The potential origins for the name in Britain and the possible variants and cognates have already been discussed. The question is now, where were Hillmans in Britain in the past, and where are they now?
There are many sources of information for England, which is where most Hillmans lived until recently. A good starting point is the Censuses that are currently available from 1841-1911. These to some extent indicate absolute numbers, possible variant, geographical distribution and movements within and between English counties, and the other nations of the UK – Wales, Scotland and Ireland as it is was until the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which came into effect on 3 May 1921.
Another recent research tool is the analysis of DNA records from individual people. These can indicate ethnic origins on a worldwide as well as more local basis, as well as relationships between people to several generations back. My own DNA results suggest a small proportion of Scandinavian aspects as well as the expected English origins. On a more detailed level – that is Sussex in England – a group has been formed by Mori Hillman in Canada to attempt to try to tease out inter-relationships in Sussex where we both originate, and can be found in the Hillmans of Sussex site – https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/hillmansof-sussex/about for anyone who may be intersted in delving further and joining the research.
3.1.1 Numbers of Hillmans in the British Isles
The repeated UK Censuses at ten-year intervals from 1841 to 1911 give a window onto the changes in numbers of people with the family name Hillman. More recent Censuses are subject to 100 years closure. The data used in this instance was obtained from the Family Search website[2], limiting it to England and Wales, given that not all Censuses included Scotland and Ireland, as well as changes to Irish boundaries. Very low numbers of Hillmans have in any case been recorded in Ireland and Scotland until more recent times. County boundaries have also changed over the 80 years concerned, but the nearest approximation has been made in collating the records and making the distribution maps.
Total numbers were calculated for the name Hillman in each Census, as well as for a number of apparent cognates (Table 1). Total Hillman numbers in England and Wales have climbed steadily from just under 1,500 in 1841 to almost 4,000 in 1911. No one source of data can be trusted to have collated the information systematically, nor has all the data always been available to them. In the case of the Family Search data used here it is evident that aside from any evident perturbations that might have caused losses of people from the area, the figures from 1861 and to some extent 1891 indicate numbers lower than expected from the trend in the population (Figure 1). This is probably explained by the “missing pieces”[3], those parishes and areas for which the data is unavailable or missing.
Table 1 Total number of Hillman & variants in successive England & Wales Censuses
None of the likely variants approach the total numbers for Hillman, with Illman being the next most frequent in the low hundreds (323), and Helman only totalling just under 160 by 1911.
Other variants can be seen to be very irregular in occurrence with time, suggesting the use of an alternative spelling by the informant or the recorder at some censuses and not at others.
The variant Hillmann with the double “n” ending has been shown to be of Germanic origin, and an influx between the 1891 and 1901 censuses is apparent. This effect will be examined later below.
Figure 1 Hillman Census records 1841-1911
Considering other possible variants, the data recorded suggests most are infrequent and irregular apart from one – Helman (Table 2). It has been suggested[4] that some variants are regional depending upon local dialects. These mainly concern pronunciation and the vowels used – thus Hallman, Hellman, Hillman, Hollman and Hullman. Only Hollman approaches the level reached by Illman, and Holman that exceeds Hillman in overall frequency in England and Wales. These are further considered in the “Distribution” section below.
Table 2 Possible Hillman variants recorded in England & Wales Censuses
Hillman is not a common name compared with some, working out at only around one Hillman per 10,000 of the total population of England and Wales combined[5],[6] (Table 3) over this 80 year period.
Table 3 Number of Hillmans per 10,000 of the population of England & Wales
3.1.2 Distribution
The Census data permits analysis of the results down to county level for both County of Birth and the Census County where the data was collected. It has to be remembered that married women bearing the name Hillman at the Census would usually have been born with a different surname, and may also have been born in a different county that is not remarkable for its Hillman population. This may skew the information, but is difficult to avoid.
In 1841 the Census records the name Hillman in 33 counties, mainly in southern England with over 100 records in each of only 6 counties (Figure 3), with E and W Sussex considered as a single county). By the 1911 Census this has increased to records in 44 counties, with over 100 records in each of 15 counties (Figure 2). These figures indicate not only an increase in numbers, concomitant with the overall increase in the UK population, but also indicate the movement of people into counties in which Hillman had previously been little or un-represented.
By the time of the 1881 Census the most significant movements of people off the land into industrial centres had taken place, as industry and railways developed, and agriculture became mechanised. The 1881 Census is also probably the most studied and analysed enabling concentrations of a surname to be examined. The Surname Atlas[7] provides the facility to examine a surname distribution at that date, together with any variants required, and at county or district level (Figure 4).
