Francis Luttrell (1628–1666) of

Dunster Castle Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a English country house, country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo- ...

, Somerset, was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1656 and 1666.

Origins

He was baptised on 1 November 1628. He was the heir of his elder brother George Luttrell (d. 1655) of Dunster Castle and the second surviving son of Thomas Luttrell (died 1644) of Dunster Castle by his wife Jane Popham, daughter of Sir Francis Popham of Littlecote, Wiltshire. His younger brother was Alexander Luttrell, MP for Minehead.

Career

He entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1646 and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1653. In 1655 he succeeded his elder brother George Luttrell (d. 1655) of Dunster Castle,

Sheriff of Somerset The office of High Sheriff of Somerset is an ancient shrievalty which has been in existence since the 11th century. Originally known as the "Sheriff of Somerset", the role was retitled on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

in 1652, who died childless, having married three times.Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp. 1437–9, Fownes-Luttrell of Dunster Castle In 1656 he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He was a JP for

from 1657 to 1659 and a Commissioner for Assessment for Somerset in 1657 and from January 1660 until his death. He became a JP for Somerset again from March 1660 until his death. He became Commissioner for Militia for Somerset in March 1660 and Colonel of Militia in April 1660. History of Parliament Online – Francis Luttrell
/ref> In April 1660 Luttrell was elected MP for the family's

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National P ...

in the Convention Parliament. He was proposed as a

Knight of the Royal Oak The Knights of the Royal Oak was an intended order of chivalry in England. It was proposed in 1660 at the time of the restoration of Charles II of England to be a reward for those Englishmen who had faithfully and actively supported Charles dur ...

, with an income of £1,500 per year. He was commissioner for sewers in August and December 1660. In 1661 he was re-elected MP for

in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

and sat until his death in 1666.

Marriage and children

On 8 October 1655 Luttrell married Lucy Symonds, daughter of Thomas Symonds of

Whittlesford Whittlesford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and also the name of an old hundred. The village is situated on the Granta branch of the River Cam, seven miles south of Cambridge. Whittlesford Parkway railway station serves the village. L ...

, Cambridgeshire, and granddaughter of

John Pym John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...

, by whom he had three sons: *Thomas Luttrell (d. 1670), eldest son and heir, who died a minor, without children. *Col. Francis Luttrell (1659–1690), of Dunster Castle, 2nd son and heir to his elder brother. He matriculated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

in 1676 and was MP for Minehead 1679–90. He married Mary Tregonwell (d. 1704), only daughter and sole heiress of John Tregonwell of

Milton Abbey Milton Abbey school is an independent school for day and boarding pupils in the village of Milton Abbas, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, in South West England. It has 224 pupils , in five houses: Athelstan, Damer, Hambro, Hodgkinson and Tregonw ...

, by whom he had two daughters, Mary and Frances, and a son and heir Tregonwell Luttrell (1683–1703), of Dunster Castle, who died childless. *Col. Alexander Luttrell (1663–1711), youngest son, of Dunster Castle, who was heir to his nephew Tregonwell Luttrell (1683–1703), of Dunster Castle, and whose own son Alexander Luttrell (1705–1737) of Dunster Castle was the last in the male line of the Luttrell family, whose only daughter and sole heiress Margaret Luttrell (1726–1766) married Henry Fownes (c. 1722–1780), who adopted the name and arms of Luttrell.

Death

Luttrell died in 1666 at the age of 37 and was buried at Dunster on 14 March 1666.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luttrell, Francis 1628 births 1666 deaths Members of Lincoln's Inn Politicians from Somerset People from Minehead Burials in Somerset English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...