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Bickley History Etymology Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Bickley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Bickley

What does the name Bickley mean?

The origins of the Bickley name come from when the Anglo-Saxon tribes ruled over Britain. The name Bickley was originally derived from a family having lived in the town of Bickleigh in the county of Devon. This place-name is derived from the Anglo Saxon personal name Bicca meaning pickaxe, and the Old English word leigh, meaning wooded area.

Early Origins of the Bickley family

The surname Bickley was first found in Devon, at Bickleigh, a parish, in the union of Tiverton, hundred of Hayridge, 4 miles from Tiverton. 1 Bickleigh is also a parish, in the union of Plympton St. Mary, hundred of Roborough in Devon. 2

Bickley is a township, in the parish of Malpas, union of Nantwich, Higher division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester. 3

Early History of the Bickley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bickley research. Another 103 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1400, 1415, 1426, 1518, 1529, 1569, 1582, 1585, 1586, 1596, 1623, 1644, 1661, 1667, 1670, 1681, 1687, 1746 and 1754 are included under the topic Early Bickley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bickley Spelling Variations

Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, French and other languages became incorporated into English through the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Bickley include Bickley, Bickle, Bickler, Bickleigh, Bigley, Bigly, Biglay and many more.

Early Notables of the Bickley family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

John Bickley, Member of the Parliament for Huntingdon in 1415 and 1426; John Bickley, Member of the Parliament for Stafford in 1529; Sir Francis Bickley, 1st Baronet (c. 1582-1670); Sir Francis Bickle...
Thomas Bickley (1518-1596) was an English churchman, a Marian exile who became Warden of Merton College, Oxford (1569-1585) and Bishop of Chichester (1586-1596.) "He acquired considerable reputation a...

Bickley Ranking

In the United States, the name Bickley is the 10,669^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Bickley migration to the United States +

A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants:

Bickley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Richard Bickley, who landed in Virginia in 1624 5
Francis Bickley, who landed in Virginia in 1657 5
Thomas Bickley, who arrived in Virginia in 1664 5

Bickley Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Sarah Bickley who settled in Maryland in 1740
Joseph Bickley, who landed in Virginia in 1751 5

Bickley Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

James Bickley, aged 15, who arrived in New York in 1830 5

Bickley migration to Australia +

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

Bickley Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Miss. Sarah Bickley, (b. 1823), aged 24, British Convict who was convicted in Birmingham, West Midlands, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Asia" on 9th March 1847, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), she died in 1895 6
John Bickley, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Rajah" in 1849 7
John Bickley, aged 26, a stonemason, who arrived in South Australia in 1849 aboard the ship "Rajah" 7
Martin Bickley, aged 38, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Grand Trianon"
John Bickley, aged 16, a bricklayer, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Grand Trianon"
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Bickley migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Bickley Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

William Bickley, aged 21, a bricklayer, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Indus" in 1843
Ann Bickley, aged 22, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Indus" in 1843
Robert Bickley, aged 18, a labourer, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Douglas" in 1873

Contemporary Notables of the name Bickley (post 1700) +

William E. Bickley, American entomologist and professor at the University of Maryland
George H. Bickley (1880-1938), American co-founder of DeArmond, Ashmead & Bickley, an architecture and landscape architecture firm based in Philadelphia active in the first half of the 20th century
Howard Lee Bickley (1871-1947), American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court
George Washington Lafayette Bickley (1819-1867), American founder of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Civil War era secret society
George Harvey Bickley (1868-1924), American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church
John Bickley (1819-1866), English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Kent between 1847 and 1860
Sir Humphrey Bickley (d. 1754), 5th Baronet of Attleburgh, Norfolk, English peer
Graham Bickley (b. 1958), English actor, best known for playing the role of Joey Boswell in Bread from 1989 until 1991
Wallace Alexander Bickley (1810-1876), English-born early settler in colonial Western Australia, who became a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, eponym of Bickley, a suburb of Perth
Mark Alan Bickley (b. 1969), former Australian rules football player with the Adelaide Crows in 2011

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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 14th February 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/asia/1847
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) RAJAH 1849. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1849Rajah.htm