The Luttrell FAQs
QUESTION 101: Was the "original" Geoffrey (d. 1215-16), who was granted property in Ireland and England by King John, the "father" of the Luttrells of Ireland?
ANSWER 101- A
From A History of the County Dublin, "Parish of Clonsilla", Vol. 4, Chapter 1, by Francis Elrington Ball, 1902-20.
"The first member of the Luttrell family to come to Ireland was Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, who had been an attached follower of King John when Earl of Mortain, and became one of the favourite ministers of that monarch after his accession to the throne. From him descends the noble family of Luttrell of Dunster Castle, in Somersetshire. Luttrell's connection with Ireland appears to have begun in the year 1204. In the beginning of that year he was appointed on a commission to settle the disputes then existing in Ireland between the justiciary and the Anglo-Norman magnates of this country, and before its close he was named as a member of an advisory commission sent to this country with an injunction to the authorities to place undoubted reliance on all that the commissioners might expound concerning the King's Irish affairs.
Six years later, in the summer of 1210, he accompanied King John on that monarch's visit to Ireland, when we find him acting as one of the paymasters of the mariners and galleymen employed in the large fleet required for the expedition, and forming one of the King's train at Kells, Carlingford, and Holywood, as well as at Dublin.
Hardly had the King returned to England when Sir Geoffrey Luttrell was once more sent to this country on a mission of state, and during the next few years we find him corresponding from this country with the King by means of a trusty messenger whom the King rewarded with liberality for his arduous services.
In 1215 he was again in England in attendance on the King's person, advising King John in all matters relating to his Irish kingdom and witnessing many acts of the fling concerning this country.
There is little doubt that from Sir Geoffrey Luttrell the Irish, as well as the Somersetshire Luttrells are descended either in a direct or collateral line. His only son is said to have succeeded to his English estates, and in connection with his Irish property a daughter, who was given by the King in marriage to Philip Marc, is mentioned as his heir, but he purchased in Ireland shortly before his death the marriage of the second daughter of Hugh de Tuit, whose hand he probably conferred on some male representative of his family in this country."
_____________________________________________
From A History of Dunster, Appendix D, "The Luttrells of Luttrellstown Near Dublin", pg. 540, by H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, 1909.
"It has been seen above (pp.60, 61) that Geoffrey Luttrell, the first recorded member of the English family of that name, was a minister of King John in Ireland, and acquired land in that country. Robert Luttrell, who may have been related to him, was a Canon of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1228, and for a time the King's Chancellor in Ireland. At the close of that century, Michael Luttrell had property near Lucan, in the county of Dublin, at or close to the place afterwards known as Luttrellstown. In 1349, there is mention of a certain Simon Luttrell in the same neighbourhood, and it may be noted that his Christian name recurs in the pedigree of the Irish Luttrells. Lastly, a certain Robert Luttrell, son of John Luttrell, occurs in the reign of Henry the Fifth as owning the land that had belonged to Simon Luttrell some sixty years before. This is, apparently, the very Robert whom Edmondson and others following him have chosen to describe as a younger son of Sir Hugh Luttrell of Dunster."
