Sturmey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Sturmey was first found in the Roll of Battel Abbey where the original name "Esturny, for L'Estourmi, the true version of the name, as given on the Dives Roll; without any doubt a sobriquet, and, I am bound to add, to me, at least, incomprehensible. In England the first letter was often dropped, and it became Sturmy, Sturmid (as in Domesday Book), Stormey, Sturmer, Sturmyn, &c, while in Normandy it has survived to the present day as Etourmy. " 1

The two brothers who came over at the Conquest, Richard and Ralph, were both land-owners in 1086; Richard, as the elder, held of the King, and Ralph as a mesne-lord under him in Hants, Wilts, and Surrey. Cowsfield-Esturmy in Wiltshire, and Lysse-Sturmy, in Hampshire, were two of his manors. His descendants continued, for a long succession of generations, Foresters in fee of Savernake. "The Esturmies," says Camden, "from the time of King Henrie the Second were by right of inheritance the Bailiffes and Guardians of the Forest of Savernac lying hard by, which is of great name for plentie of good game, and for a kinde of Ferne there, that yeeldeth a most pleasing savour. In remembrance thereof, their Hunter's horn of a mighty bignesse and tipt with silver, the Earle of Hertford keepeth unto this day, as a monument of his progenitors." 1

Early English rolls provide us a glimpse of the spelling variations used through Medieval times. Today we typically need to look beyond the spellings of these entries and concentrate on on a phonetic appreciation of the names. Sturmy de Straton was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls for Somerset in 1201; Richard Sturmi was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Hampshire; John and Richard Esturmit was found in the Pipe Rolls for 1130 in Wiltshire and Suffolk, respectively; Henry Esturmi was listed in the Pipe Rolls for Wiltshire in 1158; Roger Esturmy, le Esturmi, le Sturmy was listed in Suffolk in 1236 and 1242; and Richard Stormy was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1296. 2