Mergatroyd History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Mergatroyd was first found in West Yorkshire where one of the first records of the name was Johanus de Morgateroyde who was listed as a constable appointed for the district of Warley in 1371. His name literally meant John of Moor Gate Royde. A few years later in 1379 in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls, John Mergetrode was listed as holding estates in that shire at that time. 2

"Yorkshire has long been the home of the Murgatroyds. In the 17th century the family owned for a time the Riddlesden estate in Bingley parish; the name is still in Bingley town. James Murgaitroit was a Yorkshire gentleman who subscribed £25 for the defence of his country at the time of the expected Spanish invasion in 1588." 4

The expression "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" is an expression made famous by Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Snagglepuss and was inspired on the aforementioned Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse," a Victorian comic opera that includes no fewer than seven "Murgatroyd" ghosts, all Baronets to the protagonist (and living) Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd who is disguised as Robin Oakapple, a young farmer. The name has also been lent to other fictional works by Virginia Woolf, Nancy Mitford, Agatha Christie, Clifford B. Hicks and Ann Turner.