Kickham statistics

There were 51 Kickhams recorded in the Irish Census of 1911. The figure was more correctly 52, as there was also a Cathal Cuiceam, who had been recorded in 1901 as Charles J. Kickham.

I am having difficulties with the corresponding statistics for other countries, but the orders of magnitude would appear to be as follows:

Great Britain	...	...	.80
Canada	...	...	.15
United States	...	...	110
Australia	...	...	150

In Canada and Australia, the Kickhams were, to my eye, clearly either from Tipperary, or descended from the same stock. The position in the United States was similar, but not as clearly so.

In Great Britain, most Kickhams in 1911 were indigenous, with only a couple having been born in Ireland, as far as I can see. One must not neglect the likelihood of earlier migrants from Ireland, but this statistic appears to confirm what one might expect i.e. that the corruption from "Kirkham" to "Kickham" - which is regarded by most as the probable origin of the name - was not confined to Ireland. Mind you, the uncorrupted form is much less scarce in Britain (about 6,000 in 1911).

In Ireland, in 1911, there were also 55 Kirkhams. Of these, only one was Roman Catholic, whereas the Kickhams were R.C. without a single exception. This suggests that the Kirkhams, whose distribution was heavily concentrated (39/55, with a further 10 in Waterford) on the East coast, were not closely related to the Irish Kickhams. Quite a few of the male Kirkham heads of household were born in England, which "puts the tin hat on it".

As with all such data, it must be remembered that some of the 1911 Irish Kickhams are not "real" Kickhams, in the sense that they were not born with the name but adopted it on marriage. There were 11 of those in 1911, leaving 40, or 41 including Cathal. (Of course, there were also invisible female Kickhams who had married into other families).

First,observe the smallness of the number. (For the little that it is, so far, worth, my impression is that the 2013 number of Irish Kickhams would be similar). By contrast there were

• 146 Hefferons
• 494 Carrigans
• 1,486 McFarlands
• 2,410 Raffertys
• 2,422 O'Rourkes
• 3,819 Tobins
• 4,419 Costellos
• 4,550 Fergusons
• 5,010 Walkers
• 6,297 Dwyers (not counting 1600 O'Dwyers, incidentally)
• 7,051 Egans
• 13,561 Flynns
• 18,326 Murrays

Unsurprisingly (because all apparently descend from a Lancashire farrier called Kirkham who came to the area of Cashel, County Tipperary circa 1650), of the 41 "real" (as defined above) Kickhams in 1911, just over half (21) were in Tipperary. Of these, thirteen were in Mullinahone village & nearby Kilvemnon. My grandmother, her father and siblings accounted for eight of these. The other Tipperary Kickhams were in Ballingarry (1), Crohane (2), Kilmurry (1), Newtown (3) and Garrangibbon (1). As yet, I am not able to definitely establish a relationship between my grandmother's immediate family and the other Kickhams in Tipperary at that time.

After Tipperary, the county with the greatest number of Kickhams in 1911 was Cork, with 11. One of these was a young man in Youghal, born in Tipperary. The others were two families in Cork city, at Cove Street and at Grattan Street.

In Dublin, there were four, all children of Alexander J. Kickham (1830-95), a brother of the renowned Charles J. Kickham, Fenian and author. It remains unclear, but the father, John (1804-61), of the latter was probably either a brother or a first cousin of my grandmother's great-grandfather Michael (1795-1850).

Kilkenny had three Kickhams, all part of a household at Killamery, Knockroe, due east of Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, and not far outside the county boundary.

Finally, the remaining two lived at Kilmacthomas, County Waterford, due south of Mullinahone.

Update on Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 12:27PM by Fergus O'Rourke

Although I would treat the data with some care (I suspect double-counting, and confusion with Kirkhams and Wickhams etc), the data visible on this page is of interest and will be investigated by me before long.