Close to the reading desk, on the west wall of the Church, is a modest memorial plaque to the late Thomas Hutton inscribed only with his year of birth and death. The memorial wouldn’t seem to be of any historical significance but it has been a source of curiosity for me for a few years now. This curiosity was stimulated by, of all things, an interest in Charles Dickens.
A few years ago I picked up a book with the title Charles Dickens Ireland. This anthology was compiled by Mr Jim Cooke and contained many interesting articles on Dickens’ associations with Ireland including reports from Ireland printed in his weekly journal Household Words. Reports were sent from Dublin from Harriet Martineau, famous in her own right, but of particular interest here as she was visiting her brother James, then a Unitarian Minister in Dublin. One of her reports appeared under the title Triumphant Carriages (The Huttons of Summerhill). For some reason I felt there was a connection between these Huttons and the Hutton commemorated in our Church but it wasn’t until I followed it up recently that I discovered how strong the connection was and the many other famous people with whom Thomas Hutton was related and connected. I can’t claim that I had to do any amount of hard work to uncover these connections as a small book I picked up in my local library (IRELAND’S PREMIER COACHBUILDER , also written by Jim Cooke) connected the information I already had and added more… much much more.!!

Huttons Coachbuilders

This story starts with Robert Hutton the descendant of a Cromwellian officer Thomas Hutton. Robert who lived in Winetavern Street Dublin, married Sarah Lewis and the couple had sixteen children , nine of whom survived into adulthood. Among their children and later descendants were a Member of Parliament for Dublin, two Alderman one who went on to be the Lord Mayor of the Dublin, a world famous mathematician a famous company of coachbuilders and at least two Dublin Unitarian ministers. Robert Hutton’s eldest son Henry and fourth son Daniel were both aldermen on Dublin Corporation. Henry went on to be the High Sheriff and then Lord Mayor in 1803. The second son, also Robert, was through his daughter Sarah the grandfather of William Rowan Hamilton the famous mathematician. William’s godfather was the United Irishman Archibald Hamilton Rowan who had his life story written by Dr William Hamilton Drummond Unitarian minister and friend of the third son John.
John was born in 1757 and set up the coach building business in 1779. Coach building was an important trade, as, for those who could afford it, travelling by coach was the main mode of transport. Among the coachbuilders in Dublin at that time was Matthew Tone the father of Wolfe Tone and there can be little doubt that the Tones and Huttons were well acquainted. The leaders of the United Irishmen had nicknames and Tones great friend Thomas Russell gave him the title “Hutton”. Tone in turn referred to Russell as P.P. ( Parish Priest) !! The Hutton firm was based at Summerhill, then at the edge of the city and now the site of a Dublin Bus garage. It became very famous and earned a high reputation for the quality of the coaches produced there and also for its innovative and progressive systems of work. However, although the wages and conditions for the workers were among the best in the city and never the subject of dispute, trouble did break out on more than one occasion over new systems of work and the introduction of foreign (English) tradesmen and it was one of these disputes that was recorded in Dickens Household Words. Some of these innovations were introduced by Johns two sons, Robert who entered the business in 1806 and Thomas who entered in 1811. It is this Thomas who is commemorated in the Church.
John and his sons Robert and Thomas continued to expand the business and their reputation was enhanced by some events in 1821. When King George IV visited Ireland that year he was welcomed by Daniel O’Connell who travelled to meet the King in a carriage he ordered from Huttons. Also that year when the Marquis of Wellesley (brother of the Duke of Wellington) was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland he ordered his splendid coach from Huttons. To top the year off Huttons were granted their first royal patent by King George and these patents were renewed by subsequent monarchs.

Thomas Hutton
As the years passed John gradually withdrew from the business and for some years Thomas was left to run it on his own as Robert had been successfully elected as the Liberal MP for Dublin for the parliament of 1836 to 1843 coming second to Daniel O’Connell by a mere 14 votes. The Huttons seem to have been very friendly with O’Connell, constructing at least one more carriage for his triumphant parades through the city, but they were also to find themselves tragically close to another of the great political figures of Irish history, Thomas Davis the author of, among others, “A Nation Once Again”
Thomas Hutton was a subscriber to The Nation the paper founded by Thomas Davis and though not in full agreement with the proposed methods of Davis was obviously friendly enough with him to invite him to dinner at his house in Elm Park. Davis immediately fell for one of Huttons three daughters Annie and she for him. Although Annie’s parents tried initially to deter her from developing a relationship with Davis they eventually relented and Thomas Davis and Annie Hutton became engaged in 1845 when she was 20 and he 31. Their love for each other is recorded in the many letters they exchanged and also in the poems Davis wrote for her. But a happy ending was not to be as, just a few months after their betrothal, Thomas Davis died of scarlet fever. Annie never recovered from the loss of her great love and died herself at the tender age of 28 in 1853.
Thomas Hutton continued on in his business until he died in 1865 at the age of 76. He was succeeded by his two sons Thomas Maxwell and Lucius Octavus. Lucius was the Secretary of this congregation when it moved from Strand Street to Stephens Green and the family association with Dublin Unitarianism continued for some years after. The family firm continued on successfully into the 1920s when due to a number of factors the business was sold off after over 150 years of trade.

The Irish State Coach
Ironically 1853 the tragic year of Annie Huttons untimely death was also the year of that Huttons completed the piece of work for which they received greatest recognition. During a visit to Ireland Queen Victoria was greatly impressed by the comfort of the Hutton manufactured coach in which she travelled around the country. She commissioned a coach from Huttons and this coach became known as The Irish State Coach. This coach is still in use and can be seen when the Queen travels in it from Buckingham Palace to Westminster to open parliament.
I hope this article has been of interest there are a lot more connections that could have been introduced but time or space don’t permit ……… no doubt I got something wrong or missed a few things but I will be happy to accept any corrections or additions which you might be able to advise me of. My gratitude to Mr Cooke who did most of the real work
Rory Delany