Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hutton, Luke
HUTTON, LUKE (d. 1598), criminal, is stated by Sir John Harington to have been a younger son of Matthew Hutton, archbishop of York; but Fuller, whose account is adopted by Thoresby and Hutchinson, asserts, with more probability, that he was the son of Robert Hutton, rector of Houghton-le-Spring and prebendary of Durham. Luke Hutton matriculated as a sizar of Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1582; left the university without a degree, and took to evil courses. He was 'so valiant that he feared not men nor laws' (Harington). In 1598, for a robbery committed on St. Luke's day, he was executed at York, the archbishop magnanimously forbearing to intercede on his behalf.
He is the reputed author of 1. 'Luke Button's Repentance,' a manuscript poem dedicated to Henry, earl of Huntingdon (Musæum Thoresbyanum, p. 85). 2. ‘The Black Dogge of Newgate, both pithie and profitable for all readers,' black letter, n. d., 4to, dedicated to Lord-chief-justice Popham; reprinted with additional matter in 1638. From a passage in the preface we learn that the 'Repentance ' had been printed. In the first edition the tract begins with a poem describing a vision that appeared to the author in Newgate. The poem, which treats of the harshness of gaolers and miseries of prison-life, is followed by a prose 'Dialogue betwixt the Author and one Zawney,' concerning `coneycatching.' A lost play bearing the title 'The Black Dog of Newgate,’ 2 parts, by Hathway, Wentworth Smith, and Day, was produced in 1602 (Henslowe, Diary, p.244 &c.) After Hutton's execution appeared a broadside ballad 3. 'Luke Hutton's Lamentation which he wrote the day before his death' [1598].
[Fuller's Church History, ed. Brewer, v. 356; Hutchinson's Durham, i.581; Hutton Corresp. (Surtees Soc.), ed. Raine; Thoresby's Vic. Leod.; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 540-1.]