Sir Thomas Luttrell was a leading Anglo-Irish nobleman of the sixteenth-century Irish Pale, and was also a distinguished lawyer and judge who held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas

The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the senior judge of the Court of Common Pleas ,known in its early stage as the Common Bench or simply Bench, one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of Common Pleas in England...

.

Background

He was born in Dublin, eldest son of Richard Luttrell of Luttrellstown Castle

Luttrellstown Castle

Luttrellstown Castle, dating from the early 15th century , is located near Clonsilla on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. It has been owned variously by the eponymous and notorious Luttrell family, by the bookseller Luke White and his descendants Baron Annaly, by the Guinness family, the Primwest...

, head of a prominent Anglo-Irish family, and Margaret FitzLyons. His exact date of birth is not recorded but can hardly have been later than 1490, since his first marriage took place in 1506. Little is known of his earlier years. He was involved in litigation over an inheritance in 1527; he was presumably by then a barrister of some years standing since he became serjeant and Solicitor General in 1532. He was spoken of as a judge of the Common Pleas in 1533, and next year became Chief Justice of the Court, holding office until his death 20 years later.

In government

He was an active member of the Council, accompanying the Lord Deputy on a mission to treat with the O'Tooles; Luttrell was of great assistance since, perhaps surprisingly, he spoke fluent Irish.He took charge of the defence of Dublin in the Deputy's absence and was praised for his diligence in that regard. He sat on a commission into monastic land in 1541 and himself received several grants,notably the lands of St. Mary's Abbey at Clonsilla

Clonsilla

Clonsilla is a suburb of Dublin in the district of Fingal, Ireland.-Location and access:Originally a small village in its own right, Clonsilla is now a large residential suburban area, with Ongar and other localities developing their own subsidiary identities...

. He was knighted in 1540.

When Henry VII

Henry VII

Henry VII may refer to:* Henry VII, Duke of Bavaria * Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor * Henry VII of England * Henry II of Sicily sometimes described as Henry of Germany...

I set up a commission headed by Sir Anthony St. Leger in 1537 on the governance of Ireland Luttrell submitted a detailed memorandum. He urged the imposition of the English language and modes of dress on the inhabitants of the Pale, the expulsion of Irish musicians, the discouragement of English settlers from returning home, the danger of trusting Irish soldiers, the need to subdue the neighbouring Gaelic clans, and the desirability of the Lord Deputy being English yet prepared to serve a lengthy term. Less harshly he argued that the inhabitants of the Pale

The Pale

The Pale or the English Pale , was the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. It had reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk...

 were overtaxed. He also urged the printing of the Irish Statutes.

Death and memorial

Luttrell was in London at the time of Mary I

Mary I

Mary I or Maria I may refer to:*Maria, Queen of Sicily *Mary, Queen of Hungary *Mary I of England , often called "Bloody Mary"*Mary, Queen of Scots *Mary I of Portugal...

's accession but returned to Dublin and died the following year. He was a wealthy man, due partly to his acquisition of monastic land: his will refers to numerous objects of gold and silver, and in 1538 he was able to present Thomas Cromwell with a goshawk

Goshawk

The Northern Goshawk , Accipiter gentilis, is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes other diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards and harriers....

, always a very rare bird in Ireland. Though he outwardly conformed to the reformed faith, he did request prayers for the salvation of his soul. He was buried by his own direction " with honesty but no pomp " in Clonsilla Church, and left a bequest for the building of a mortuary chapel there.On a more worldly note he directed that open house be kept for guests at Luttrellstown Castle.

Character

Elrington Ball sums up Luttrell as " a typical example of a gentleman of the English Pale of his time": though his family had been settled in Ireland for centuries, though he had constant contact with the Old Irish families round him since his youth, and even spoke fluent Irish, yet he identified wholly with the interests of England, and Ireland outside the Pale was to him a foreign country. His most attractive quality was the hospitality for which he was famous.

Family

Luttrell married firstly, apparently while still in his teens Anne Aylmer, daughter of Bartholomew Aylmer, and sister of his future colleague Sir Gerald Aylmer

Gerald Aylmer

Gerald Edward Aylmer was an English historian of seventeenth-century England.Gerald Aylmer was the only child of Edward Arthur Aylmer, from an Anglo-Irish naval family, and Phoebe Evans. A great-uncle was Lord Desborough...

. His second wife was Elizabeth Bathe, daughter of Sir William Bathe. By two marriages he had nine children-

• Richard, who predeceased him
• Anne, who married Thomas Dillon
• Christopher who inherited his father's estate but died only two years later
• Margaret, who married Luke Netterville
• Sir James Luttrell, Sheriff of Dublin, who inherited Luttrellstown from his brother Christopher
• Simon, the eventual heir, from whom future generations of Luttrells were descended
• Robert
• John
• Walter.