Francis Luttrell (June 1659 to 25 July 1690) 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- ...

in Somerset was a landowner and MP for Minehead from 1679 until his death.

Personal details

Francis Luttrell was baptised on 16 June 1659, second son of Francis Luttrell (1628–1666), and his wife Lucy Symonds, granddaughter of the politician

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 ...

. He had an older brother Thomas (1657-1670) and a younger

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1663-1711). In July 1680, he married Mary Tregonwell, a wealthy heiress with an estate worth £2,500 per annum, much of which was spent refurbishing

, the family home. They had a son Tregonwell (1683-1703) and two daughters.

Career

Educated like other members of his family at Christ Church, Oxford, he was first elected MP for Minehead in March 1679, when still technically underage. He retained the seat until his death in 1690 and served as Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset from 1681 to 1687,

Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset The Office of the Lord Lieutenant was created during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547), taking over the military duties of the Sheriff of Dorset and control of the military forces of the Crown. From 1569, there was provision for the appointment o ...

from 1685 to 1687, and

Vice-Admiral of Somerset This is a list of people who have served as Vice-Admiral of Somerset. * Sir William Wynter bef. 1561 – 1589 * Edward Wynter 1589 – aft. 1605 * Sir Edward Rodney 1625–1642 *''English Interregnum'' *''vacant'' * Francis Luttrel ...

from 1685. He resigned these offices after refusing to back

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

in his demand for repeal of the

Test Act The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in ...

. As a colonel in the local militia, Luttrell had helped suppress the Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 but in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution he backed James' removal by his son-in-law William of Orange. When William landed in Devon, Francis mustered a number of companies of infantry, which formed the basis for the later

Green Howards The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as the Yorkshire Regiment until the 1920s, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under vario ...

regiment. He died at Plymouth on 25 July while he and his regiment were awaiting transport to

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

for service in the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

References

Sources

* * 1659 births 1690 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 Francis Deputy Lieutenants of Dorset Deputy Lieutenants of Somerset Green Howards officers {{17thC-England-MP-stub

Personal details

Career

See also

References

Sources