Having started to research my family history in 1984, I discovered that the Lutton surname is rare in England.  There is a tradition in Ireland that the first Luttons arrived in Ireland towards the end of the 17th century from England.  The name is now relatively common in Ireland, especially in the North.  Why is it scarce in England if that is where it originated.  Of the small number of Luttons in the 1881 census of England and Wales I found that a large proportion had been born in Ireland.  I decided it was time to concentrate on the Lutton name.

My own family was easy to trace back  to 1800 as I was aware of all the names back to my Great-Great-Grandparents from fireside conversations I had overheard in my youth.  We still visited the ancestral home in Foymore, Co Armagh, Ireland where these ancestors had lived.  It was easy to confirm the documentary evidence through parish records.  Before 1800 it becomes more difficult as not all parish records have survived so that is still a work in hand.

The next advance going backwards was discovering a source which indicated that a branch of the family in Ireland in the 18th century believed that the two brothers who came from England just before 1700 were named William and Ralph and they originated from Knapton in Yorkshire, England.  The Lutton family in Knapton is well documented up to the English civil war.  Whether records are missing or the children were born elsewhere, as members of the extended family, Ralph and William have not yet been found.  Apart from that the family is traceable back to the reign of Henry VIII. Parish records go back to Elizabeth I and other official records go much earlier.

Update 4 November 2018

Recent research indicating that Luttons were in Ireland from earlier in the 17th century gives possible candidates for William and Ralph who may have been in a Royalist force opposed to Cromwell.  This research is ongoing as is United States, Australia and Canada.  Gloucestershire and Devon in England and Paris in France are yet to be tackled.  Help from an interested Lutton would be welcomed.

Details will be published shortly.