Tudbury
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Tudbury One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Tudbury One-Name Study

Welcome to The Tudbury One-name Study.

Your queries, comments and contributions with regard to this study are always welcome and appreciated.

The study was registered with the Guild of One Name Studies in 2000.

My interest in the name started many years earlier when in 1963, I married Michael William Tudbury, I was informed by my new father in law Joseph Albert, who incidentally had nine siblings that I was now part of a family with an extremely unusual name. I was intrigued by this very proud family of tall strong men and decided that one day I would find out more about their history. That opportunity arose when I took early retirement in 1998.

A newsletter ‘Tottas News’ is issued on a biannual basis and is available to all interested persons on request. The current circulation is about 90.

Variants

The original registered variants of the name are Tudberry, Tudbery, Tutbury, Tutbery and Todbury. In the 16th and 17th Centuries variants were Tudberie, Tutberie, Tudbree, and Tutbree whilst in the 14th and 15th Centuries variants were de Tuttebury and occasionally Tutesbury. The name Tudsbury and its variant Tudsbery were not originally included in the study but have now been added to the research and may prove to have the same origins.

Origin of the surname

The origin of the name remains unclear indeed it may never be fully explained but two options have distinct possibilities and even these may be linked.

• From the town of Tutbury in Staffordshire which took its name from the Anglo Saxon chieftain called Totta whence the stronghold of Toteberie or Tuttebury was formed ie ( Totta’s Castle). In medieval records the town of Tutbury is sometimes also referred to as Tudbury and Tutesbury.
• From an extinct village in South Yorkshire called Todber that is the hill of a man named Totta. It is stated that the inhabitants took the name Tudberrie.

In either case the name is a locative one and derived from a place name.

So far definite identification back to Flintham, Nottinghamshire in 1656 has shown all of the names within the original worldwide study are indeed of one unique family. The earliest records for Tudsbury are found in the Manor Court Rolls for Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire in the 16th century. This name variation does not appear to exist in the Medieval Rolls of the 13th & 14th century although the deviant Tutesbury can occasionally found.

Historical occurrences

• Thomas de Tutbury c1300 – 1370. Thomas represented Derby in parliament more times than any other single person during the medieval period serving eight times between 1328 and 1361.
• Richard de Tuttebury - 1362 – 1367 Rector of Teversal Parish Church, Nottinghamshire; ? – 1376 Dean and sacristan St Mary’s Church Leicester; 1376 – 1378 Rector of St Michaels Church, Linby, Nottinghamshire; 1378 - Chaplin of St James Chantry, Newark, Nottinghamshire.
• Thomas de Tutbury –Clerk and keeper of the king’s wardrobe for Richard II. In 1400 Thomas was responsible for the carriage of the body of Richard II from Pontefract castle to London. He became Dean of Chichester and was treasurer of the household of all castles lordships, manors and lands in England and Wales with some stated exceptions. It is believed that he was of a Derbyshire family.
• Adam Tutbury c1350- 1398 - Merchant and burgess of Kingston upon Hull. Adam was jailed in Fleet Prison, London but he was soon released and given a Royal pardon. On another occasion Richard II intervened personally in support of a claim that Adam made against a confiscated cargo.
• John Tutbury c1355-1433 – Ship Owner, Merchant and 5 times mayor of Kingston upon Hull. In 1399 when Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster (who later became Henry IV) approached the town with the purpose of deposing the King, John Tutbury as Mayor ordered the bridges to be drawn up, the gates to be shut and the burgesses to stand to arms. When Bolingbroke demanded immediate entrance Tutbury refused his request and told the Duke he had sworn to be true to his Sovereign, Richard II and to keep the town for his use. The duke and his associates withdrew and immediately marched to Doncaster.
• Lawrence Tutbury c1380 – son of Adam and kinsman of John above who was also a merchant in Kingston upon Hull
• Thomas de Tutbury 1490 – c1560, In 1532 he was appointed abbot of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire. In 1536 under the reign of Henry VIII, when the smaller monasteries including Stoneleigh were suppressed, Thomas became a clerk and gave testimony in disputes between tenants appointed by the abbey and the new inhabitants of Stoneleigh.

Frequency of the name

From the 1881 census for England and Wales there were 70 Tudbury/Tutburys including variants and 40 Tudsbury/Tudsberys recorded in that census. In the 1880 US census there were 14 Tudburys, 5 Tudsburys and at that time it is believed that there were 11 Tutburys in New Zealand. A total of 129 family named members worldwide.

Today I believe there are about a total of about 200 people worldwide whose names fall within this study.

Distribution of the name

• In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries the distribution of the name is primarily in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. By the early part of the 19th century records indicate that only the Nottinghamshire families of the original study still exist. Although originating in Nottinghamshire by the early 19th Century records of the Tudsbury family can be found primarily in Nottinghamshire but also in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
• In the 19th and 20th centuries the spelling variants became very locative and indicates the area in which the ancestors of the family member lived during the 19th century.
• In 1783 Richard Tutbury left Flintham, Nottinghamshire and moved to Hucknall Torkard, also in Nottinghamshire and by 1800 the name had deviated to Tudbury.
• In the 1850’s some of his descendants moved to South Shields, Durham and their name deviated to Tudberry and Todbury.
• In the 1830's Tudsburys from Edwinstowe emigrated to USA.
• In the 1860’s other descendants of the Hucknall Family emigrated to USA and remained as Tudbury.
• In 1843 another Richard Tutbury and his family emigrated to New Zealand from Kneeton which is located near to Flintham in Nottinghamshire. It is only his descendants that still use the variant Tutbury.

Today the name is distributed as follows;

Tudbury and Tudsbury in England and USA, Tudberry in England and Australia, Todbury in England, Tutbury in New Zealand and Australia.

Data

All entries from the general Register offices BMD Indexes for England and Wales from 1837 to at 2005 have been recorded. This data has been uploaded onto the Guild web site and is available for searches.

All grants of probate since 1858 in England and Wales have also been recorded.

The 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 census records for England and Wales have been researched and the data incorporated into the family trees herever possible. The 1911 Census is being researched and the data included into the family trees.

The one name study also includes numerous entries from Parish registers, details of wills pre 1858 and records found in the court rolls together with pedigrees submitted by Totta researchers

Links

http://www.tutbury.cjb.net - a website dedicated to the local history and information about the Staffordshire village of Tutbury.

http://www.hucknall-torkard.com - a website dedicated to the history of 19th century Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Jennifer Tudbury
Fairfield,
89 Derby Road,
Draycott,
Derby
DE72 3NX
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 18 September 2009.

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Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.