELWICK's according to an Office of National Statistics database, which contains a list of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann.

In the 1995 USA phonebooks there were 39 ELWICK's listed

In the 1995 Canada phonebooks there were just 4 ELWICK's listed

In the 1995 Australian phonebooks there was just 1 person listed

Distribution of the name

The 1585 Visitation of Yorkshire mentions ELWICK's of Elwick Tower Northumberland but the name is found in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and London throughout the 16th century.

By the end of the 18th century it is found mainly in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Durham and London with one family in Hampshire.

Today the largest clusters are still in Durham, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Data

Amongst my files I have:

• all Births, Deaths and Marriages from the GRO indexes 1837-2000
• many baptisms, burials and marriages from parish registers.
• copies of most of the ELWICK Wills found in PRO, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire pre 1858.
• all ELWICK references from the post 1858 Wills.
• all Census references for the years 1871,1881,1891 and 1901 in UK
• all US Census entries
• many ELWICK references in Chancery cases
• all ELWICK references in the SSDI

Links

My ELWICK Web Page is at ELWICK Family History

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Shirley A Forster
58 Park Barn Drive,
Guildford,
Surrey
GU2 8ES
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 2 March 2008.

This page has been viewed 1986 times. Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here. Page layout © Guild of One-Name Studies 2005 © Guild of One Name Studies 2007 This page last modified 2 Mar 2008, 18:50 Page owner: