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Spurlings of Bermuda (variant spelling)

In Bermuda the name is spelled Spurling, and Forebears ranks it the island's 202nd most common surname. Bermudian Spurlings have included the banker and parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling (1879–1961), his son Sir Dudley Spurling, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and his nephew Arthur Rowe Spurling, a First World War flying ace.

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Spurling is a separate but closely related surname (see Spurlin spelling variants). This page covers the Spurling family of Bermuda and other Bermudians with the name.

The name in Bermuda

Forebears estimates 51 Spurlings in Bermuda in 2014, about 1 in 1,280 people. That makes Spurling the island's 202nd most common surname and gives Bermuda the highest density of Spurlings of any country.[1] Forebears records no Spurlins there.[2]

Sir Stanley Spurling

Sir Stanley Spurling (1879–1961) was a director of the Bank of Bermuda. The National Portrait Gallery in London holds five portraits of him.[3] The Royal Gazette calls him a parliamentarian.[4] According to Wikipedia, he introduced a women's suffrage reform petition to parliament after Emmeline Pankhurst's 1925 visit to Bermuda, and two more petitions were delivered through him in 1928 and 1929.[5] A 1934 portrait of him, and a 1931 photograph of him with E. P. T. Tucker, A. W. Bluck and Sir Howard Trott, appear in The Bermudian magazine's gallery of 1930s Bermuda.[6]

He also wrote on Bermuda's early history. His Newcomen Society address on Sir Thomas Smythe, governor of the East India Company and patron of Bermuda, was published as a 24-page booklet by the Newcomen Society in North America in 1955.[7] A photograph in the North Carolina State Archives' Aycock Brown collection shows "Sir Stanley Spurling of Bermuda" receiving a gift from the North Carolina Press Association. The occasion was the Lost Colony's observance of the 369th birthday of Virginia Dare at Fort Raleigh, on Roanoke Island.[8]

Sir Dudley Spurling

Sir Stanley's son, Sir Dudley Spurling (1913–1986), swam for Bermuda at the 1936 Olympics and became a barrister.[9] In 1938 he and Reginald Appleby merged their practices as Appleby & Spurling. After a 1949 merger with William Kempe's practice the firm became Appleby, Spurling & Kempe, and Spurling was its senior partner until 1981. The firm, later Appleby Spurling Hunter, is now called Appleby. Wikipedia identifies it as the source of the documents published in 2017 as the Paradise Papers.[10] Spurling was Speaker of the House of Assembly from 1972 to 1976.[11]

Arthur Rowe Spurling

Arthur Rowe Spurling (1896–1984), a nephew of Sir Stanley, went to the Western Front in 1915 with the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps contingent. He became a Royal Air Force flying ace with six victories and won the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918.[4][12] After the Second World War he founded the Rowe Spurling Paint Company, which Wikipedia says still exists.[12]

Later generations and namesakes

Rick Spurling, a retired businessman and former member of parliament, is a grandson of Sir Stanley. In 2009 he told The Royal Gazette that he planned to bid for Arthur Rowe Spurling's medals and hoped to see them return to Bermuda.[4] The Bermudian reggae artist Giles Spurling performs as "Sir Dudley", the name of the former Speaker. The Royal Gazette covered his 2016 single "Born Bermudian".[13][9]

The director Lucinda Spurling has made two films about or set in Bermuda. Rare Bird (2005) is a feature documentary about the Bermudian conservationist David Wingate.[14] Maternal Secrets (2018), which she co-wrote and directed, was described as the first film shot on the island in over twenty-five years.[15] The sources consulted do not say how she is related to the families above.

