Origins and migrations of Sugg families in England |
|||||||||||||
HomeBeginnings
|
Notable SuggsFew members of the Sugg family seem to have risen to particular heights of fame or notoriety but there are a number, in addition to some previously named, who have made their mark on history in one way or another and who merit a mention here.
Unfortunately, his theological writings remain in manuscript form – his only published work being verses written to celebrate the birth of a daughter of Charles I. A note in the margin of the Trent parish register reads: “Know all persons Conceived in tyme to come that the younge Elme now growinge at the Cross in Trent wheare the Stocks standeth was Planted the wednesday after Christmass in the year 1675, by Robert Hellear, Simon Sugg and Zachariah Arnold”. So now we all know! Anthony Sugg was buried in London in 1706. Alongside the entry in the parish register was recorded the fact that he had roasted an ox on the river Thames in the great freeze of 1683. It was so cold that a small town had been built on the ice. John Evelyn, a contemporary, wrote that: “ all sorts of Trades & shops furnished, & full of Commodities, even to a Printing presse, where the People & ladys tooke a fansy to have their names Printed… on the Thames…… There was likewise Bull-baiting, Horse & Coach races, Pupet-plays & interludes, Cookes & Tipling, & lewder places….” Daniel Sugg was born in 1723 and his death in Exeter at the age of 102 was noted in The Gloucester Journal in November 1825. It was reported that at the age of 20 he had fought in the battle at Dettingen during the War of Austrian Succession and had assisted in rescuing the wounded Duke of Cumberland from the battle field. He himself was wounded in the battle of Culloden Moor in 1746 when Charles Stuart, the ‘Young Pretender’ was finally defeated. However, the newspaper report asserts that after that occasion ‘he never had a day’s sickness’ Court records from Sherborne in 1782 report that it had been concluded that the child born to Elizabeth Sugg was a ‘female bastard child’ and that ‘Robert Thomas did get her with child’. In 1826 The Times reported the prosecution of a certain Reverend Sugg who had offered his horse for sale at the price of £70, accepted an advance of £55 and had promised to deliver the horse to the unsuspecting purchaser later the same day. He had promptly disappeared taking the horse with him but was later apprehended in Brighton where he had taken lodgings. A number of Suggs are known to have been involved in commerce. John Sugg, the corn chandler of Bowling Alley, Westminster was mentioned earlier. Joseph Sugg announced in 1773 in The Western Flying Post that he had a Stainer violin for sale at his music shop in Cheap Street, Sherborne. John Sugg, born in Trent, was listed in Pigot’s Directory of Somerset (1830), as a shoemaker in Ilchester. Elsewhere he is described as a leather seller or a cordwainer[iii]. In 1844 James Sugg advertised his services in Lower North Street, Exeter as a cabinet maker, an undertaker and an upholsterer. In 1867 Henry Sugg was promoting his new catalogue of 'superior Second-Hand Books – Ancient and Modern, suitable for Public and Private Libraries, and all perfect' in 'Notes and Queries', a 19th century journal. He owned book shops in Brighton and in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. At 60 years of age, following a serious illness, he decided to retire and built himself a house in Buckinghamshire, leaving the coal business for his son Charles to run. He was not however really ready to stop work and he set about organising a much needed local bus service. He purchased a war surplus vehicle, had it converted for passenger use, employed a driver, and acting himself as the conductor, ran the first service between Tylers Green and Beaconsfield station in February 1920. The company steadily grew and when in 1935, at the age of 76, he finally sold the business as a thriving concern, he was running a fleet of more than 30 vehicles serving a wide area around High Wycombe [iv].
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides details of the locations of graves of five Suggs who were killed during the First World War and buried overseas – including two brothers from London. Victor Alexander Sugg was killed while serving with the Canadian armed forces after emigrating from England some years previously. Two Suggs killed in the course of the Second World War were also buried overseas. The London Gazette announced in 1963 in the Queen’s birthday honours that Aldhem St John Sugg had been appointed as a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in recognition of his service as Provincial Commissioner in the Southern Province of Northern Rhodesia. He had been appointed in 1932 as Constable No.63 in the Northern Rhodesian Police Force with an annual salary of £246 (with uniform allowance). He had risen through the ranks but eventually transferred to the provincial administration[v]. In 1944 The London Gazette noted that Joyce Sugg, spinster, of Clapham had decided ‘to assume the surname of Rutherford in lieu of and in substitution for her present surname of Sugg.’ How sad! |
||||||||||||
