Born in 1820, he was the eldest son of a local magistrate, William Wright Luard J.P., D.L. of Witham Lodge,
Witham, Essex (formerly of
Hatfield Peverel Priory) and Charlotte Garnham, only child of Thomas Garnham of
Belchamp Hall (Felsham Hall in
Lovejoy) in Suffolk. The
Luards were a prominent family of Protestant
Huguenot merchants who had fled to England from
Caen, Normandy in the late 17th century as part of the mass exodus of Huguenots from France to England that followed the
1685 revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. After a distinguished career as a naval officer, including as captain and commander of and
HMS Conqueror, he served as superintendent of the
Sheerness Dockyard and the
Malta Dockyard. From 1882 to 1885, he was
President of the
Royal Naval College, Greenwich. and
admiral in 1885. A staunch
Liberal and supporter of Prime Minister
William Gladstone, Luard retired to his estate in Essex where he served as a
justice of the peace and as an active member of the court of Quarter Sessions. He died in 1910 as a result of injuries sustained in a carriage accident. His funeral cortege in his home town of
Witham,
Essex attracted thousands of mourners. ==References==