Hutton, John (1757–1830), founder of the firm of John Hutton & Sons (1779–1923), Ireland's premier coachbuilders, was born 8 June 1757 in Dublin, son of Robert Hutton (d. 1779), tannery owner, and Sarah Hutton (née Lewis; d. 1781). In the year of his father's death John Hutton set up his coachbuilding enterprises in Great Britain St. (later Parnell St.) with, perhaps, his inheritance and the bounties for Irish trade initiated by the Irish parliament in that year. When in 1789 he moved to Summerhill he was told he was going ‘out of town’ and would be deserted. He commissioned Arthur Ackerman of London to create new carriage designs and his business thrived, supplying the aristocracy and great families before the act of union in 1800.
In 1784 he had been awarded the new mail-coach contract by the lord lieutenant and he enabled the new Irish post office to introduce the mail-coach service ahead of schedule. His brother Daniel was elected to the city council representing the guild of tanners, and another brother, Henry, became lord mayor of Dublin in 1803 and built Wyckham Park, Dundrum, Co. Dublin, a family country residence, in 1808. After the act of union, John Hutton was competing directly with London coachbuilders to supply the aristocracy, whose mode of fashionable living had moved to the new parliamentary capital, and he introduced new work methods and carriage designs to meet this competition. He died at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, on 6 August 1830 and is buried with many of the Hutton clan in St George's cemetery, off Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin. He had married Priscilla (née Dix) (d. 1835); they had two sons who succeeded him in the business, Robert (1784–1870) and Thomas (1788–1865), and a daughter, Laetitia.
Robert (see below) soon went into politics, leaving Thomas to run the business. Thomas Hutton (1788–1865) was born 10 January 1788, had his country residence at Elm Park, Goose Green, Drumcondra, Dublin, and conducted the Summerhill enterprise on innovative, efficient lines, being commissioned to build the Irish state coach for Queen Victoria. This ceremonial coach was completed in 1852 and was displayed at the 1852 Dublin international exhibition, the year following the great Hyde Park London exhibition. It has been used by successive British monarchs to drive to open parliament each year. Thomas Hutton was reputedly offered a knighthood but declined on the grounds that trade and knighthood did not mix. He was appointed a JP and DL of the city of Dublin. He was a founding member of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland (1830) and was the Society's treasurer from 1836 till 1860. He died 18 November 1865. He married first a Miss Ferguson (no issue) and secondly Margaret Hutton (of another family of that name in Dublin); they had ten children. His son Thomas Maxwell (1821–96) carried on the business. His daughter Annie Hutton (1825–53) gained fame as the fiancée of the patriot Thomas Davis (qv) and is the subject of many of Davis's love poems.
Robert Hutton (1784–1870), eldest son of John Hutton, was born 4 October 1784. He was a sleeping partner in the firm. He became MP for Dublin in the liberal interest from 31 July 1837 to 23 June 1841, but failed to be reelected. He was MP for Dublin with Daniel O'Connell (qv) and voted with O'Connell on everything except repeal. He became a fellow of the Geological Society in 1813 and one of its secretaries in 1837; he was also a member of the council of University College London, the British Association, and the RIA. He married (1821) Caroline Crampton and lived at Putney Park, Surrey. He died 23 August 1870.