It is evident that the name was by no means confined to a single area of the country, but that three main concentrations existed by 1881, together with a significant new distribution in the Midlands and South Wales. The three main areas compare with the 1841 clusters (cf. Figure 3), with the Midlands and South Wales being a relatively recent change in distribution, presumably linked to new opportunities for employment during the second half of the 19th Century.
3.1.3 Variants
The possible variants of the name Hillman have been discussed elsewhere. Given variation in the initial letter (H or I), the first vowel (a, e, i, o, or u), together with the number of “l”s and final “n”s the variation is considerable. Further possibilities include probably older forms of the name, including Ylman, Yelman, Hyllman and Hileman. There are also possible earlier variants such as ad Montem, atte Hyll and uppe Hyll.
The amount of time required to analyse all these variants through the Censuses would be significant and beyond the scope of this research at present. However, a number of websites provide software that has carried out this analysis, and some maps from the Public Profiler[8] site are included here.
It is evident that even in 1881 there were still foci for each variant, but with significant overlap as well. Hallman was concentrated in the Midlands, but with areas further south in Devon as well. Hellman was widely distributed, but Hollman restricted almost to the south-east corner.
The possible variants based upon dialects with no initial “H” letter show extremely localised distributions which may indicate forms that were dying out, or not expanding for some reason to other parts of the country (Figure 6). This concurs with the observation by Jacek Fisiak[9] that different vowels in the word “hyll” can be ascribed to regional pronunciation variations. In Figure 6 Allman is concentrated in the north-west centre of England, while Ellman and Illman are confined to the south-east corner.
3.1.4 Movements within the British Isles
Since 1841 the Census event has recorded the place of birth of informants, from which the county can be deduced in most cases. In later Censuses the county was also recorded.
Comparison was made between the numbers recorded in their Birth County and their Census County at any one Census. Again, there will be some duplication as a person alive at one Census may well be alive still at some subsequent Censuses, but their Birth County should have remained the same. Calculating the net loss and gain for each county with Hillman records gives an indication of where people are moving from and to and/or where their numbers are increasing through reproduction – or lack of it.
Overall net gain or loss greater than 20 people for each county over all eight Census events has been plotted to given an impression of where people have moved from and to, and/or where positive and negative rates of increase have occurred (Figure 7). By and large this indicates a general movement from agricultural counties to urban industrialised areas. Significant losses were recorded throughout the West Country, the South-East, and East Anglia, with significant gains in the capital London-Middlesex area, the Midlands, South Wales, and the northern industrialised areas of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire including the urban areas of Manchester and Liverpool.
My own Illman & Hillman ancestors who were humble Sussex “AgLabs” reflect this general trend of moving from agricultural lands to fulfil industry labour requirements. They lived in the West Grinstead area for well over 150 years from at least 1698 until they moved north into further agricultural employment in Surrey after 1858. My grandfather broke the mould by working for the railways in and around the London area starting in about 1910. Since then his descendants have been able to add at least another 15 countries where they have lived and worked.
The Staffordshire “boat people” are another interesting Hillman grouping. I am grateful to Bill Harrison for alerting me to the Hillmans involved[10]. The development of canals and canal boats were important as a means of transporting materials and goods, especially in the Midlands, from the early 1700s through to the mid 1800s[11]. The commercial aspect of canal transportation then declined through the loss of trade to the railways. The canals led to the evolution of a group of people known sometimes as the “boat people”, a peripatetic community joined by occupation, and whose entire lives could be lived aboard their canal boat home.
The earliest Hillman records in the Staffordshire area date from around the mid-1500s[12], some two centuries before the development of commercial canal traffic. This suggests that the boat people, including Hillmans, were drawn from local sources of the name, rather than through immigration from other parts of the country, in the migration from rural agriculture to urban industrial employment.
Numbers of Hillman Baptisms recorded for Staffordshire as a whole (Family Search) peak in the first fifty years of the 1800s at over 100. Those for the boat people of the Kinver and Kingswinford area collected by Harrison indicate a similar peak of 61 for the same period. There is a curious drop in number of baptisms in the previous half century for both sets of data (only 28 and 12 respectively). There is either an anomaly in the source of data (most likely), or some reason why so many fewer children were being produced.
