Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton

Thomas Lyttelton, 6th Baronet, 2nd Baron Lyttelton[1] (30 January 1744 – 27 November 1779) was an English MP and profligate from the Lyttelton family.

Lord Lyttelton, portrait by Richard Brompton.

St John the Baptist Church, Hagley, memorial to Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton (1744–1779)

Life

Sometimes dubbed "the wicked Lord Lyttelton"[2] and "bad Lord Lyttelton" to discredit his independence from the political parties and religious dogmas of his era, he was the son of George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton and 5th Baronet, and his wife Lucy Fortescue. His mother died when he was two years old. He was talented in his early years, particularly in drawing. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford where he matriculated in 1761,[3] he was also a reader of poetry, his favourite poet being John Milton.

His father, the 1st Lord Lyttelton, held political posts including Privy Councillor, a Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He himself was a good friend of the Prince of Wales, who later became King George III. Lyttelton received his pension through his estranged father, and because of his parentage and ability he also had a career in public life. He was a Whig MP for Bewdley from 1768 to 1769 and the Chief Justice of the Eyre in 1775, and became a Privy Councillor the same year.

His death was widely reported to have been foreseen by himself three days beforehand; he claimed a bird flew into his room, and told him he had only three days to live.

Family

Lyttelton married Aphia Witts, but they had no children, so on his death his barony became extinct. It was recreated in 1794, however, for his successor in the baronetcy, his father's brother Sir William Lyttelton, 7th Baronet.

References

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage (1939), s.v Cobham, Viscount
Gerrard, Christine. "Lyttelton, George, first Baron Lyttelton (1709–1773)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17306. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

Notes

The spelling is occasionally Lyttleton, as in the collected Letters of the Late Lord Lyttleton, Troy, N. Y.: Wright, Goodenow & Stockwell, 1807.
THE LIFE OF THOMAS LORD LYTTELTON, by Thomas Frost. 1876.
Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Lyttelton, Thomas" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.

External links

Works by Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Edward Winnington, Bt	Member of Parliament for Bewdley 1768–1769	Succeeded by Sir Edward Winnington, Bt
Legal offices
Preceded by Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baron Pelham of Stanmer	Justice in Eyre north of the Trent 1775–1779	Succeeded by Charles Wolfran Cornwall
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by George Lyttelton	Baron Lyttelton 1773–1779	Succeeded by (extinct)
Baronetage of England
Preceded by George Lyttelton	Baronet (of Frankley) 1773–1779	Succeeded by William Henry Lyttelton

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[1] The spelling is occasionally Lyttleton, as in the collected Letters of the Late Lord Lyttleton, Troy, N. Y.: Wright, Goodenow & Stockwell, 1807.

[2] THE LIFE OF THOMAS LORD LYTTELTON, by Thomas Frost. 1876.

[3] Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Lyttelton, Thomas" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.