Henry Lawes Luttrell, Second Earl of Carhampton

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Information about

Henry Lawes Luttrell

b. 7 Aug 1743 d. 20 Apr 1821

Soldier and politician, the eldest son of Simon Luttrell (d. 1787), who was successively Baron Irnham, Viscount Carhampton, and Earl Carhampton, all in the Irish peerage, by his wife Maria, daughter, and at length heiress, of Sir Nicholas Lawes. The Countess-dowager Carhampton died at a gréât age at the family seat, Sheepy Hall, Wiltshire, in December 1798 (Gent. Mag. 1798, ii. 1087). Possibly he is the Henry Luttrell mentioned in Foster's'Alumni Oxonienses' as the son of Simon Luttrell of Coton Hall, Warwickshire, and as having matriculated at Christ Church on 13 Jan. 1765, aged 17.

He was placed in the army, becoming ensign 48th foot on 21 Nov. 1757, lieutenant 34th foot on 27 March 1759, captain 16th light dragoons on 6 Aug. 1759, and major on 14 April 1762. On the same day he was appointed deputy adjutant-general to the forces in Portugal, on 8 Oct. following he was granted local rank of lieutenant-colonel in that country, and on 13 Feb. 1760 he was advanced to be lieutenant-colonel of the 1st regiment of horse.

His father was 'devoted to Lord Bute,' through whose influence the son was at the general election of 1768 elected for the borough of Bossiney in Cornwall. When a candidate in the court interest was required to oppose Wilkes in Middlesex, Luttrell, who cherished ' a personal enmity ' against him, vacated his Cornish seat (March 1769) to stand for that county. At the poll on 13 April, he was defeated by 1,143 votes to 296, but by a resolution of the House of Commons he was two days later declared to have been duly elected.

For some time before the election bets were made on his life; on the polling day he owed his safety to his opponent's friends, and for some months afterwards he 'did not dare to appear in the streets or scarce quit his lodging' (cf. Cat. of Prints in Brit. Mus. Satiric, iv. 522 sq.) On 8 Sept. 1770 the post of adjutant-general of the land forces in Ireland was given to him for reward, but he was still discontented; in 1772 he threatened to resign, and in April 1774 he tried to embroil the ministry by a complaint that the sheriffs of Middlesex had summoned Wilkes, and not him, to attend in parliament.

From 1774 to 1784 he sat once again for Bossiney, he represented Plympton Earls in Devonshire 1790-4, and from 1817 to his death he was member for Ludgershall in Wiltshire. At the general election in 1783 he was returned in the Irish parliament for the borough of Old Leighton. About 1798 he sold his Irish property at Luttrellstown, and he spent the latter years of his life at his seat of Painshill in Surrey. At first vehement against the union, he afterwards supported it (Cornwalli* Corresp. iii. 112). He became colonel, brevet, on 29 Aug. 1777, and major-general on 20 Nov. 1782.

On his father's death in 1787 he succeeded to the peerage, and he was appointed colonel of the 6th regiment of dragoons, 23 June 1788. In 1789 he became lieutenant-general of the ordnance in Ireland, and in 1795 was entrusted with the suppression of the Defenders in Connaught and the pacification of the province. His impressment of many rebels as sailors provoked much hostile criticism; but in 1796 he was promoted to the commander- ship of the forces in Ireland. He continued his high-handed policy. 'Carhampton,' the lord-lieutenant Lord Camden wrote to the Duke of Portland on 22 Jan. 1796, 'did not confine himself to the strict rules of law' (LECKY, History of Ireland, iii. 419).

A conspiracy, for which two men were executed, was formed in May 1797 to assassinate him. On 2 Aug. 1797 he was made master-general of the ordnance, and in December Sir Ralph Abercromby relieved him of the office of Commander-in-chief. He became general in the army 8 Jan. 1798, and resigned the mastership of the ordnance in 1800. He was also governor of Dublin, and patent-custumer at Bristol. He died at Bruton Street, London, 2o April 1821, when his name stood third in the list of generals.

On 25 June 1776 he married Jane, daughter of George Boyd of Dublin, a very beautiful woman, who survived him. Having no children, he was succeeded in the peerage by his brother John, who in 1787 assumed the additional surname of Olmius, and died in 1829.

Luttrell was a man of wit and daring. The story goes that when challenged to a duel by his father, he refused the summons because it was not given by a 'gentleman.' The ' Memoirs of Miss Arabella Bolton,' 1770, and some lines in an ode to Colonel L____ in the ' New Foundling Hospital for Wit,' iv. 123-7, refer to his seduction, while at Oxford, of a gardener's daughter near Woodstock. She was the mother of Henry Luttrell. His speech in the court of chancery, 9 Dec. 1815, on the disputes arising out of the will of the Duchess of Cumberland, was printed in 1816.

[Gent. Mag. 1769 pp. 189-92, 1798 p. 1087, 1821 pt. i. p. 468, 648 ; Calendar Home Office Papers for 1760-S p. 217, for 1770-2 p. 142;

Walpole's George III, ed. 1845, i. 214-16, 353- 359, iv. 174; Walpole's Letters, v. 155-6, 162, 347, 364, vii. 328 ; Hayward's Piozzi, ii. 23 ;

Lodge's Irish Peerage, ed. Archdali, iii. 412-13 ; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. 1861, xi. 70 ; information from War Office, through K. H. Knox, C.B.] W. P. C.

from Dictionary of National Biography

This document was written by William Prideaux Courtney in 1893

http://www.historyhome.co.uk/people/luttrell.htm

No doubt, the meaning here is "children whose mother was his wife."

Henry Lawes Luttrell

in the U. S.

Email from a descendant of Elizabeth Mullen (edited by the webmaster for TheLuttrells.com)

Henry Lawes Luttrell was stationed in New Jersey, where he met Elizabeth Mullen.* Elizabeth’s family objected to this relationship. Henry and Elizabeth then eloped. The family story is that they were married in 1759, but she was underage and the union did not meet legal requirements. She was apprehended by her parents and Henry was forced to leave (I believe for a post in Portugal). In that time, after a marriage was annulled, the child was then considered illegitimate (which is not the case today). She was pregnant and later gave birth to a daughter, Harriet Luttrell.

Elizabeth married again when Harriet was 6 years old, and Henry remarried, too. Harriet married James Rogers and had several children. After James’ death, Harriet traveled to Luttrellstown castle and later to Painshill Park to visit her father. He set up a trust fund for her and purchased a mansion in Philadelphia. Harriet spent most of her later life reconnecting with her father, but the rumor around town was that she was an illegitimate child. Apparently, Harriet spent her a large part of her life trying to shake the stigma and reconnect with her father.

Her tombstone reads "Sacred to the memory of Harriet Luttrell, daughter of Henry Lawes Luttrell, Earl of Carhampton: Died January 2nd, 1819, in the 59th year of her age. 'My Flesh shall rest in Hope.' 'For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.'"

Benjamin Rogers (my ancestor and grandson of Henry Lawes Luttrell) was imprisoned in Dartmoor Prison during the War of 1812. He was released at the intervention of his grandfather and stayed with him at Painshill Estate until the end of hostilities.

* The military records (available online) correspond with him being in Trenton, and leaving in 1759 for Portugal.

** I have found independent verification that Benjamin Rogers was a captain of a ship and he was imprisoned.

D. Rogers

July 2012

Sources

Sketch of some of the descendants of Samuel Rogers of Monmouth county by Ward and Richards

New Jersey Historical Society: Allentown, N.J., Its Rise and Progress by Charles Hutchinson

Tombstone in the Borden Cemetery