Henry Fownes Luttrell (died 1780)

Margaret Luttrell's father died in 1737, when she was eleven, and she inherited the position.[16][n 1] Her father left debts due to his lifestyle and also provisions in his parents' wills that forced him to support his niece, Anne Luttrell, a daughter of Francis, his brother. This situation caused the family seat at Dunster Castle to be closed and valued, while much of the family silver now in her possession was sold off, in some cases to relatives. Margaret Luttrell went to live with her mother's new husband, Edward Dyke of Tetton, a wealthy landowner.[17][n 2] While there, she married Fownes, who was then a resident of Nethway, Devon.[18]

To improve his wife's estate, Fownes Luttrell obtained a sanction from the Court of Chancery to sell the manors of Heathfield and Kilton but found no buyers;[19] he subsequently attempted to sell the manor of Minehead, and also offered at least one of the Parliamentary seats for the Borough of Minehead for £30,000, but there were no serious bidders, largely due to the high prices and the fact that Fownes Luttrell had in fact not inherited much control over the seats he was putting up for sale.[2][20] However, frugal spending helped to recover the estate and Fownes Luttrell invested in 1760 in the manor of Foremarsh, near Dunster, which he purchased from John Poyntz.[n 3] He went on to buy the manor of Staunton Fry in 1777 and a number of tenements in Dunster. In leisure, he particularly enjoyed hunting, keeping hounds and horses, and cockfighting.[21]

Dunster Castle, which Henry Fownes Luttrell remodelled. He also altered the grounds considerably.

Beginning in 1747, Fownes Luttrell made numerous and significant alterations to Dunster Castle, redecorating and redesigning it in the Rococo style.[22][23] He renovated the Great Parlour, converted a bedroom over it into a Drawing Room in 1758, created a Breakfast Room over the Hall in 1772, remodelled the southern part of the castle, and altered the Great Staircase in 1773.[24] His changes to the décor of the castle are also noteworthy, particularly for his use of newly-fashionable wallpaper.[22][23]

Further alterations were made by Fownes Luttrell to the castle grounds. He created the park there and constructed Conygar Tower.[25] The latter was commissioned in 1775 and was designed as a decorative folly to improve the views from the castle;[26] he also built a gatehouse and a statue of Neptune in Conygar wood at a similar time, while commissioning the reconstruction of Dunster Water Mill and the adjacent bridge, which were rebuilt from 1779 to 1780.[27][28][29] In 1764, the Lower Ward of the Castle was reduced to one level, while several adjoining walls were removed and the road passing through the gateway was covered over.[30] Additionally, his 141-hectare (350-acre) park was built south of the castle, and required the eviction of a number of tenant farmers.[31]

Being Lord of the Manor of Minehead theoretically gave Fownes Luttrell a "Natural Interest" in elections to Parliament for the borough—i.e. the power to influence the votes of its householders. However, the Luttrells had let it slip out of their control[20] and Fownes Luttrell was being warned by his estate's agent, John St. Albyn, in 1747 that "you do not appear sure of more than one quarter of the vote, and it may happen too that of even one quarter of them some will fail you".[32] At the British General Election of 1754, Fownes Luttrell was serving as High Sheriff of Somerset, which barred him from standing as a candidate to be a member of parliament; however Henry Shiffner, a merchant from London, approached him and offered himself as a candidate for the borough in his place.[20][33][n 4]

As St. Albyn had warned, Shiffner was not returned as a Member;[20] instead, Lord Egremont, a local landowner, offered considerable financial support to his own candidate, Daniel Boone, while one of the incumbent MPs, Charles Whitworth, offered to sell parts of his estate to loyal supporters.[20] An intervention from the Duke of Newcastle, at Egremont's request, led to Boone and Whitworth forming an alliance against Fownes Luttrell. Shiffner petitioned Parliament and was supported by an angered Fownes Luttrell,[34] but Egremont and Fownes Luttrell eventually agreed a truce and by 1757 had agreed to return a member each and oppose any third candidates.[20] Reluctant to stand himself, Fownes Luttrell supported Shiffner again.[2] The pair would spend seven years dealing with the estate and consolidating his interest there; this, coupled with his arrangement with Egremont, meant that Shiffner was duly returned in 1761, alongside the first Earl of Thomond, brother of Egremont, beating an outsider, the Earl of Clanbrassill.[20] During this Parliament, Fownes Luttrell entertained voters at Dunster Castle and in the village, where he laid on expensive feasts.[35]

After his wife's death in 1766, Fownes Luttrell decided to stand at the general election in 1768. Despite his efforts to build up support, there were still factions and opposition to him. To gain some form of patronage in Minehead, he travelled to London and obtained from the Government control over the offices in Minehead, which prevented his opponents from doing the same.[20] Fownes Luttrell won that election, accumulating more than £1,800 worth of expenses in the process.[20][36] While a member of parliament, he is not recorded as speaking and does not appear in the small number of division lists still surviving.[2] According to Maxwell Lyte, "it does not appear that [he] had any real zest for Parliamentary life [and was] probably far happier with his hounds and his fighting cocks in Devon or Somerset."[37] However, it appears that the Prime Minister, Lord North, believed that in return for the Government's support in 1768, Fownes Luttrell had promised to return the Government's candidate, Thomas Pownall, at the next election; when that time came, in 1774, North supported Fownes Luttrell and "warned off" his rival, Charles Whitworth.[20] However, Fownes Luttrell was elected alongside his eldest son, John, which caused a dispute between the former and North. The dispute was resolved when the elder Fownes Luttrell offered to resign that December, in favour of Pownall, on the condition that Pownall seek his approval before nominating any of his friends or himself in future; a draft document outlining his other conditions included a payment of £3,000 in return for his resignation.[2][20]

Despite resigning, Fownes Luttrell had asserted his influence and control over both seats and, in 1780 his son Francis was elected alongside John Fownes Luttrell, who remained one of the MPs until 1806 and went on to sit again from 1807 to 1816; his other son, Thomas, and John's son (also called John) were also elected subsequently.[11][14][15]

• Burke, J. and Burke, J.B. (1847). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, volume ii.
• Cokayne, G.E. (1893). The Complete Peerage, 1st edition, volume 5.
• Garnett, O. (2003) Dunster Castle, Somerset. London: The National Trust. ISBN 978-1-84359-049-1
• Gilbert, C.S. (1820). An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall, volume 2.
• Matthews, S. (1970). "Fownes, John, jun. (?1687–1733), of Nethway and Kittery Court, nr. Dartmouth, Devon", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. R. Sedgwick
• Maxwell Lyte, Sir H.C. (1909). A History of Dunster. (Two volumes: one and two)
• Namier, Sir L. (1964a). "Fownes Luttrell, Henry (?1722–80), of Dunster Castle, Som.", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754–1790, ed. Sir L. Namier, J. Brooke
• Namier, Sir L. (1964b). "Minehead", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754–1790, ed. Sir L. Namier, J. Brooke