Our family history
Discover the Skinner family history
Explore our ancestors, their stories and the places they called home, from Europe to colonial Australia and beyond.
Find an ancestor
Search our family tree by name, surname or place, or discover the family connections recorded in our research.
Try Mary Ann Skinner, Alfred Skinner, Beagley, Brightling or Gulargambone.
Explore our family history
Choose a starting point, whether you are tracing a family connection or discovering the stories behind the names.
Family tree
Browse surnames, discover individual profiles and explore relationships across generations.
Explore the family treeFamily stories
Discover the lives of our ancestors through biographies, historical records and photographs.
Read family storiesAncestral places
Explore the towns, villages and regions connected to our family on an interactive map.
Explore the mapTrace a family branch
Family Stories
Our research
From England to Australia
Our family history follows the Skinner family and connected family lines across generations, from their English origins to the lives they built in New South Wales.
This website brings together family records, photographs, historical documents and stories. It is an ongoing research project, and we welcome new information and corrections.
About our family historyThe Skinner surname
The name Skinner comes from the old Norse Skinnari, meaning someone who deals in skins or skins animals. The first record of any Skinner in England is Henry le Skynner in 1273, no doubt a Norman. Stephan Skynnar held land in Inverness in 1361. John Skinner was burgess of Inverness in 1360 and another John Skinner was burgess of Aberdeen in 1470.
The current spelling appears in the 1500s, with Stephen Skinner owning Le Burtons in Hereford. His brother Robert Skinner was Bishop of Worcester at the Restoration of Charles II and died in 1557. There was a Skinner who was Lord Mayor of London in 1596. A Company of Skinners was raised in Edinburgh and these became Skinners Horse in India in the early 1800s. There were many Skinners in Essex down the east coast and in southern England in the 1500s and this is where our ancestors probably came from.
Early Skinners in Australia
The first Skinner in Australia was probably William Skinner, a convict on the 2nd Fleet who was granted 30 acres at Toongabbie on the 1st of October 1796. Richard Skinner was sentenced to transportation to NSW in 1791 aboard the ship Salamander. Mary Skinner, a former convict, had to surrender a land grant to Governor Macquarie on the 30th of April, 1810. Another William Skinner arrived in Sydney in 1838 on the Eden as a passenger, only ten days before our ancestor, Alfred Skinner. A Richard Skinner was involved in the mutiny aboard the Bounty, but he drowned when the Pandora, transporting some of the mutineers back to England, sank near Cape York in 1791. There is one plot at Rutherford cemetery near Newcastle, containing three Skinners and one Smith, born from 1819 to 1876, perhaps related, considering that the Smiths came from near Newcastle and the later intermarriages of the two families.
Help us preserve our family history
Have a family photograph, document, memory or correction to share? We would love to hear from you, whether you are a relative or have an interest in our family’s history.
Get in touch