Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Stuttard
Variants: Stutard, Stutterd
Category: 1 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is in its early stages.
Contact: Mr Geoffrey Stuttard
Less common spelling variations included use of 'th' instead of the double 't' or an 'o' instead of the 'u' but these were typically just the occasional parish register entry and not to be confused with the Stotherd, Stothart and similar surnames which arose in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, and the Stoddard, Stoddart and similar surnames which were of Irish origin and arrived in England via migration into Cumbria & Northumberland over the Scottish border and via the port of Liverpool and along the Mersey Canal into Manchester. Frequently when a Stuttard relocated to an area where one of these spellings was already dominant they lost their own spelling and the name altered to the locally more frequent version.
Some Stutterds retained that spelling when they moved away from the Pendle area purely to retain the 'stuttered' pronunciation in areas where the 'ard' ending would change the pronunciation - for example a fmaily that settled firstly in Huddersfield, later in Banbury then emigrated from there in the 1850s. The last to use the Stutterd spelling in UK died in the early 1950s.
There have been few notable Stuttards but the 4 below deserve mention:
Mason Stuttard was a self-taught multilinguist who wrote the textbooks still used 60 years later to learn the language Esperanto and also translated many novels into the language. He did not return home to UK after World War 2 but remained in Yugoslavia for many years as Tito's personal English interpreter until his retirement.
William Thomas Stuttard was working as a magazine correspondent covering the Spanish Civil War when he was headhunted by the London Times to be their Spanish correspondent based in Madrid.
Ellis Stuttard's football playing career was interrupted by World war 2. He was originally a Burnley player but was transferred to the West country where he played for Torquay, Exeter and Plymouth. Later he managed Plymouth Argyle to their highest ever League placing in 1963 - today he would have taken them to the playoffs for the Premiership. He also served them as club scout - a position he also filled for Arsenal before returning to Devon. In that capacity he 'discovered' both Paul Mariner and Trevor Francis who would both subsequently play many times for England. Brian Clough brought his European Champions side Nottingham Forest (including Francis) to Plymouth for Ellis' testimonial game when he finally retired.
Sir John Boothman Stuttard was Lord Mayor of London in the 2000s having ahd a significant accountaincy career. His is the only known Stuttard coat of arms.