Henry Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton

General Henry Lawes Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton PC (7 August 1743 – 25 April 1821) was a politician and soldier. He was the son of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton and brother-in-law of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn.

The Earl of Carhampton
The Earl of Carhampton
Born	7 August 1743
Died	25 April 1821(1821-04-25) (aged 77) London
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1757–1798
Rank	General
Commands held	Ireland
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War United Irishmen Rebellion

Career

Henry Luttrell was the scion of an Anglo-Irish landed family, descendants of Sir Geoffrey de Luterel, who established Luttrellstown Castle, County Dublin, in the early 13th century.[1] Educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, Luttrell was commissioned into the 48th Regiment of Foot in 1757.[2] Two years later he became lieutenant of the 34th Regiment of Foot.

Father and son, both accounted "notorious womanizers", had a bitter relationship. His father once challenged Luttrell to a duel, but he declined, observing that his father was not a gentleman.[3]

Luttrell, described as "strong in body, if not in mind", achieved a reputation for bravery as a soldier during the Seven Years' War,[4] becoming Deputy Adjutant-General of the British Forces in Portugal. In 1768 he became a Tory Member of Parliament in for the village of Bossiney, Cornwall.[5]

Service to the Tory Ministry against Wilkes

With the support of the Grafton ministry and of the Court, in 1769 Luttrell stood in Middlesex against John Wilkes, the radical and popular figure who had already been the constituency's three-time democratic choice. Luttrell lost the poll (1,143 votes to 269) but was seated in Parliament, Wilkes having once again been barred as an adjudged felon.[6] As a result of the affair, for some months, Luttrell dared not appear in the street, and was "the most unpopular man in the House of Commons".[7]

The government rewarded Luttrell by appointing him Adjutant General for Ireland in 1770. He continued to sit in the Commons, where he described the Whigs in their opposition to the conduct of the American War, as "the abetters of treason and rebellion combined purposely for the ruin of their country."[8]

Ireland, the Case of Mary Neal and the crushing of the 1798 rebellion

Luttrell became active in Irish politics and between 1783 and 1787, he sat in the Irish House of Commons for Old Leighlin.[2] On his father's death in 1787, he succeeded to the earldom of Carhampton and other titles.[2]He became Colonel of the 6th Dragoon Guards and Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance in Ireland.[2]

In 1788, Luttrell was publicly accused in Dublin of the rape of a 12 year-old girl. Having been paid to deliver a message, Mary Neal claimed she was bundled into a brothel and there assaulted throughout the night by Luttrell. The keeper of the house, Maria Llewellyn, was charged in a case marked by accusations of witness tampering, the death in prison of Mary's mother and new-born baby sister and by the insinuation that Mary was already working as a prostitute. The affair became a cause célèbre with the public intervention of Archibald Hamilton Rowan (later United Irishman). To clear Mary's name he brought her to Dublin Castle to see the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Westmorland. Westmorland, unmoved, pardoned Llewellyn and set her at liberty.[9]

Luttrell was never asked to answer for raping Mary Neal. He re-entered the Westminster Parliament as Member for Plympton Erle in 1790.[2] Then in 1796 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Ireland,[2] and in 1798 he led the British suppression of the United Irishmen Rebellion.[2] His command had the unusual distinction of being upbraided by his successor as Commander in Chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby for an army "in a state of licentiousness, which must render it formidable to every one but the enemy".[10]

When the Dublin Post of 2 May 1811 erroneously reported his death, he demanded a retraction which they printed under the headline Public Disappointment.[11]

He purchased an estate at Painshill Park in Surrey and re-entered parliament in June 1817 as Member for Ludgershall and held the seat until his death.[2]

Family

He briefly married Elizabeth Mullen in 1759, and had a daughter, Harriet Luttrell. This marriage was later annulled.[12]

He married Jane Boyd in 1776, but they had no children and was succeeded by his brother John.[2]

References

1. Enchanting Ireland Archived 7 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
2. A. F. Blackstock, ‘Luttrell, Henry Lawes, second earl of Carhampton (1737–1821)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
3. Cash, Arthur (1998). John Wilkes, The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 253.
4. Cash (1998), p. 253
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
6. The rejection of Wilkes and selection of Luttrell by the House of Commons preoccupied parliament and the nation. The debates were emotional, and illustrated the weakness of the ministries leading up to the American revolution. See e.g. 16 Parliamentary History of England, London: Hansard, 1813, pp. 424–28, 532–96. At the polls, Luttrell received 296 votes to 1143 for Wilkes, as his counsel acknowledged, id. at 589, at a hearing before commons rejected a petition by the voters who said the majority "would not by any means have chosen to be represented by the said Henry Lawes Luttrell, esq.; ... he cannot sit as the representative of said county in parliament, without manifest infringement of the rights and privileges" of the voters. Id. at 588. Note this source is available for free download from Google books.
7. Cash (1998), p. 253
8. Cash (1998), p. 253
9. Whelan, Fergus (1998). God-provoking Democrat, The Remarkable Life of Archibald Hamilton Rowan. Stilorgan, Dublin: New Island. pp. 40–46. ISBN 9781848404601.
10. Pakenham, Thomas (1998). The Year of Liberty,The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798. New York: Times Books, Random House. p. 24. ISBN 0812930886.
11. Ask about Ireland Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
12. https://archive.org/details/sketchofsomeofde00ward

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Luttrell
• Henry Luttrell & the Middlesex Election - UK Parliament Living Heritage

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Edward Wortley Montagu Lord Mount Stuart	Member of Parliament for Bossiney 1768–1769 With: Lord Mount Stuart	Succeeded by Lord Mount Stuart Sir George Osborn, Bt
Preceded by John Wilkes John Glynn	Member of Parliament for Middlesex 1769–1774 With: John Glynn	Succeeded by John Glynn John Wilkes
Preceded by Lord Mount Stuart Sir George Osborn, Bt	Member of Parliament for Bossiney 1774–1784 With: Lord Mount Stuart 1774–1776 Charles Stuart 1776–1784	Succeeded by Charles Stuart Bamber Gascoyne
Preceded by John Stephenson John Pardoe	Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle 1790–1794 With: Philip Metcalfe	Succeeded by Philip Metcalfe William Manning
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Robert Jephson Sir John Blaquiere	Member of Parliament for Old Leighlin 1783–1787 With: Hon. Arthur Acheson	Succeeded by Sir Edward Leslie, Bt Hon. Arthur Acheson
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Joseph Birch Charles Nicholas Pallmer	Member of Parliament for Ludgershall 1817–1821 With: Joseph Birch 1817–1818 Sandford Graham 1818–1821	Succeeded by Sandford Graham Earl of Brecknock
Military offices
Preceded by Sir John Irwin	Colonel of the 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards 1788–1821	Succeeded by Robert Taylor
Preceded by The Lord Rossmore	Commander-in-Chief, Ireland 1796–1798	Succeeded by Sir Ralph Abercromby
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Simon Luttrell	Earl of Carhampton 1787–1821	Succeeded by John Luttrell-Olmius