UTTOXETER  , a

market town in the Burton parliamentary division of Staffordshire, England, 15 M . N.E. by E. of Stafford by a branch of the Great Northern railway . Pop. of urban district (1901) 5133 . It is also served by the North Stafford-shire railway . The town lies pleasantly on high ground near the river Dove, a western tributary of the Trent, here the boundary with Derbyshire . There are large works for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and brewing and brick-making are carried on . Several agricultural fairs are held annually . The church of St Mary has a fine decorated tower and spire; the rest of the fabric dates from 1828 . Alleyn's grammar-school was founded in 1558 . In the market-place here Dr Johnson stood hatless in the rain doing voluntary penance for disobedience to his father . A bas-relief commemorates the incident . The name of the town is locally Uxeter, or an approximate pronunciation .

At Denstone, 5 m . N. of Uttoxeter, is St

Chad's College, a large middle-class school for boys, founded in connexion with St Nioholas' College, Lancing . Uttoxeter (Wotocheshede, Utlokeshather, Utcester, Uttoxater) was probably not a Roman site, although the termination of the name suggests one, and a few remains have been discovered . It formed part of the estates of Algar, earl of Mercia; at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held by the king; later it passed to the Ferrers family and was included in the honour of Tutbury . In the early 12th century Earl Robert de Ferrers constituted Uttoxeter a free borough, and granted to the inhabitants freedom from all tolls, tonnage, poundage and other exactions . These privileges were confirmed and amplified by a charter, dated August 15, 1251, from William de Ferrers, earl of Derby . Uttoxeter, with the rest of the honour of Tut-bury, escheated to the Crown in 1266 owing to the complicity of Robert Ferrers in the barons' rebellion; it was regranted to Edmund Crouchback, ancestor of the dukes of Lancaster, under whom it became part of the duchy of Lancaster, from which it was not severed until 1625 . The Wednesday market, which is still held, was granted by Henry III. to William Ferrers, earl of Derby, together with a fair to be held on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (September 8), which was kept up in the 18th century . In 1308 Thomas, earl of Lancaster, obtained the grant of a fair on the vigil, day and morrow of St Mary Magdalene . In Leland's time " the men of the town used grazing " in the " wonderful pastures upon Dove," and in the 17th and 18th centuries the market was the greatest in that part of England for cattle and provisions; in the 18th century it furnished cheeses to many London cheesemongers . In 1648, on the defeat of the invading Scottish army under the marquis of Hamilton by Cromwell, its leader was captured here by Lambert .