Henry Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton

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.[6] 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".[7]

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."[8]

Luttrell became active in Irish politics and between 1783 and 1787, he sat in the Irish House of Commons for Old Leighlin.[2] On his father's death in 1787, he succeeded to the earldom of Carhampton and other titles.[2]He became Colonel of the 6th Dragoon Guards and Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance in Ireland.[2]

In 1788, Luttrell was publicly accused in Dublin of the rape of a 12 year-old girl. Having been paid to deliver a message, Mary Neal claimed she was bundled into a brothel and there assaulted throughout the night by Luttrell. The keeper of the house, Maria Llewellyn, was charged in a case marked by accusations of witness tampering, the death in prison of Amy's mother and new-born baby sister and by the insinuation that Amy was already working as a prostitute. The affair became a cause célèbre with the public intervention of Archibald Hamilton Rowan (later United Irishman). To clear Mary's name he brought her to Dublin Castle to see the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Westmorland. Westmorland, unmoved, pardoned Llewellyn and set her at liberty.[9]

Luttrell was never asked to answer for raping May Neal. He re-entered the Westminster Parliament as Member for Plympton Erle in 1790.[2] Then in 1796 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Ireland,[2] and in 1798 he led the British suppression of the United Irishmen Rebellion.[2] His command had the unusual distinction of being upbraided by his successor as Commander in Chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby for an army "in a state of licentiousness, which must render it formidable to every one but the enemy".[10]

When the Dublin Post of 2 May 1811 erroneously reported his death, he demanded a retraction which they printed under the headline Public Disappointment.[11]

He purchased an estate at Painshill Park in Surrey and re-entered parliament in June 1817 as Member for Ludgershall and held the seat until his death.[2]