The Trott One-Name Research Group (TONRG) was formed in 1987 in the UK. We have been producing a newsletter since April 1988. We have members from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and many other countries.

Our website is here. https://trottonrg.wixsite.com/tonrg

As well as TROTT, we study TRATT and TREAT. Tratt reflects the pronunciation in Devon and Somerset. Treat is mainly found in the USA, where an emigrant family of Trotts became Treat in the early 17th century. We also study other variants, such as TROT, TROTE, TRETT, etc.

It is possible that Trott is derived from an obsolete medieval given name, though there are alternative explanations.

Albert Trott (1873-1914), the only man ever to hit a ball over the pavilion at Lord's during a first class cricket match

Here are a few notable Trotts from history.

For more information on these and other notable Trotts please see the Trott One-Name Research Group website.

https://trottonrg.wixsite.com/tonrg/notables-new

Sir John Trott, 1st Baronet of Laverstoke (ca 1615-1672) was a London haberdasher, who was created a baronet on 12th October 1660. In 1638, he married Elizabeth Wright, aged 16, a daughter and co-heir of Sir Edmond Wright, Lord Mayor of London. His only daughter was Katherine, who married Sir Hugh Stewkley, Baronet of Hinton, Hampshire. Sir John became Member of Parliament for Andover in 1660 and held the seat until his death. He was Sheriff of Hampshire, 1651-1652. As he left no male heirs who survived him, the baronetcy became extinct. His widow Elizabeth married a second time to Lord James Russell, sixth son of William, Duke of Bedford.

Perient Trott (1614-1679) was a London merchant, who was prominent in the early history of Bermuda, and owned a considerable amount of land there. He was a shareholder of the Somers Islands Company, which had been set up in 1615 to settle and develop Bermuda, also known as the Somers Islands. In 1666 he was appointed Deputy of the Company. In 1669 he sent his sons Samuel and Perient Jr to Bermuda to look after his interests there, although he never went there himself. Samuel is the ancestor of the Bermuda Trotts. Perient’s family originated in Yorkshire, probably in the Scarborough area.

Nicholas Trott (1658-1728), a son of Perient Trott, was a Governor of the Bahamas, and was also associated with South Carolina. He was appointed Governor of the Bahamas in 1694. He laid out the capital, then called Charles Town, and renamed it Nassau, after one of the titles of King William III. But he was soon in trouble with the proprietors of the Bahamas. He was accused of allowing a notorious pirate, Henry Avery, to anchor in the Bahamas in 1696 to obtain food and water. He was subsequently exonerated, as Henry Avery had used a false name, Henry Bridgeman, but he was sacked anyway. He went to South Carolina, where he married Anne Amy, the daughter of one of the proprietors of South Carolina. Nicholas was later accused of personally appropriating the cargo of a vessel which had gone aground in the Bahamas during his term as governor. He was ordered to repay the value of the cargo. Unable to do so, he ended up in the Fleet Prison in London in 1702.

Nicholas Trott (1662/3-1739/40) was a lawyer who became Attorney-General and Chief Justice of South Carolina. He was admitted to the Inner Temple on 14th June 1695. In 1696 he became Attorney-General of Bermuda. In 1699 he was appointed Attorney-General of South Carolina. He became Chief Justice of South Carolina in 1703. Nicholas is probably best known as the judge at the trial of the pirate Stede Bonnet in 1718. Stede Bonnet was found guilty and executed at Charleston on 10th December 1718. The proceedings of the trial were published in London, and were widely quoted as precedents in many subsequent piracy trials. Nicholas was awarded a Doctorate in Civil Law (DCL) by Oxford University in 1720.

Nicholas was a first cousin of the man of the same name, the Governor of the Bahamas. As the two men were contemporaries and were both associated with Bermuda and South Carolina they are often confused. They are sometimes known as Nicholas Trott the Elder (Governor of the Bahamas) and Nicholas Trott the Younger (lawyer of South Carolina). There is confusion around Nicholas’s parentage in the published sources, which say he was the son of Samuel Trott of Bermuda and grandson of Perient Trott (1614-1679), but this is incorrect. The register of Inner Temple Admissions states that his father was Nicholas Trott, merchant of the City of London. His obituary, published in the South Carolina Gazette on 2nd February 1739/40 gives his date of birth as 19th January 1662/3, which corresponds with the date of his baptism nine days later on 28th January in the register of St Botolph Aldgate, stating that he was the son of Nicholas and his wife Mary.

George Henry Stevens (Harry) Trott (1866-1917) was an Australian Test Cricketer. He was an all-rounder who made his first class debut for Victoria in 1886, and his Test debut against England in 1888. He played in 24 Test Matches between 1888 and 1898, when he often captained the team. He suffered a breakdown in 1898, ending his Test career, although he later returned to play for Victoria and his club, South Melbourne.

Albert Trott (1873-1914) was a Test Cricketer, one of only fourteen players who have played for both Australia and England. He was an all-rounder, who began his career in Victoria, Australia in 1892. He made his Test debut for Australia against England in 1895. In 1896 he travelled to England, where he played for Middlesex Cricket Club. He was selected to play for England on their tour of South Africa in 1898-9, during which he made the first of his eight first class centuries. On 31st July 1899, he hit a ball over the Pavilion at Lord’s during a match between the MCC and Australia, the only man ever to do so. Harry and Albert Trott were brothers. Their father, Adolphus Trott, was born around 1837 in Antigua, West Indies. Their descendants have long believed that this family was descended from the Bermuda Trotts, and DNA has recently proved this to be correct.

According to the Surnames of England and Wales website, Trott is the 2020th most common surname in England and Wales. There are estimated to be 3,945 Trotts in England and Wales.

Surnames of England and Wales

The map shows the distribution of the surname Trott in the 1881 census for England and Wales. The name was most common in Somerset, followed by Devon. There were other clusters in London/Essex/Kent, in Yorkshire and in South Wales. The total number of Trotts in the 1881 census was 1,965, of which 503 were in Somerset, 204 in Devon and 273 in Middlesex.

Trott also occurs in Germany and is unrelated to the English Trotts.

For more distribution maps, please see the Trott One-Name Research Group website.

https://trottonrg.wixsite.com/tonrg/didst-maps-trial

The Trott One-Name Research Group has a large database of Trotts and variants. For more information, please see the Trott One-Name Group website.

https://trottonrg.wixsite.com/tonrg/a-world-of-trotts

The TONRG sponsors a DNA project with Family Tree DNA. This was established in 2008 and currently has 68 members, of whom 48 have done a YDNA test. Around 40 of these have been grouped into seven DNA families, in some cases providing proof of a descent which is not findable by using paper records.

DNA has proved that the Somerset Trotts are not related to the Devon Trotts. There are several different Trott families from Somerset, but all of the Devon Trotts are descended from a common ancestor, who must have lived some time in the centuries before the beginning of parish registers in the 16th century. DNA has also proved that there are unrelated Trott families originating in Essex and in Yorkshire.

DNA has also been able to prove that a large number of Trotts from the USA originated in Somerset. The American Treats also originated in Somerset, and are ultimately related to many of the American Trotts, but this is probably due to separate migrations of different families. The photo is the parish church of Pitminster, Somerset, the origin of the Treats. DNA has also proved that the Antigua Trotts are descended from the Bermuda Trotts and that the German Trotts are unrelated to the English Trotts.

For more information on the DNA project, please see the project website.

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/trott/about/background