Featherstonhaugh
Featherstonhaugh (generally pronounced as written, but occasionally simply "Featherston")[1] also spelt Fetherstonhaugh and Featherstonehaugh) is an English surname. The name comes from Featherstonhaugh in Northumberland, from the Old English feðere, 'feather', stān, 'stone', and healh, 'corner'.[2]
According to Plum Lines, the journal of the P. G. Wodehouse Society, The BBC Pronunciation Dictionary of the British Isles (1983) gives the primary pronunciation of 'Featherston-haw', but also lists alternative pronunciations 'Fanshaw', 'Feston-haw', 'Feeson-hay', and 'Feerston-haw', although no evidence is given of individuals using these variants.[3] Supporting Debrett's Correct Form in pronouncing the name as written is the experience of the barrister Guy Fetherstonhaugh, of the established family of that name:[4] '"It’s not "Fanshaw" for me and I don’t know that any other Featherstonhaughs say that ... Everybody repeats it because they like to sound knowledgeable. If I'm in front of a judge who doesn’t know me, he’ll call me "Fanshaw" because he thinks it shows that he's in the know"'; due to his name in fact being 'pronounced as it's spelt', '"People always look slightly crestfallen."'[5]
Notable people
[edit | edit source]- Francis Fetherston (c. 1575 – after 1624), an English statesman
- George William Featherstonhaugh (1780–1866), an English-American geologist
- George W. Featherstonhaugh Jr. (1814–1900), an American legislator and businessman
- Godfrey Fetherstonhaugh (1859–1928), an Irish politician
- F. B. Fetherstonhaugh (1863–1945), a Canadian patent lawyer
- Constance Featherstonhaugh (later Benson; 1864–1946), an English actress
- Francis Featherstonhaugh Johnston (1891–1963), an Anglican bishop of Egypt
- Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh (1887–1971), a Canadian architect
- Buddy Featherstonhaugh (1909–1976), an English jazz saxophonist
- Mary Featherstonhaugh Frampton (1928–2014), an English civil servant
- Robert Fetherstonhaugh (born 1932), an English cricketer
- Alexander Featherstonhaugh Wylie (born 1951), a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland
Fetherstonhaugh baronets
[edit | edit source]- Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh (1714–1774), 1st Baronet
- Sir Henry Fetherstonhaugh, known as Harry (1754–1846), 2nd Baronet
Artistic and fictional works
[edit | edit source]- The Featherstonehaughs, a British dance company
- "Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh", an episode of the TV series Nanny and the Professor.
- Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge (the middle name pronounced "Fanshaw", apparently the origin of this idiosyncratic pronunciation which is not encountered in reality)[6][7] a fictional character in the short stories of P. G. Wodehouse
- Marcus Featherstone's terrier "Foon" ("written 'Featherstonehaugh'") in the detective novel Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham (1931).
- Harry Featherstonhaugh in the Lady Hardcastle Mystery Books by T.E. Kinsey.
- Piers Featherstonehaugh is the protagonist in the game The Gene Machine.
- In E. M. Forster's Maurice, Clive Durham refers to a Featherstonhaugh who has a pianola. In the film, he pronounces it "Feestonhay".
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Debrett's Correct Form, ed. Patrick Montague-Smith, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 381
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20220423161333/http://www.wodehouse.org/extra/PL/PL_v22_nr2.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Burke's Irish Family Records, Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, pp. 405-9
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Debrett's Correct Form, ed. Patrick Montague-Smith, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 381
