Stuttaford and Company Ltd

We'll begin by introducing the firm's founder - Sampson Rickard Stuttaford who was born in Helston on 15 June 1833. His second name looks as though it should be Richard but in fact, is a Cornish surname quite common in the Helston area where his father lived at that time. His Biblical first name was inherited from his father, Sampson Pote Stuttaford who came, not from Cornwall but from Egg Buckland in Devon (see Issue 13). The Stuttafords had begun to migrate south across Dartmoor at about the same time the Stentifords moved north to the other side of the Moor.

Sampson Pote Stuttaford married an Ann Foot. Of their five children, only two survived into adult life.

THE CHILDREN OF SAMPSON POTE STUTTAFORD AND ANN FOOT
William Foot	b 17 Feb 1831 Helston m 1) 14 Feb 1855 Plymouth St. Andrews 2) 22 Jul 1862 Egg Buckland d 31 Oct 1910 Worcester Park, Surrey aged 79	1) Emma Susanna Mills 2 ) Anna Sarah Stuttaford
Sampson Rickard	b 15 Jun 1833 Helston m 18 April 1858 Cape Town SA d 5 Apr 1915 London aged 82	Elizabeth Bawden
James Foot	ba 3 Jun 1835 Helston d 4 Aug 1836 Helston	NI
James Foot	b 20 Jun 1837 Helston d 25 Feb 1838 Helston	NI
Charles Foot	ba 27 Dec 1838 Helston d 1838 Dec Helston	NI

After the death of their youngest child in Helston at the end of 1838, Sampson Pote Stuttaford and his wife returned to Egg Buckland where, on 28 March 1839 at the age of only 32, he too died and Ann began a widowhood that lasted for 54 years. For most of that time she supported herself by running a grocery shop - at first in Egg Buckland then in the suburbs of Plymouth.

This is all that remains of the grave of Sampson Pote Stuttaford and his wife Ann. The horizontal slate slab, provided by J. Gullett, masons, of Holborn Place, Plymouth, originally had the following inscription:

Sampson Pote Stuttaford died 28 March 1839 aged 32

Ann his wife died 29 August 1893 aged 84

Slate is easily damaged when cracks develop and the rain gets in but what has really done for this slab is the modern mowing machine being run over it. Marks of its progress are clearly visible.

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