Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Sir Geoffrey Walter Fownes Luttrell (2 October 1919 – 3 April 2007) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

landowner in

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_ ...

and a soldier who distinguished himself during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Luttrell was born in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

, where his father was private secretary to the

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson. He grew up at

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 ...

, his family's seat for six hundred years, then was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and subsequently read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford, where he acquired the friendly nickname of "Goat". He was an avid

fox-hunter Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...

and

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player in his youth and later a

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fisherman. Luttrell enlisted as a trooper in 1939 on the outbreak of the Second World War and was subsequently commissioned into the

15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars The 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it was ama ...

. In 1942 he married Hermione Hamilton Gunston (1923–2009), granddaughter of the 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava; the couple had no children. Luttrell landed with his regiment in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

two days after the first

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

and served as second-in-command of his

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

and as regimental gunnery officer during the Normandy campaign. In September 1944, a

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troop Ro ...

of his squadron was pinned down by German fire in difficult country at the bridgehead over the Meuse-Escaut canal, suffering two tanks disabled by broken tracks and the troop leader a casualty. Captain Luttrell successfully repaired the tanks under fire, extricated the troop, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. In April 1945, during the advance into Germany and the fighting around

Ibbenbüren Ibbenbüren ( Westphalian: ''Ippenbürn'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Ibbenbüren is situated on the Ibbenbürener Aa river, at the northwest end of the Teutoburger forest ...

, Luttrell's squadron seized a pass above the Teutoburger Wald and fought along the ridge there for a day without support, against heavy opposition. The squadron inflicted heavy casualties, and Luttrell received the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for his "bold and accurate" use of his 95 mm guns. After the War, Luttrell went with the Hussars to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

before retiring from the British Army in 1946. After four years of farming near

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...

, Luttrell moved into the family home at

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 ...

. He was an enthusiastic and community-minded landlord who ran the estates at East Quantoxhead and at Dunster after his father's death in 1957. In 1952 he joined the

North Somerset Yeomanry The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on ...

, and would later be honorary colonel of 6th Battalion, The Light Infantry ( TAVR). He also served as liaison officer for the Ministry of Agriculture from 1965 to 1971. Luttrell was president of the Royal Bath and West Show in 1983 and 1992 and a regional director of Lloyds Bank from 1972 to 1983. In 1974, after his mother's death, he gave Dunster Castle to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. He was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Somerset This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset. Since 1714, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Somerset. Lord Lieutenants of Somerset *John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1555 * Willia ...

in 1978, an office he held until 1994, was made a

Knight of the Order of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

in 1981, and a KCVO in 1993.

Arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the head of the Luttrell family of Dunster Castle is

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

ed ''Or, a bend between six martlets sable'', and the crest ''a boar passant argent crined or''.John Guillim, ''The British Banner Display'd: A Complete System of Heraldry'', vol. I (1755), p. 508

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luttrell, Walter 1919 births 2007 deaths 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars officers 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars soldiers Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency English landowners High Sheriffs of Somerset Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Knights of the Order of St John Lord-Lieutenants of Somerset

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

Military personnel from Melbourne North Somerset Yeomanry officers People educated at Eton College People from West Somerset (district) Recipients of the Military Cross