See also

  • Dudley Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Sir Dudley Spurling (1913–1986) was a Bermudian lawyer, 1936 Olympic swimmer, 1934 Empire Games discus thrower and Speaker of the House of Assembly of Bermuda (1972–76). He was a founding partner of the law firm now called Appleby.
  • Arthur Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Arthur Rowe Spurling (1896–1984) was a Bermudian infantryman and airman who became a First World War flying ace with six credited victories. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross for a 1918 action in which he and his observer fought their way through a formation of about thirty German fighters.
  • Spurling (surname) · The Surname strong
    Spurling is the fuller spelling from which Spurlin derives. Unlike Spurlin, it is well established in England, Australia and especially Bermuda as well as the United States.
  • Spurling public officials (variant spelling) · People strong
    Minor public officials and candidates with the related surname Spurling, including a 19th-century Maine postmaster, a 2004 Democratic National Convention alternate, a North Carolina town councilman and school-board member, and a Georgia county coroner.
  • The Spurlin name outside the United States · Culture strong
    Spurlin is an overwhelmingly American surname today, with about 98% of bearers in the United States. The spelling is older than American settlement: English archives record Spurlins in Middlesex and Bristol between 1670 and 1717, and 18th-century leases name a field called 'Spurlins' in Hertfordshire. Outside the U.S. the related form Spurling is far more common.
  • Geographic distribution of the Spurlin surname · The Surname strong
    Almost all people named Spurlin live in the United States, especially Texas, Alabama and North Carolina today and Indiana in the 19th century. The fuller spelling Spurling is still found in England (especially East Anglia and London), Australia, Canada and Bermuda.
  • Notable Spurlins · People strong
    An index of notable people surnamed Spurlin, with related Spurling-surname figures listed separately as variants.
  • Spurlins in public service · People strong
    A roundup of people surnamed Spurlin (and, separately, Spurling) in government, politics, the military and the courts, from a 19th-century Indiana sheriff to a Kentucky utility commissioner and recent local candidates, with links to the individual articles.

References

  1. ↑ Spurling Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History — Forebears — Bermuda: 51 bearers, 1:1,280, rank 202; highest density Reference
  2. ↑ Spurlin Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History — Forebears — No Bermuda entry Reference
  3. ↑ Sir Stanley Spurling — National Portrait Gallery, London — "(1879-1961), Director, Bank of Bermuda"; sitter in 5 portraits; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2026-01-26 Reference
  4. ↑ ↑ ↑ Hero's medals up for auction — The Royal Gazette (8 August 2009) — Rick Spurling on his grandfather, parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling, uncle of Arthur Rowe Spurling; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2016-03-03 News
  5. ↑ Bermuda Woman's Suffrage Society — Wikipedia — Petitions introduced by Stanley Spurling after 1925, and in 1928 and 1929 Reference
  6. ↑ Photo Album: Bermudian Style in the 30's — The Bermudian — Captions: Sir Stanley Spurling 1934; E.P.T. Tucker, Sir Stanley Spurling, A.W. Bluck & Sir Howard Trott 1931 News
  7. ↑ Sir Thomas Smythe, knt., 1558?-1625, Governor of the East India Company and patron of Bermuda (Stanley Spurling, 1955) — Open Library — Newcomen Society in North America, 1955, 24 pages, Newcomen address series Reference
  8. ↑ Lost Colony - Sir Stanley Spurling of Bermuda receiving gift from NC Press Association during LC's observance on the 369th birthday of Virginia Dare at Fort Raleigh Roanoke island, N.C — North Carolina Digital Collections (Aycock Brown Photographs) — State Archives of North Carolina photograph record Government
  9. ↑ ↑ Dudley Spurling — Wikipedia — Parents; Olympic swimming; career; a Bermudian singer uses his name Reference
  10. ↑ Appleby (law firm) — Wikipedia — 1938 and 1949 mergers; Spurling senior partner until 1981; later names; Paradise Papers Reference
  11. ↑ Speakers of the House of Assembly — Parliament of Bermuda — Sir Dudley Spurling, 1972–1976 Government
  12. ↑ ↑ Arthur Spurling — Wikipedia — War record; Rowe Spurling Paint Company Reference
  13. ↑ New single celebrates Bermuda culture — The Royal Gazette (22 August 2016) — Reggae artist Giles "Sir Dudley" Spurling and "Born Bermudian" News
  14. ↑ David B. Wingate — Wikipedia — Rare Bird (2005), documentary by Lucinda Spurling Reference
  15. ↑ Maternal Secrets — Wikipedia — 2018 film directed and co-written by Lucinda Spurling, shot in Bermuda Reference

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Last reviewed 2026-09-24.