The story of the
Chrimes, Crimes, Chrymes and Crymes
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Distribution within Australia

Most of the CHRIMESs in Australia are to be found in Victoria with smaller numbers in Western Australia and New South Wales

The total number of people born CHRIMES who have lived in Australia is about 150.

All of the CRIMESs in Australia are now to be found in South Australia whilst there had been a small family in New South Wales

The total number of people born CRIMES who have lived in Australia is about 14.

There are no records of people born CRYMES or CHRYMES who have lived in Australia.

A quick inspection of the Australian Births, Marriages and Deaths records gives the impression that there have been only about 20 people born CHRIMES or CRIMES who have lived in Australia. However, on closer inspection it becomes clear that these records cover only a small part of the story.

The availability of Australian online records of births/marriages/deaths is not as comprehensive as it is for UK records. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the different Australian states have released different amounts of data. Generally speaking, birth records are not available beyond 1920, marriage records are not available beyond 1950 and death records are not available beyond 1985.

There have certainly been CHRIMES and CRIMES children born in Australia in the twentieth century whose birth was either not recorded, or whose birth records are not available online to researchers. This situation is to some extent compensated by the fact that where online data does exist, it contains more information than the equivalent UK data. For instance, online death records usually give the full names of the parents, which can identify an individual not found in the birth records, and place that individual into the correct family.


The records reveal a significant number of CHRIMES children born in Australia who died in infancy, mainly in the early years of the twentieth century. Conditions may have been different in Australia to those endured by residents of, say, nineteenth century Warrington, Lancashire, England, but they were apparently not altogether better. Of the 24 CHRIMES births which are recorded online, 6 died in infancy.

This research has identified 98 people born CHRIMES and 14 people born CRIMES who have lived in Australia.

The Australian Electoral Rolls are a good source of data, comparable to the UK census records. However, by definition the Electoral Rolls only record eligible electors. The most recent Electoral Roll is for 1980. Given that the Age of Majority in Australia was then 18, anyone born after 1962 will not have been recorded. That leaves a massive gap of 50 years to the present day for which we have no records. Clearly there are far more Australian CHRIMES than this research has found - perhaps as many as 50 more - and a few more CRIMES. An Australian researcher might be expected to know their own family spanning the last 50 years, in which case this lack of recent records may not cause a problem, but for a "One Name Study" such as this, the problem is significant.

The Australian records use abbreviated forenames much more commonly than English records, which makes computerised searches for particular names more difficult. Abbreviations such as Wm, Hy, Thos and Jos are common in records up to about 1950. If we are to blame anyone for the excessive use of abbreviations it should be the registrars, not the families. However another "lack of precision" cannot be blamed on the registrars: that is the frequently occurring change in the order of forenames - not so much a problem once you know to look out for it - but again it can get computerised searches confused!

So far this research has found the following Australian immigrations of males. In some cases, the person named immigrated with their wife and family who are not separately listed here.

Of the known immigrations, that of Henry CHRIMES b.1841 who married Catherine RYAN is by far the most significant in the establishment of the CHRIMES name in Australia, there being at least 32 of his CHRIMES descendants born there. Henry's immigration was also the earliest, in about 1865.

Although Samuel CRIMES b.1821 had three sons, none of them had children.
James Henry CRIMES had one son who married in Australia in 1937, continuing a small line of CRIMES who are present in South Australia to this day.

As we know the English ancestry of all of these Australian immigrants, they and their families appear on "branches" which already exist in this research. Thus there are no new Australian branches.

The following person appears in the Australian records, but his parents are not known

Can you help? Do you have information about the above person?

In summary, we know of 98 people born with the name CHRIMES who have lived in Australia, but the true number may be nearer to 150. We know of just 14 people born with the name CRIMES who have lived in Australia. A fuller picture of the last 50 years can only be achieved with help from Australian contributors.

Revised October 2018

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Last updated 2 January 2024
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