In Ireland Williamson is almost
exclusive to Ulster and is most common in counties
Antrim, Derry, Armagh and Tyrone; most will be of
Scottish origin. Williams is less common in Ulster
than in Leinster and Munster. It is more common in
Co. Antrim than elsewhere and most will be of English or
Welsh origin.
The personal name William derives from
the Old German Willihelm and when introduced into Britain
by the Normans, it became the single most popular
personal name in England and remained so until it was
superseded by John. It gave rise to a host of
surnames including Williamson and Williams but by far the
most common was Williams. It is currently the third
most numerous name in England, the first being Smith and
the second, Jones. In Wales William was made
Gwilym, which became the surname Gwilliams and Then
Williams.
Williams was never common in Scotland which retained
the longer Williamson. This was very common in the
Lowlands. The Highland name MacWilliam was also
anglicised as Williamson (see MacWilliams). There
were MacWilliams or Williamsons, a sept of Clan Gunn, who
descended from a later chief of the clan called
William. There were also Williamsons in Caithness,
a sept of Clan Mackay.
Charles Williams, 1838-1904, the war correspondent,
was born at Coleraine, Co. Derry. As a reporter for
the Evening Standard and the Daily Chronicle, he covered
almost every war in Europe and Africa in a thirty-year
period, from the Franco-German War in 1870 to the
recapture of Khartoum in 1898. He also founded the
Press Club.
GLOSSARY
Clan
From the Gaelic
clann which means literally 'children'.
Mac-
From the Gaelic
mac, meaning 'son'
O'
From the Gaelic
Ó, meaning 'grandson', 'grandchild' or
'descendant'; Ní is the femine form of Ó,
meaning 'daughter' or 'descendant'
Plantation (Ulster)
The
redistribution of escheated lands after the
defeat of the Ulster Gaelic lords and the 'Flight
of the Earls' in 1607. Only counties
Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and
Cavan were actually 'planted', portions of land
there being distributed to English and Scottish
families on their lands and for the building of
bawns.
Sept
A family group of
shared ancestry living in the same locality
Undertakers
Powerful English
or Scottish landowners who undertook the
plantation of British settlers on the lands they
were granted.
Gaelic
This word in
Ireland has no relation to Scotland. As a
noun it is used to denote the Irish language, as
an adjective to denote native Irish as opposed to
Norman or English origin.
Erenagh
From the Irish
Gaelic airchinneach, meaning 'hereditary steward
of church lands'. A family would hold the
ecclesiastical office and the right to the church
or monastery lands, the incumbent at any one time
being the erenagh.
