Oswald (surname)

[1] The surname is most prevalent, as regards frequency, in Scotland and the southern part of the German speaking area (Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria).

Also in some but not all former German colonial territories (Tanzania, Namibia and Rwanda).The United States is the country with most occurrences of the name.

Also in the DH postcode area which covers central parts of County Durham in northern England.

[citation needed] In 1881 the distribution was more concentrated and the area with the highest frequency was Fife and Kinross-shire (KY).

From the end of the 17th century[14] until 1938,[15] a family of the name Oswald owned the estate of Dunnikier, near Kirkcaldy, Fife.

[14] However, in 1791-93, James Townsend Oswald arranged for a new mansion to be built in the northern part of the parish of Kirkcaldy, by Alexander Laing.

The family lived there until the last of the line, Colonel St Clair Oswald, C.R., died at Dunnikier House on 14th Dec 1938.

[19] Scotstoun, which was a mansion and estate on the north bank of the Clyde in the parish and county of Renfrew (but now subsumed in Glasgow), was purchased in 1748 by the brothers Richard and Alexander Oswald from the creditors of John Walkinshaw.

Being unmarried, they then left the estate to George Oswald, also a merchant in Glasgow, who was the eldest son of their cousin Rev.

[20] South of Balgray, in the parish of Mearns, Renfrewshire, lay the Barony of Fingalton, which was originally of great extent and one of the oldest possessions of the Hamilton family of Preston.