Sir John Lyttelton (1520–1590)

The arms of Sir John Lyttelton's parents, combining Lyttelton and Talbot

Sir John Lyttelton (28 October 1519 – 15 February 1590) was a prominent landowner from the Lyttelton family during the Tudor period.

Biography

St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove, monument to George Lyttelton, the brother of Sir John Lyttelton (1520–1590).

John Lyttelton was a son of John Littleton (c. 1500–1533, whose parents were Sir William Littelton and his second wife, Mary Whittington) and Elizabeth (née Talbot, died 1581), the daughter and coheiress of Sir Gilbert Talbot (died 1542), of Grafton, Worcestershire.^[1][2] John Lyttelton's brother, George (1528–1600), became a prominent lawyer; there is a monument to him in St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove.

John Lyttelton was of age in 1541.^[3] He was made constable of Dudley Castle and keeper of the old and new parks there in 1553. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth in 1566. He was a member of the Council of Wales and the Marches, a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Worcestershire.

He purchased the manor of Halesowen (formerly of Halesowen Abbey) from Lord Robert Dudley afterwards Earl of Leicester in 1558.^[4] He bought the manor of Hagley from John St. Leger in 1565.^[5] These together with Frankley and Upper Arley (which he inherited) were the core of the family estate. Save that Upper Arley devolved away from the male line, this has remained in the hands of the family ever since, though parts were sold off in the 20th century.

Family and descendants

He married Bridget Pakington (b.1522), the daughter of Sir John Pakington, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Littleton (1546 – 4 June 1594), who in 1564 married Sir Francis Willoughby (d. 16 November 1596) of Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire.^[6]

He was succeeded by his son Gilbert (c.1570–1599), who was the father of John († 1601) and Humphrey († 1606).

Notes

1. Bernard & Birch 1738, p. 118.
2. John Littleton (c. 1500–1533) was the son Sir William Littleton (1450–1507), knighted after the Battle of Stoke, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Littleton (d.1481), justice and author of Littleton's Tenures (Baker 2007).
3. Jeayes 1893, no. 436.
4. VCH 1913a, pp. 136–146; Jeayes 1893, nos. 440–401.
5. VCH 1913, pp. 130–136, footnote 64: "Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 7 Eliz." .
6. Emerson 2013.

References

• Baker, J.H. (May 2007). "Littleton , Sir Thomas (d. 1481)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16787. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Bernard, John Peter; Birch, Thomas (1738). A General Dictionary Historical and Critical. III. p. 118. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
• Jeayes, J.H. (1893). Descriptive catalogue of the charters and muniment of the Lyttelton Family.
• Emerson, Kathy Lynn (2013). "A Who's Who of Tudor Women: L, compiled by Kathy Lynn Emerson to update and correct: Wives and Daughters: The Women of Sixteenth-Century England (1984)". Retrieved 20 November 2013. |chapter= ignored (help)
• VCH (1913). "Parishes: Hagley". Victoria County History, Worcestershirer. 3. pp. 130–136.;
• VCH (1913a). "Halesowen: Introduction, borough and manors". Victoria County History, Worcestershire. 3. pp. 136–146.;
• Burkes Peerage and Baronetage (1939), s.v. Cobham, Viscount