Sherratt surname can be found in England, Scotland, France, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and, of course, the United States.

The late Charles Wareing Bardsley, a professor of Oxford University's Worcester College, believes that the Sherratt name is probably a corruption of Sherwood. The first stage, he argued, would have been Sherwood, then Sherad, and finally Sherratt. "That this is no idle guess," he wrote in 1901, "is proved by the fact that in the Index to the Register of the University of Oxford to the name Sherwood is added, 'or Sherwood, or Sherrat."'

The name dates back at least to the 14th century for in the wills preserved in Chester, England, is one dated 1588 belonging to William Sherratt, of Moss Side, Manchester, England. Also on file in Chester is a will dated 1604 belonging to John Sherratt of nearby Church Lawton. Both of these men are presumed to be our ancestors since the Sherratts from whom our family descended lived in the same general location in northern England in 1700's.

In the public library in Manchester, England; are three typewritten pages which belonged to Miss Henrietta Mackenzie Mainprice and were given to the library in 1909 by her

estate. The papers claim that the "first Sherratt" came to England from Scotland and is buried "between or at Elmdon - Burslem in-Staffordshire." Burslem is known as the "Mother of Potteries" and is the birthplace of Josiah Wedgewood, founder of the world's most famous china. There have been reports that the early Sherratts were also potters and that some china bearing the Sherratt signature are contained in the collection of Queen Elizabeth, though that has not been verified.

The Mainprice papers state that William Sherratt (17541822), the grandfather of John Sherratt, was an iron founder in Salford, a manufacturing town located on the opposite side of the River Irwell from Manchester, England. Previously he had been a mining engineer and is mentioned in Smile's "Lives of the Engineer."

engineer) in the construction of the steam engine.