Sir Rowland Lytton (also Roland Litton) (28 September 1561 – 23 June 1615) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

variously between 1586 and 1611.

Life

Rowland Lytton was the only son of Rowland Lytton of

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden ...

, Hertfordshire, and his second wife, Anne Carleton, daughter of John Carleton of Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, and sister of George Carleton. He was admitted to

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

in 1576 at the age of 14, and to

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1579. He succeeded his father in 1582. Lytton was a

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 o ...

for

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

, Cornwall from 1586 to 1587.Browne Willis ''Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales: ... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences'' 1750
/ref> He was a Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire in 1587 to his death and

Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provis ...

for 1594–1595. He was MP for Hertfordshire from 1597 to 1598. In 1603, he was knighted and was MP for Hertfordshire again from 1604 to 1611. He was a Deputy Lieutenant for Essex from 1605 until his death. He died in 1615 and was buried in his chapel at Knebworth church.

Private life

He married Anne, the daughter of Sir Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso, and widow of

Robert Corbet Captain Robert Corbet RN (died 13 September 1810), often spelled Corbett, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who was killed in action in highly controversial circumstances. Corbet was ...

of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters. Anne (died 1612) married Sir William Webb and Judith married George Smith and then

Sir Thomas Barrington, 2nd Baronet Sir Thomas Barrington, 2nd Baronet, 1585 to 18 September 1644, was an English politician and Puritan activist who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1644. In the early stages of the First English Civil War, he helped es ...

. His son William Lytton was also MP for Hertfordshire.

References

, - , - 1561 births 1615 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Parliament of England for Hertfordshire English knights High Sheriffs of Hertfordshire Deputy Lieutenants of Essex English MPs 1586–1587 English MPs 1597–1598 English MPs 1604–1611 People from Knebworth Burials at Knebworth Knights Bachelor English justices of the peace {{17thC-England-MP-stub