, a brave officer in king William’s wars, was a younger son of Richard
, a brave officer in king William’s
wars, was a younger son of Richard Cutts, esq. of an
ancient and distinguished family, settled about the time of
Henry VI. at Matching in Essex, where they had considerable property. His father removed to Childerley in Cambridgeshire, to take possession of a good estate given him
by sir John Cutts, bart. who died without issue. This,
estate, after the decease of an elder brother, devolved on
John; who sold it, to pay incumbrances, to equip himself
as a soldier, and to enable himself to travel. After an
academical education at Cambridge, he entered early into
the service of the duke of Monmouth, and afterwards was
aid-de-camp to the duke of Lorrain in Hungary, and signalized himself in a very extraordinary manner at the
taking of Buda by the imperialists in 1686; which important place had been for nearly a century and a half in the
hands of the Turks. Mr. Addison, in a Latin poem, not
unworthy of the Augustan age, plainly hints at Mr. Cutts’ s
distinguished bravery at that siege. He was afterwards
colonel of a regiment in Holland under the States, and accompanied king William to England, who “being graciously pleased to confer a mark of his royal favour upon
colonel John Cutts, for his faithful services, and zealous
affection to his royal person and government, thought fit
to create him a baron of the kingdom of Ireland, by the
style and title of Baron Cutts of Gowran in the said
kingdom, December 6, 1690.
” He was appointed governor of
the Isle of Wight, April 14, 1693 made a major-general
and, when the assassination-project was discovered, 1695-6,
was captain of the king’s guard. He was twice married
first to Elizabeth, daughter of George Clark of London,
merchant (relict of John Morley, of Glynd, in Sussex, and after, of John Trevor, esq. eldest brother to the first lord Trevor). This lady died in Feb. 1692. His second wife,
an amiable young woman, was educated under the care of
her grandmother, the lady Pickering, of Cambridgeshire.
She was brought to bed of a son, September 1, 1697, and
died in a few days after, aged only 18 years and as many
days. Her character has been admirably delineated by
bishop Atterbury, in the dedication to a sermon he
preached on occasion of her death.