Edward Littleton

Son and Heir of Sir. Edw. Littleton of Henley in Shropshire Knight, was born in that County an. 1589. became a Gentleman Commoner of Ch. Ch. in the beginning of the year 1606, where by the care of an eminent Tutor, he became a proficient in Academical learning, took a degree in Arts an. 1609, and from Ch. Ch. removed to the Inner Temple, where he made such admirable progress in the Municipal Laws, and was of such eminence in his Profession in a short time, that the City of London took early notice of, and chose him their Recorder, being also about that time Counsellor to University of Oxon. In the 8. of Car. 1. he was elected Summer Reader of his Society, and in the 10. of the said King (Oct. 17.) he was made Sollicitor-General. After which, upon the 6. of June next ensuing, he received the honor of Knighthood at Whitehall, at which time, and some years before, he was a Member of the Commons House of no small reputation. On the 27. of Jan. 15. Car. 1. he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and on the 23. of Jan. the next year, his Majesty confer’d upon him the utmost honor belonging to his Profession, by giving the Great Seal into his custody. In less than a month after, upon the 18. of Feb. he made ((a))((a)) Baronage of England. Tom. 3. p. 465. b. him a Peer of England, by the name of the Lord Littleton Baron of Mounslow in his Native Country, being then in great esteem for integrity and eminence in his Profession. Shortly after, the troubles in this Realm taking their rise, partly from the insurrection of the Scots and their entrance into this Realm, which hapned in Aug. next ensuing (an. 1640) and partly from the predominancy of certain Members in the Long Parliament, then called by reason of that invasion, he retired to the King at York in June 1642, having first conveyed the Seal thither. From which time to his death, which hapned in Oxon (where in 1642 he was actually created Doctor of the Civ. Law) he constantly attended his Majesty with great fidelity. He was Author of,

Several Speeches, as (1) Speech at a conference with the Lords in Parliament concerning the Liberty of the Subject, and propriety in their Goods, 3. Apr. 1628. See in Jo. Rushworths Collections Vol. 1. p. 528. an. 1628. This with other Conferences were published by themselves in 1642. quarto. (2) Speech in the House of Commons at the passing of two Bills. Lond. 1641. qu. &c.

Several Arguments and Discourses—See in Joh. Rushworths Append. p. 28. and in a book intit. The Sovereigns Prerogative and Subjects Privileges discussed, &c. Lond. 1657. fol.

Reports in the Common Pleas and Exchequer in the 2.3.4.5.6. and 7. of King Charles I. Lond. 1683. fol. These things I think are all that he hath extant, except his Humble submission and supplication to the House of Lords 28. Sept. 1642. which is more than once printed under his name, yet whether genuine I cannot tell. He was untimely taken from this world, to the sorrow of his Majesty,1645. on the 27. of Aug. in sixteen hundred forty and five, being then a Colonel of a Foot Regiment in Oxon, and Privy Counsellor to his Majesty, and was buried between the two lower Pillars, which divides the first North isle from the second, on the North side of the Choire of the Cathedral of Ch. Church in Oxon. At which time Dr. Hen. Hammond the University Orator, did lay open to the large Auditory then present, the great Loyalty, prudence, knowledge, virtue, &c. that had been in the person that then lay dead before them. Over his grave was a costly monument of black and white marble erected in the month of May, an. 1683, at the charge of his only daughter and Heir, Anne Littleton, the Widdow of Sir Thom. Littleton Bt, with a noble inscription thereon, wherein ’tis said, that this Edward Lord Littleton was descended from Tho. Littleton Knight of the Bath, qui sub Edwardo IV. Justiciarius, Leges Angliae municipales (prius indigestas) in Enchiridion feliciter reduxit: Opus in omne aevum Jctis venerandum, &c.