Peter Kelsall has maintained the Kelsall One-Name Study (registered at the Guild of One-Name Studies, "GOON") for many years. As the registered contact for the One Name Study, he is happy to respond to any reasonable enquiries. You can also contact Peter via the Forum.
Peter is also co-ordinating the Kelsall DNA Project, details on the project page.
The Kelsall name most obviously derives from the village of the same name in Cheshire. According to the Dictionary of Surnames (Hanks & Hodges) the name derives from “Kell’s nook or recess”.
As related in Barthomley: In Letters From A Rector To His Eldest Son published in 1856 by The Rev. Hinchcliffe and Notes on the Family of Kelsall published by John Kelsall in 1916, the village is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) and the name Adam de Kelsall appears as early as 1277. William Kelsall was Sheriff of Chester in 1335 and Stephen de Kelsall was Mayor of Chester in 1350. (Much later, John Kelsall was Mayor of Chester in 1768 and his name appears on the Eastgate Arch below the famous clock, said to be the most photographed clock in the world after Big Ben. This John Kelsall is said to belong to the Kelsalls of Dodleston or Kinnerton.)
According to Lyson’s Magna Britannia (1810), the ancient branch of the Kelsall family from Tarvin (presumably the village of Kelsall) became extinct at an early period but a younger branch can be traced to Heathside and Bradshaw Hall in Cheadle. Bardsley records the name Reginald de Keleshalle from 1273 in Cambridge and Johannes Kelesall from 1379 in Yorkshire. Reaney records Kelsale from 13th C Suffolk and Kelshall from 13th C Hertfordshire, both said to be “surviving as Kelsall”.
From telephone directory entries I estimate that there about 5,000 people in the world with the name Kelsall. As shown in this table almost 70% are in the UK.
Country |
Estimated Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3,200 |
68% |
| United States | 600 |
13% |
| Australia | 600 |
13% |
| Canada | 150 |
3% |
| New Zealand | 150 |
3% |
| South Africa | 20 |
0.4% |
| Other | 10 |
0.2% |
| Total | 4,730 |
100% |
The numbers for the UK are estimated as follows: Population of Kelsalls = number on BT disc x total population/entries on disc (=763 x 58,000,000/14,000,000). Interestingly, almost the same answer is obtained by taking the proportion of Kelsalls in the total population in the 1881 census times the present population. The numbers for the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are obtained from the number of phonebook entries x 1.35 (allowance for unlisted numbers) x 2.5 people per household. The numbers for South Africa and “others” are guesses.
Over half of all Kelsall households in the U.K. are in three counties, Staffordshire, Lancashire and Cheshire. In the USA, Kelsall is such a rare name that it is not found in the list of the 88,799 most common names found by the official Census. If you have any information to add to these numbers please e-mail me at kelsall@q.com.
The total population of Kelsall individuals in the 1881 British census was 1,585. This includes 1,515 Kelsall, 36 Kellsall, 19 Kelsal, 13 Kelsell and 2 Kelsale. Six individuals were in Scotland, the remainder in England & Wales. The most populous counties were as follows:
County |
Individuals | Percentage | Cumulative % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancashire | 605 |
38.2% |
38.2% |
| Staffordshire | 433 |
27.3% |
65.5% |
| Cheshire | 280 |
17.7% |
83.2% |
| Yorkshire | 43 |
2.7% |
85.9% |
| Shropshire | 36 |
2.3% |
88.1% |
| Nottinghamshire | 32 |
2.0% |
90.2% |
| Warwickshire | 25 |
1.6% |
97.1% |
| Derbyshire | 20 |
1.3% |
93.0% |
| Devon | 18 |
1.1% |
94.1% |
| Flintshire | 17 |
1.1% |
95.2% |
| London | 17 |
1.1% |
96.3% |
| Surrey | 8 |
0.5% |
96.8% |
| Cambridgeshire | 6 |
0.4% |
97.2% |
| Hampshire | 6 |
0.4% |
97.5% |
| Durham | 5 |
0.3% |
97.5% |
| Denbighshire | 4 |
0.3% |
98.1% |
| Edinburgh | 4 |
0.3% |
98.4% |
| Northumberland | 4 |
0.3% |
98.6% |
| Worcestershire | 4 |
0.3% |
98.9% |
| Cumberland | 3 |
0.2% |
99.1% |
| Lincolnshire | 2 |
0.1% |
99.2% |
| Oxfordshire | 2 |
0.1% |
99.3% |
| Roxburgh | 2 |
0.1% |
99.4% |
| Somerset | 2 |
0.1% |
99.5% |
| Buckinghamshire | 1 |
0.1% |
99.6% |
| Leicestershire | 1 |
0.1% |
99.7% |
| Gloucestershire | 1 |
0.1% |
99.7% |
| Kent | 2 |
0.1% |
99.9% |
| Dorset | 1 |
0.1% |
99.9% |
| Essex | 1 |
0.1% |
100.0% |
| Total | 1,585 |
100.0% |
— |
The total population of England & Wales recorded in the 1881 census was 25,974,436. There was, therefore, approximately one Kelsall for every 16,000 inhabitants. The distribution of the Kelsall name is consistent with migration from its source in Cheshire to the neighbouring industrial counties of Staffordshire and Lancashire. In 1881 83% of all Kelsall families in the UK lived in these three counties. I think it is possible that most Kelsalls in Staffordshire are descended from James Kelsall of Audley.
Kelsall Distribution in 1881 (without variants). Drawn using Surname Atlas, Archer Software 2003.
Historical information for the village of Kelsall can be found on Don Dickson's website.
For current information, or to visit the village of Kelsall, see the Kelsall village website.
The village of Kelsall is located around 8 miles (13 km) east of Chester, and general information such as population size, can be found on the Wikipedia page.
Two other villages with possible variations on the name are - Kelsale in Suffolk and Kelshall in Hertfordshire.
The page of World War I and World War II Debt of Honour Rolls can now be found in the Resource pages.
The links to Kelsall researchers can now be found on the Researcher hub pages.