STODDART, a surname derived from the word standard, of which it is a corruption, being anciently written de la Standarde. The first of this name came to England with William the Conqueror, as standard-bearer to the vicomte de Pulesdon, a noble Norman.

A family of the name of Stodart possessed estates in Selkirkshire, and elsewhere in Scotland, since the 16th century. Robert Stodart, born in 1749, youngest son of John Stodart of Loanhead, a cadet of this line, after being for some time in the West Indies, settled in London, and was offered a baronetcy by Mr. Pitt, then prime minister, but declined it. He acquired the estates of Kailzie, Peebles-shire, and Ormiston, Mid Lothian, both of which were subsequently sold. He died in 1831. He had married in 1784, Alice, eldest daughter and coheiress of James Turnbull, Esq., the last male representative in the direct line of a branch of the ancient border family of Turnbull. On the death of her only sister, Mrs. Riddle, without issue, Mrs. Stodart became sole heiress of the old family. They had six sons and four daughters. John, the fifth son, assumed the additional name of Riddle, from respect to his aunt. The eldest son, Robert, on his death in 1837, was succeeded in the representation of the family by his brother, George, born in 1789; married Janet, only child of his relative, James Stodart, Esq., F.R.S.L.

Mr. Stodart of Loanhead is represented by George Tweedie Stodart, Esq. of Oliver, Peebles-shire, who, on the death of his maternal uncle, succeeded to the estates of the chiefs of the ancient border clan of Tweedie.

In the stewartry of Kirkcudbright is the family of Stothert of Cargen, which seems but another form of the name of Stodart.