A FORMER headmaster who went in search of his roots has traced his family tree back to the 18th century.

Jack Stuttard began the quest for his family history after receiving a letter from another Stuttard in Leeds.

And the former head of St James' Lane Head Primary School, Burnley, has discovered he may have relatives still living in Blackburn.

Jack, from Briercliffe, Burnley, said: "I got a letter from this chap saying that he was trying to get a family tree together of all the Stuttards in the United Kingdom.

"He has been in touch with people in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. I had done a small family tree after sorting some family photographs, so it just went from there.

"It just grew and grew and grew."

The chart of his family's past dates back to Jabis Stuttard, born on August 28, 1748 and finishes at Jack's granddaughter, Rebecca, born in 1998.

The serious work of unearthing details of births, deaths and marriages began in March last year. Jack's work has involved spending days scouring census records, church records, monuments and gravestones and the International Genealogical Index. During his weeks spent poring over public records in libraries, he has unearthed some intriguing facts about his ancestors.

These include the tale of Edward Stuttard, who, when aged 12 in 1859, was crushed to death by his father's cart while carrying quarry stone from Lane Head. Their horse bolted near Finsley Gate and Edward eventually succumbed to his terrible injuries.

In 1812, the year that Napoleon was marching to Moscow, Jack's great, great grandfather married in St Peter's Church.

Mason Stuttard, who was born some time close to the start of the 20th Century, was an expert in the forgotten international language, Esperanto. Eventually, Mason's language skills led him to Yugoslavia, where he became an English translator to the dictator, Marshal Tito.

Jack has also found out that he has a long-lost relation, Harry Stuttard, who used to live in Kinross Walk.

Jack believes that there is still a chance that Harry is still alive, but thinks that he may now be living in a nursing home.

"I have been lucky because most of my family stayed in Briercliffe, possibly because a lot of them lived on farms and they could not afford to live anywhere else."

Jack will continue the work, but has decided not devote quite as much time to the project in future. Instead, he is happy to concentrate on the family around him and discover as much as possible about them.

Could you be one of Jack's relatives? Ring our newsdesk on 01254 678678.