Well, a touch of the raining & pouring here; following on from my previous message I have now had a reply from a lady solicitor who works in a firm called Oughtred's here in the UK.
I had thought that my attempts to get an e-mail through to this firm had failed but apparently not since she has been kind enough to reply. Her answer is (I think) the same as that which John Davis gave although she opts for one of Mike Cowham's choices, viz: ---- Many thanks for your message. This firm was originally founded by Neil Oughtred ( now retired and I guess over 90) who has always pronounced it Out - red. So we agree with Mike Cowham - who incidently also has the second most common pronounciation we come across (Oot - red ). Incidently Neil Oughtred always said it was an Anglo- Irish name and there is a town in Southern Ireland with a similar name - but different spelling. Hope this is of some help Judith Earl ----- So, I think we may now rest with this, 'Ow-tred' and 'Out-red' must be as near to each other as possible!! Well done John & Mike! Patrick
