[1][2] Alongside Henry Riley, Stutchbury was the co-discoverer of Thecodontosaurus, which in 1836 was the fourth dinosaur genus to be named.

[1] Stutchbury was born on 15 January 1798 in London, the son of a gauging instrument maker.

In 1820 he became assistant conservator at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons and in 1821 was made an associate of the Linnean Society of London.

[4] In 1825 he sailed on Sir George Osborne and later Rolla as a zoologist in an expedition of the Pacific Pearl Fishery Company to New South Wales and the Tuamotus.

[2] Fossil finds from excavations that he carried out at Bristol with local naturalist Henry Riley led to their announcement of Thecodontosaurus in 1836.