Surname Saturday – Quirk

The name comes from the Gaelic “O’Cuirc”, another form is “O’Coirce”. In Galway, the name also took the form “Oates,” to distinguish between branches of families. Quirke in Gaelic sounds like the word for Oates in Gaelic. It was common for parish registers to have a person’s records include both spellings of Quirke and Quirk, if an unrelated person such as a neighbour was sent to register the birth, the name was not always spelled correctly.

James and Alice Quirke were married around 1796 at Tipperary, Ireland and soon after moved to Mount Nugent, St Johns Well, Kilkenny Ireland. Their children were:

Peter Quirke – (1798-1863)

John Quirke – (1814-c 1850)

Thomas Quirke (1821-1866)

Nicholas Quirke (details unknown)

They also had another 6 males and 2 females, of which details of their names are unknown . A few years ago, a distant cousin that I was in contact with, sent me a copy of a document that was written by Thomas Quirke (b:1834-d:1908) In this document Thomas writes about his life and experiences but the most interesting thing was that he wrote about his parents and grandparents.

Who were the Quirke’s who came to Australia

Many of the Quirke Family came out to Australia between 1849 & 1865. Of which my GGG Grandmother, Mary Quirk was one, who had arrived on the ship Athenian in 1853.

First Name	Birth Date	Native Place	Ship Name	Arrival Date	Reel Numbers	Comments
Margaret Quirk	Abt 1828	Goran, St Johnswell, Kilkenny, Ireland	Victoria	2nd Sep 1849	Reel 2136, Reel 2460, [4/4915]	Sister to James
James Quirk	Abt 1824	Goran, St Johnswell, Kilkenny, Ireland	Victoria	2nd Sep 1849		Brother to Margaret
Peter Quirk	Abt 1798	St Johnswell, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	6 Feb 1852	Reel 2136; Reel 2463, [4/4926]	Father to Margaret & James above
Mary Quirk	Abt 1814	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	6 Feb 1852		Wife of Peter Quirke, maiden name Connon
Michael Quirk	Abt 1832	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	6 Feb 1852
John Quirk	Abt 1835	Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	6 Feb 1852
Mary Quik	Abt 1849	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	8 Feb 1852
Nicholas Quirk	Abt 1839	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	8 Feb 1852
Thomas Quirk	Abt 1834	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	8 Feb 1852
Peter Quirk	Abt 1842	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Neptune	8 Feb 1852
Mary Quirk	Abt 1831	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Athenian	15 Dec 1853		An Uncle Peter Quirk living in Sydney
Patrick Quirk	Abt 1835	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	David McIver	18 Dec 1854	Reel 2137; Reel 2466, [4/4937]	Sister Mary living in Sydney
Catherine Quirk	Abt 1811	Tipperary, Ireland	Matoaka	22 Jan 1857	Reel 2138; Reel 2476, [4/4970]	Mother of Mary Quirke & Patrick, maiden name Slattery
Margaret Quirk	Abt 1840	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Matoaka	22 Jan 1857
Catherine Quirk	Abt 1842	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Matoaka	22 Jan 1857
Thomas Quirk	Abt 1821	St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Nile	4 May 1861	Reel 2139, [4/4796]	Brother to Peter Quirk
Mary Quirk	Abt 1846	Lancaster, Lancashire, England	Nile	4 May 1861
Johanna Quirk		St Johns Well, Kilkenny, Ireland	Nile	4 May 1861		Mother of Mary Quirke & Wife of Thomas Quirke

A searchable index of the NSW Assistant Immigrants is available on the NSW State Records website.  You can also scroll through the digital copies of the Bounty Immigrants lists, 1838-96, ship by ship. These digital copies are the Agents Lists and the reels numbers range between 2134 & 2137. More detailed shipping lists can be found on the reels that begin with 24 and these can be found at your local library or at the NSW State Records.  These show more detail such as names of parents and comments such as ‘Uncle Peter Quirk, living in Sydney’.

1847 – 1864 Griffith’s Valuation

James Quirke acted as a landlord for a man named Millet at Mount Nugent. After James died his son John was appointed Agent for the landlord and held the position until he was accidentally killed by being crushed between a gate post and a vehicle.

County: Kilkenny

Parish: Rathcoole

Lessor: James Millet

Townland: MountNugent – Lower

Nicholas Quirle – Land. – Total net value of Land : £3.

Peter Quirke – House, Office & Land. – Total net value of Land/Buildings: £18.5

William Quirke – House, Office & Land. – Total net value of Land/Buildings: £13.10

Townland: MountNugent – Upper

Nicholas Quirke – Land. – Total net value of Land : £4

Catherine Quirke – House, Office & Land. – Total net value of Land/Buildings: £3.5 – cannot be sure, but I think this Catherine is possibly the wife of John Quirke (who died prior to 1850).

Nicholas Quirke – House, Office &Land. – Total net value of Land : £21