Sir Edward Littleton (died 1705) was an administrator of the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...

. He served as President of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in the early eighteenth century. Littleton was the eldest son of

Sir Edward Littleton, 2nd Baronet Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton Hall, 2nd Baronet (c. 1632–1709), was a Staffordshire landowner and MP from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family, who represented Staffordshire in the Cavalier Parliament. Background and early life Littl ...

. He studied at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...

, and in 1671 married Susannah, daughter of Sir

Theophilus Biddulph Sir Theophilus Biddulph, 1st Baronet (1612 – 25 March 1683) was the son of Michael Biddulph of Elmhurst, Staffordshire. He was a London Silkman who was knighted in 1660 and created a baronet in the Baronetage of England on 2 November 1664 ...

. From 1685 until 1689, he sat as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Littleton was expelled from the East India Company in 1682. Later he was a founding director of the New East India Company, and was sent out to Bengal to act as President in its interest. He was knighted early in 1699. Later in that year he was at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, opposing

John Beard John Beard may refer to: * John Beard (artist) (born 1943), Welsh artist and painter * John Beard (colonial administrator) (died 1685), Chief Agent and Governor of Bengal * John Beard (embryologist) (1858–1924), Scottish embryologist and anatomi ...

of the old Company in Indian matters. It was some years before the two companies were amalgamated.

References

1705 deaths English businesspeople English MPs 1685–1687 Year of birth unknown Presidents of Bengal Heirs apparent who never acceded {{17thC-England-MP-stub