Margaret Fownes-Luttrell (7 February 1726 – 13 August 1766) was a British heiress, the wife of
Henry Fownes Luttrell. She was the heiress of Dunster Castle, under the stipulation in her father's will that her husband should take the additional surname of Luttrell. Four portraits of her exist in Dunster castle and a fifth at
Bathealton Court.
Early life
![Dunster Castle 1733](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Dunster_Castle_1733.jpg)
Margaret Luttrell was born on 7 February 1726, the only child and sole heiress of
Alexander Luttrell (1705–1737) of Dunster Castle by his wife Margaret Trevelyan (died 1764), daughter of
Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet
Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (9 April 1670 – 25 September 1755) of Nettlecombe, Somerset, Nettlecombe, Somerset was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English House of Commons, English and House of Commons of Great Britai ...
of Nettlecombe, Somerset, and an artist who made floral paintings. Margaret's father died on 4 June 1737 at Dunster, at which time he was in debt, "due in part to his personal extravagance and in part to the necessity imposed upon him by his parents of providing a fortune of £10,000 for Anne Luttrell," daughter of his deceased brother Francis Luttrell (1709–1732) of Venn, Somerset, and wife of Edmund Morton Pleydell, 1734-1794. As a result,
Dunster Castle
Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a 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-Saxon period. After ...
was thrown into
Chancery and closed.
In 1741 Margaret's mother remarried to Edward Dyke of
Pixton and
Tetton in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, and young Margaret was raised with two girls in her mother's care. One was her first cousin, Anne Luttrell, and the other was Elizabeth Dyke, Edward Dyke's cousin. The family lived at Edward Dyke's houses, Pixton and Tetton. A "moderate sum" was expended on her education, which included music lessons, and care.
Margaret Trevelyan died in 1764.
Marriage and progeny
On 16 February 1747, when she came of age, in
Kingston St Mary
Kingston St Mary is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated at the southern end of the Quantock Hills north of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 921.
The parish includes the hamlets o ...
Church she married her second cousin
Henry Fownes
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
(d.1780) of Nethway House,
Kingswear
Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth. It lies within ...
(historically in
Brixham
Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fish ...
), Devon. Both shared as a great-grandfather Edward Yard (1638–1703) of
Churston Ferrers
Churston Ferrers is an area and former civil parish, in the borough of Torbay, Devon, England, situated between the south coast towns of Paignton and Brixham. Today it is administered by local government as the Churston-with-Galmpton ward of th ...
, MP for Ashburton in 1685, who himself was a grandson of Thomas Fownes (d.1635), Mayor of Plymouth in 1619. They thus also shared the same great-great-great grandfather as Thomas Fownes's great-grandson was John Fownes (1661–1731) of Kittery Court, Whitley, Devon, MP for Dartmouth 1713–14, grandfather of Henry Fownes (d.1780), husband of Margaret Luttrell. On their marriage Dunster Castle became the property of her husband (married women in England were legally incapable of owning property until
1882
Events
January–March
* January 2
** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates.
** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in ...
), who adopted the additional surname Luttrell after his own, and adopted the Luttrell arms (but continued to quarter Fownes), in accordance with a stipulation in Alexander Luttrell's will. They moved into
Dunster Castle
Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a 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-Saxon period. After ...
and updated the interior with Chinese painted wallpaper and new furniture in a
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style. New windows were installed in the stair hall and dining room. The marriage was a happy one and resulted in the birth of ten children, including:
*John Fownes Luttrell (1752–1816), eldest son and heir, of Dunster Castle, MP for Minehead (1776–1816), the Luttrell
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 ...
adjacent to Dunster Castle;
*Lieutenant Henry Fownes-Luttrell (1753–1777), 2nd son, who died unmarried.
*Rev. Alexander Fownes Luttrell (born 1754), 3rd son, Rector of
East Quantoxhead
East Quantoxhead is a village in the district of Somerset West and Taunton, from West Quantoxhead, east of Williton, and west of Bridgwater, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset, England.
History
Above the ...
, which manor had been held by the Luttrells since 1232, and Vicar of Minehead.
*
Francis Fownes Luttrell (1756–1823), 4th son, a barrister of the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
, a commissioner of customs and MP for Minehead 1780-3;
*Lt-Col. Thomas Fownes Luttrell (1763–1811), 5th son;
*Margaret Fownes-Luttrell (1747–1792), only daughter, whose three portraits are on display in Dunster Castle, one as an adult by Sir
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
(with a copy) and another as an infant by Phelps. She married John Henry Southcote (1747) on 24 May 1769. They had two daughters.
After her death John married Priscilla Aston and they had three sons and a daughter.
Josias Southcote (1798)
Henry Aston (born Southcote)(1804–1888). Note: He was baptised again in 1821 as Henry Aston.
Isabella Southcote (1809)
Thomas Southcote (1812)
Death and burial
Margaret Fownes-Luttrell died on 13 August 1766 and was buried at Dunster Castle.
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fownes-Luttrell, Margaret
1726 births
1766 deaths
Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
18th-century English women
18th-century English people