Hon. John Luttrell-Olmius 3rd Earl of Carhampton

1740-1828. He was the third of four sons of Simon Luttrell, the 1st Earl of Carhampton in the Irish Peerage, who was ennobled after his widowed daughter, Anne Horton, married King George III s brother, the Duke of Cumberland, in October 1771. His mother was Judith Maria Lawes, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Lawes, governor of Jamaica from 1718-22, he was the elder brother of Captain Hon. James Luttrell, and all three of his brothers sat in the House of Commons.

Luttrell entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in 1752, and three years later was selected by Captain Lord Howe to join him aboard the Dunkirk 64, remaining with that ship for the following two years. In July 1757 he removed with Howe to the Magnanime 74, and in the following year served with Captain Samuel Hood aboard the Vestal 32. He was then taken aboard the Namur 90, Captain Matthew Buckle, flagship of Admiral Hon. Edward Boscawen, being present at the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, and he was commissioned lieutenant on 10 October 1758. He then continued his education under distinguished commanders by being appointed to the Dublin 74, Captain Sir George Rodney.

On 4 March 1761 Luttrell was promoted commander of the new sloop Druid 10 by the first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Anson, and he served under Rear-Admiral Hon. George Augustus Keppel at the siege of Belleisle in April-June. Upon that officer s recommendation he was posted captain of the Mars 74 on 25 August 1762, serving off Brest with the broad pennant of Commodore Richard Spry, and going out to the North American station in September. He captured the French privateer Amarante 18 on 17 September 1762, and later served on the Jamaican station before returning to England and being paid off at Portsmouth in the autumn of 1763 following the ending of hostilities.

Luttrell’s career in the navy was brief, but he spent many years in a civil role, whilst he and his three brothers all sat in the House of Commons.

From 1765-8 Luttrell commanded the Portsmouth guardship Achilles 60, and in 1774, having failed to get elected at Petersfield, he entered Parliament as the M.P. for Stockbridge, although he resigned in favour of his brother James at the end of the following year. During his time in parliament he sided with the opposition against the war with the American colonies.

In November 1778, after France had joined the war, he commissioned the new Charon 44, taking a convoy out to Jamaica in March 1779. He led the reduction of Omoa in the Gulf of Honduras in a campaign from September-October with his broad pennant aboard the Charon, capturing two Spanish treasure galleons worth three million dollars. After returning home in the following summer he was never re-employed but instead began a life of public service.

Luttrell re-entered parliament with his re-election to Stockbridge in 1780, retaining the seat until January 1785, at the beginning of which period he supported the government and defended the first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, against the attacks of his elder brother, Hon. Temple Simon Luttrell. At the end of 1784 he accepted a position on the Board of Excise from the new Prime Minister, William Pitt, and he remained in that role for the next forty years. On 3 April 1787 he assumed the additional name of his wife s family, Olmius, on the death of her only brother.

At the start of the French Revolutionary War in 1793 Luttrell sought active employment, but with none forthcoming he remained in his civil role. He became the 3rd Earl of Carhampton of Castlehaven, County Cork, and Baron Irnham of Luttrellstown, County Dublin, in succession to his brother, General Henry Lawes Luttrell, on 25 April 1821, and he died at his residence in Devonshire Place on 17 March 1829, his titles becoming extinct due to the lack of a male heir.

He married Hon. Elizabeth Olmius on 1 July 1766, the sister to an Irish peer, Lord Waltham, and subsequently his heiress. She died on 4 June 1797, and their sons John died in 1769, and James in 1772. They also had a daughter, Lady Frances Maria. Luttrell later married Maria Morgan of the Inner Temple in July 1798 and had issue Lady Maria Anne, who married Lieutenant-Colonel Hardress Robert Saunderson. Luttrell s address was given as Kimpton, near Andover, Hampshire.

Luttrell regularly spoke in parliament and was not afraid to change his opinion or allegiance. Despite his title he was not a wealthy man, the Luttrell estate having previously been divided and his long service at the Excise Board accruing little reward.