Wm. Robinson, in "The Social and Political History of Rochdale, says that "this surname used to be pronounced BUTTEROTH, locally."

The grandson of Charles Butterworth, of Town Meadows, Commander Henry Butterworth,R.N. has kindly supplied , Feb.,1926, from recollections of over a quarter of a century ago. The following account, communicated to him in 1890, by his friend, the late Adm. Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B.,F.R.S.,P/R.G.S., d.1916, and obtained by the Admiral at the end of 1899, from a member of the Atheneum Club, "interested in pedigrees and the derivation of names."

The etymology suggested was as follows;

"The name Butterworth is derived from BUTER WOHL", the home or house , of BUTER, who appears to have been a Norse Viking, who joined Harold Haarfarger in his rebellion against his brother Harold Haardraade.** The rebellion proved abortive, and Harold Haafaarger was defeated and killed in a sea action off the Orkneys or Shetlands. His fleet was dispersed, and after great trials at sea, Buter sailed down the West Coast of Scotland, but was prevented from landing through "the inhospitable nature of the coast, and the ferocity of the inhabitants." Buter finally landed in Morcambe Bay Lancashire,and presumably from there worked his way inland."

This account, together with some record of the Butterworth family history,by the Member of the Athenaeum Club, was given by Admiral Sir Clements Markham to Commander Henry Butterworth, who, sailing for Australia, soon after April 1890, lost this and all his possessions when the "Dacca" was wrecked on the Daedalus Rock, in the Red Sea.

If these two Harolds, described as "brothers", Harold Haarfaager and Harold Haardraade, are meant to be identical with the famous Norwegian Kings , there would appear to be considerable confusion, chronologically, in the narrative here. Of the Kings of Norway, Harold I, Harold Harfagr, or Haafager (Fair Haired), b.c. A.D.850; reigned 1046-66; invaded England with Tostig, the outlawed brother of Harold II., King of the English, son of Godwin, Earl of Kent, who defeated and slew them at Stamford Bridge,25 Sept., 1066, Harold of England being himself defeated and slain 19 days later 14 Oct., 1066, at the Battle of Hastings, or Senlac.

Apart from the identification of the two Harolds with whom Buter is here linked, the suggested etymology for the name Butterworth may have solid foundation. As an alternative theory, I offer the following, based on the derivations of the two words BUTTER, and WORTH, given in "The Romance of Names", 3rd edition,1922,by Prof. Ernest Weekley,M.A., though neither in this, nor in his "Surnames",1st ed. 1916, does the complete name BUTTERWORTH appear.

In "The Romance of Names", however, the surname BUTTERFIELD is mentioned, as derived from BITTERN-FIELD. From:-The Romance of Names,pp.220,123,& 117: "BUTTER",French BUTER,"a bittor", in Colgrave`s French-English Dict. of 1911, is a dialect name for the "bittern", called a Butter-bump, by Tennyson`s "Northern Farmer", line 31.

"WORTH" was perhaps originally applied to land by a river, or a holm; in the North, a river island was commonly called HOLM, from the Scandanavian, also pronounced HOME, HULME,and HUME, e.g. in compounds confused with -ham, e.g. DURHAM, which was once DUN-HOLMR, hill-island.

According to this view, the surname, like so many others, is derived from a place-name, BUTTER-WORTH meaning "land by the river, or river island, frequented by the bittern," a marsh-loving bird allied to the heron, having a booming note, from which characteristics, indeed, the Norse Viking, Buter, may perhaps have been named or nick-named.

Families migrating from this locality would describe themselves as de BOTER-, or de BUTER-WORTH, de BUTTERWORTH, and so ultimately, BUTTERWORTH.

The first mentioned derivation, according to which Butterworth means "BUTER`S land by the river, or river island," is not, quite possibly the more correct etymology, but further investigation is desirable confirming the existence and career of this Norse Viking, and the approximate date of his landing in Lancashire.

In Appendix D. will be found a list of place names, beginning with BUTE-, BUTTE-, or BUTER-, with the suggestive terminal syllables,-leigh, or -ley or -ly, -mere, -side,-wick, etc, to be met with in the North and South of Great Britain, most, if not all of which would appear to derive from their having been haunts of the bittern.

Their number and widespread distribution favour the conclusions that the name Butterworth originated in a place-name, and means BITTERN-, not BUTER'S-LAND.