Name

The Lutwidge Family

Description

A Whitehaven merchant family whose trajectory embodies the conflict of interest at the heart of the Revestment. Walter Lutwidge and Thomas Lutwidge signed the Whitehaven merchants' memorial to the Treasury in the early 1750s, calling for 'purchasing the sovereignty of the said Island' and warning of £200,000 in annual losses to the Crown and 'great damage' to the East India Company. Charles Lutwidge — of the same family — provided the Treasury with a detailed intelligence report on the Duke's revenues in July 1764, estimating annual income at £7,500 and annual Crown losses at £200,000. He was then appointed Receiver-General after the Revestment. The family that lobbied for the seizure administered its consequences. Charles was seldom on the Island, drawing approximately £1,000 per year from an island revenue of £3,500. He seized wrecks, herring customs, fishings, and derelict ground 'under the pretext of their belonging to the Crown.' The 1792 Commissioners found him absent since 1786, sitting on £5,119 in unreported balances. P.J. Heywood's correspondence from the 1780s reports on Lutwidge's continued influence over patronage twenty years after the Revestment.

Active Period

c.1750–c.1790

Place

Whitehaven, Cumberland

Isle of Man

London

Period

Atholl Lordship

Crown Administration

Role / Significance

Merchants

Revenue Officers

Lobbyists

Conflict of Interest

Book Chapter

Chapter 9

Chapter 11

Chapter 12