An additional window onto this interesting community can be found in the nearby Wolverhampton area[13]. Norman Holt compiled an index that includes Hillmans in this community, but with no overlap of names or families that I can discern with the Staffordshire canal community further south. The data covers the later period of 1854-1900, with only eight Hillman baptisms, and 12 marriages.
The available data for early England shows that the name Hillman and its variants were quite widespread, albeit at quite low density, in many central and southern counties. A case in point is that of the Congresbury, Somerset, churchwardens. The church of St Mary the Virgin at Yatton, near Congresbury, had a churchwarden with the surname Hillman, or one of its variants for 15 different periods over three centuries between 1446 and 1748 (Allan Attwood and Elizabeth Cullen, pers comm, 2005). Variants included Hullman, Hyllman, Hylman, Hillman and Hilman. Analysis of the date periods suggests a minimum of seven different men, and a maximum possible of eleven. This further illustrates the presence of the name beyond just Sussex and Devon and Cornwall from the earliest days of surnames.
3.1.5 Immigration to the British Isles
When a census informant has been born outside of the UK the birth country has been recorded instead of the birth county. The occurrence of such incidences enables some conclusions to be reached on the origins of the name and possible historic sources for the name from outside the UK.
The list mostly includes origins within continental Europe, but also “returns” from British colonial “possessions” where UK citizens have come back from countries where they had been living and working (Figure 5), sometimes for decades and even centuries. The numbers in brackets after each country below are the total records for that country over the 80 years of Censuses. Some will be duplicated, given that a person’s lifetime could potentially cover several or all eight decades of the Census years.
Locations where the name was probably original are presumed to be those in mainland Europe – east and west – based upon research into the name elsewhere. Highest amongst these was Germany, followed by Russia and Poland.
- Sources include in Western Europe – Austria (3), Belgium (2), France (1), Germany (52), Netherlands (1), Spain (4).
- Hillmans from Scandinavia were recorded from the following countries – Denmark (1), Finland (1), Norway (4), Sweden (2).
- Eastern European origins, probably from the Jewish community, included – Poland (15), Rumania (4), Russia (33).
Return locations, from which Britons were probably returning after living and working elsewhere (or simply visiting Britain) were as follows:
- Asia – Burma (2), Ceylon (2), India (17), Thailand (1).
- Africa – South Africa (4).
- Australasia – Australia (10).
- Americas – Canada (10), Chile (4), USA (16), West Indies (13).
- Island “colonies” – Gibraltar (3), Malta (3), Mauritius (2).
Figure 8 Records of Hillmans immigrating from outside the UK
Similar analysis of the Hillman variants suggests further possible links with continental European areas.
Illman was recorded as immigrating once each from Australia, Canada, Germany and Hungary. Interestingly there were none from Scandinavia where the name Illman is frequent.
The variants spelt with other vowels than “i” initially – Hellman, Helman and Hileman were recorded in relatively high numbers from Russia (22), Germany (19) and Poland (15).
These results all support multiple origins for the name and its variants in Europe including England, but much more and earlier detail is required to provide absolute proof.
Sources
[1] http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-in-europe/
[2] Family Search, England and Wales Censuses https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?facets=ON&query=%20surname%3AHillman&count=20&collection_id=1493745
[3] https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/census-for-england-wales-and-scotland-missing-pieces
[4] Fisiak, J. 1997. OE Hyll in the East Midlands in early Middle English. pp. 86-99 In: Language in Time and Space. Franz Steiner Verlag.
[5] “Population estimates”. Office for National Statistics, Jun 2019
[6] “200 years of the Census in Wales“ Gov.uk. in Wikipedia, Jun 2019
[7] Archer, Steve. 2015. The Surname Atlas. http://www.Archersoftware.co.uk
[8] Public Profiler GB Names http://www.gbnames.publicprofiler.org
[9] Fisiak, Jacek. 1997. OE hyll in the East Midlands in Early Middle English. p.86-99 In: Language in time and space: studies in honour of Wolfgang Vierek on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997 – 510 pages http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KemgK5CquRkC&dq=atte+Hill&source=gbs_navlinks_s
[10] Harrison, Bill. Staffordshire boat people. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/billharrison/gene.html
[11] Freer, Wendy. 1991. Canal Boat People, 1840-1970. PhD Thesis, University of Nottingham. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10946/1/281065_vol1.pdf
[12] Family Search, Staffordshire births, marriages and burials.
[13] Boat people of the Wolverhampton Canal System. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/STS/Names/WolvCanal#index