1) An occupational term, possibly associated with cutting down or woodland management.
The Bolton Priory Compotus has an interesting sequence of references to ‘stubber’ as an occupational term from 1311 to 1319. It begins with sums of money paid to Willelmo le Stubber which is likely to have been the workman’s by-name not a hereditary surname: he was once referred to just as Stubber. He might at that time have been cutting down trees or helping to manage the woods but unfortunately the entries are not detailed enough: they include una magna falce liberata xiiijd and amputanti boscum xijd. In 1379, Robert Stubber was a taxpayer in Crigglestone near Wakefield.