Clutterbuck

This interesting and rare surname, found widely recorded in Gloucestershire, is the Anglicized form of a Dutch name which may have arrived in England at two periods in English history. Firstly, it may have arrived in Gloucestershire when Edward 111 brought Flemish weavers over to teach their craft to the English, with many settling in the Cotswolds. More likely however, the name followed later from Holland due to the religious persecution of French Huguenots, by the Duke of Alba who suppressed the Protestant revolt in the Netherlands (1567 - 1572), and who fled to nearby countries. The Clutterbucks were prominent in Gloucestershire life for many generations. The name first appears in records in the mid 16th Century (see below). A member of the family was mayor of Bristol in 1739. Henry Clutterbuck (1767 - 1856), studied medicine at Edinburgh 1802, and Glasgow 1804, and became a leading physician in London. Robert Clutterbuck (1772 - 1831), was a topographer who was educated at Oxford in 1794. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of one Clutterbuck, which was dated 1545, who was mayor of Gloucestershire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.