Edward LUTTRELL

1756 - 1824  (67 years)

• Name	Edward LUTTRELL
  Born	29 Sep 1756	Devon, England
  Gender	Male
  Died	10 Jun 1824	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  Person ID	I14610	Young Kent Ancestors
  Last Modified	30 Nov 2016

  
  

  Family	Martha Maria WALTER,   b. 6 Apr 1761, Ashford, Kent, England ,   d. May 1832, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 71 years)
  Married	4 Apr 1781	Ashford, Kent, England   [1]
  Last Modified	20 Mar 2022
  Family ID	F4378	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Luttrell, Edward (1756–1824) This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, (MUP), 1967 Edward Luttrell (1756-1824), surgeon, was the son of Major Southcott Hungerford Luttrell, whose father was Edward Luttrell of Dunster, Somerset, England. His grandmother Ann, née Hungerford, was descended from the lords of Irnham and other noble families. He married a clergyman's daughter, Martha Walters, and they had six sons and four daughters. In 1803 he was in private practice in Kent, England, when like some other settlers he was given permission to go to New South Wales; because of his family and his property he was thought likely 'to cultivate his land … with greater facility than most of the settlers who have preceded him' and Governor Philip Gidley King was also instructed to give him a medical post when a vacancy occurred. In June 1804 Luttrell arrived at Port Jackson with his wife and eight children in the Experiment, Captain Withers, but soon afterwards his 'Feelings as a Father were much wounded', for one of his sons who had sailed twice with Withers deserted the ship in Sydney, and a daughter eloped with Withers when the Experiment sailed. Luttrell was granted 400 choice acres (162 ha) near Mulgrave Place on the Hawkesbury, rations for his family and ten assigned servants, livestock, seed and tools. He soon had ten acres (4 ha) under wheat and bought some 400 sheep, but he was quickly disillusioned by the high costs, thefts, isolation and seasonal vagaries which, described at length in his letters to official friends in London, denied the fulfilment of his social ambitions and dreams. In June 1805 Luttrell was appointed assistant colonial surgeon at 5s. a day, with duties at Sydney and Parramatta. In 1807 he became friendly with Governor William Bligh, and 'although unused to a Sea life, and being upwards of Fifty' he was appointed to H.M.S. Porpoise as a naval surgeon at 10s. a day and made five voyages in her. To his dismay he was superseded in November 1808 but, after, applying to Lieutenant-Governor Paterson for reinstatement in his former position, he was appointed in February 1809 as acting assistant-surgeon in charge of the hospital for the sick of the military establishments at Parramatta, for which he was paid 5s. a day. Luttrell sought land grants for his eight children, and in August Paterson granted 125 acres (51 ha) in the Evan district to each. Governor Lachlan Macquarie confirmed these, but in June 1813 he reported that he would not recommend Luttrell for promotion or additional pay since he was 'totally undeserving … deficient … in Humanity and in Attention to his Duty … sordid and Unfeeling and will not Afford any Medical Assistance to any Person who cannot pay him well for it'. Macquarie had received many complaints of Luttrell's negligence and had more than once severely admonished him, and would have suspended him were it not for his large family. In April 1814 Luttrell was moved from Parramatta to Sydney, to be under the eye of the principal surgeon, D'Arcy Wentworth. Next year he was given a choice of retiring to his farm on a pension or of returning to the Parramatta Hospital, but in August he was appointed acting colonial surgeon at Hobart Town at a salary of £182 10s. He moved there in January 1816. He cleared himself of some charges by proving that he suffered from a severe rheumatic affection which often crippled him, but Macquarie told the Colonial Office that Luttrell, although 'not deemed deficient in professional Skill … is … Criminally inattentive to his Patients … extremely Irritable and Violent in his Temper and Very Infirm from Dissipation', and should be retired on half-pay. This for the time the office refused and Macquarie, thinking again of his large family, was reluctant to displace him. In Hobart Luttrell was in constant trouble with Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell for being a boon companion of Thomas Davey, for irregular attendance at the hospital and gaol and for negligence in submitting returns. He was censured for making false accusations, and repeatedly recommended for retirement. The Colonial Office in 1818 gave Macquarie permission to place Luttrell on half-pay, but not until June 1821, when James Scott was appointed, was it possible to replace him. Luttrell died at his home in Bridge Street on 10 June 1824 in his sixty-eighth year. His widow, after many appeals, was allowed a pension of £50; she died in May 1832. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LUTTRELLS IN AUSTRALIA DR. EDWARD LUTTRELL From "A History of Dunster" by Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, 1909. Edward Luttrell, the second son of Major Southcote Hungerford Luttrell, was born in England in 1757. Elizabeth Hungerford, relict of George Hungerford of Studley House, near Calne, was his godmother. He was practising as a surgeon at Tonbridge in 1792 when he wrote a short account of a treatment of gangrene with alkalis and acids. An official despatch of the 30th of November 1803 describes him as a surgeon of considerable reputation in Kent, who was about to proceed to New South Wales on board the 'Experiment', with a view to settling there. A colonial return made two years later shows that he then had a wife and seven children. From January 1807 to September 1808, he was acting as surgeon on H. M. S. 'Porpoise", a store-ship stationed off the coast of New South Wales. Having then leave from the Captain to go inland to visit his family at Paramatta, he fell ill and was unable to return when summoned. Commodore Bligh, however, his irascible superior, refused to believe his story, and said that he must come on board dead or alive. Eventurally an 'R' was put against his name in the ship's book, to indicate that he had "run", and this stigma was not removed until after a consideration of the case by the Board of Admiralty more than ten years later. From New South Wales Dr. Edward Luttrell removed to Van Dieman's Land, where he became Surgeon General. Dying on the 10th of June 1824, he was buried at Hobart. Martha his relict, daughter of the Rev. _____ Walters, was buried beside him in May 1832. The Luttrell family in the Australian colonies has so increased and spread that it has not been found practicable to give details here of the births, marriages and deaths of its different scions. Of Dr. Edward Luttrell's six sons, four indeed died without issue. Hungerford, the eldest, a surgeon, died of fever off the coast of Africa. Edward, the second, was lost at sea in the Indian Ocean on board the "Governor Macquarie", in 1811. Robert the third, was killed by natives at Paramatta in New South Wales, in 1812. Oscar, the fifth, was killed by natives near Melbourne in 1838. Alfred Luttrell, fourth son of Dr. Edward Luttrell, died at Hobart in February 1865. He had issue seven sons: Edward, John, Alfred, Robert, Frederick, William and Edwin, and five daughters. Edgar Luttrell, sixth son of Dr. Edward Luttrell, died at Hobart in May 1865. He had issue seven sons, Edward Hungerford, Edgar, Wilmot Southcote Hungerford, George Walter, Edmund B. S., Tasman, and Alfred, and four daughters.

  
  

• Sources

  [S98] Marriage Licences, Archdeaconry of Canterbury, Joseph Meadows Cowper and Arthur J. Willis, (England, Canterbury: Cross and Jackman, 1892-1898, c1967-1971), 1781-1809. William Arthur J., comp., 1969. p. 15., 31 Mar 1781. Edward Luttrell of Ashford, gent, bachelor and Martha Walter of the same (20, mother Jane Walter, father William Walter, deceased). 31 Mar 1781.