tutt was born in strood, kent and went to the st. nicholas schools before going to st. mark's training college, chelsea in 1876. he matriculated in the university of london and became a headmaster at snowfields board school followed by webb street school and higher grade school in portman place. tutt was interested in insects from the age of thirteen but became more scientific after meeting a certain mr coverdale in 1881. tutt was active in london scientific societies including the entomological society of london which he joined in 1885. a major contribution was his explanation of melanism that he noted in several insects including the famed pepper moth. he noted this in yorkshire and provided a selectionist (based on darwinian natural selection) explanation synthesized from ideas proposed by contemporaries including buchanan white and nicholas cooke.