Henry Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton

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

Luttrell was born in

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.[5]

Luttrell, described as "strong in body, if not in mind", achieved a reputation for bravery as a soldier during the Seven Years' War,^[6] 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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".^[6]

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".^[6]

Luttrell became active in Irish politics and between 1783 and 1787, he sat in the

Carhampton was never asked to answer for raping Mary Neal. In 1790 he re-entered the British Parliament as Member for Plympton Erle.^[4]

In October 1793, a younger brother, Temple Simon Luttrell, was arrested in Boulogne and, until February 1795, was held in Paris where, on the strength of their sister

In 1795 Carhampton was entrusted with the breakup and disarming of Defenders, the agrarian semi-insurgency, in Connaught. His proceedings and impressment of some 1,300 "rebels" into the British navy elicited criticism in otherwise loyal circles.^[3][10]

In 1796, with the leaders of the democratic party, the

Carhampton was seen by his critics as having "fanned the flame of disaffection into open rebellion" by "the picketings, the free quarters, half hangings, flogging and pitch-cappings" he directed.[10]

In 1791 and 1792, Carhampton helped vote down bills to abolish the slave trade. Negroes, he proposed, only wanted "to murder their masters, ravish their women, and drink all their rum". At the same time, he opposed lifting

In July 1799 he sold his Irish property and by his own later account, he "took no part" in the Acts of Union. He claimed to be been "disgusted at the scene that was passing before me", and to have abandoned Ireland because, under a "cowardly" government, he saw "the country likely to become Catholic".^[12] When the Dublin Post of 2 May 1811 erroneously reported his death, he demanded a retraction which they printed under the headline Public Disappointment.^[13]

He purchased an estate at

He briefly married Elizabeth Mullen in 1759, and had a daughter, Harriet Luttrell. This marriage was later annulled.[14]

He married Jane Boyd, daughter of George Boyd, in June 1776,^[15] but they had no children and was succeeded by his brother John.^[4]

Carhampton did have an illegitimate son, Henry Luttrell (1765–1851). He wrote light verse, and was a famous wit and diner-out. Quite from his father's tastes, he was a frequent companion of Thomas Moore,^[16] Ireland's national bard, a hagiographer of United Irishmen and a close confidante of leading Whigs.^[17]