The Kinsella sept is native in part of the modern County Wexford in Leinster, a district formerly called the Kinsellaghs. The oldest documentary mention of the surname appears in the Ancient Records of Leinster, dated to 1170, where the son of the King of Leinster is named as Enna Cinsealach. Notable bearers of the surname Kinsella include Ted Kinsella the Australian politician and judge. Ted was born in Glen Innes in 1893 and died in Sydney in 1967. During World War I he served in the 2nd, 54th and 56th  Battalions, seeing action at Gallipoli and Flanders and rising to the rank of lieutenant.