William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton MP (24 December 1724 – 14 September 1808) was a British peer, politician, and colonial administrator from the

Lyttelton family The Lyttelton family (sometimes spelled Littleton) is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family include the viscountc ...

. He was the youngest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet.

Biography

As the youngest son, he did not expect to inherit the family estates. He made a career by serving in various government appointments. He became royal governor of

colonial South Carolina Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...

in 1755, serving until 5 April 1760, during the period of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. This was the North American front of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

in Europe. He gained an alliance with the Cherokee and made a treaty with those in his territory. His insistence on respecting the treaty rights of native peoples aggravated settlers on the frontier of South Carolina, who were encroaching on their territories. In 1760, Lyttelton was appointed Governor of Jamaica, but he was recalled to England after he lost a standoff with the Jamaican House of the Assembly, and its leader,

Nicholas Bourke Nicholas Bourke was an Anglo-Irish planter in Jamaica who emigrated to the island around 1740 and acquired significant land-holdings there. He was prominent in the House of Assembly of Jamaica from the later 1750s and speaker in 1770. Bourke argued ...

, over who should stand costs for the island's defence. He was appointed envoy-extraordinary to Portugal in 1766. He was raised to the Irish peerage in 1776 as Baron Westcote. As a result of the death without issue of his nephew

Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton Thomas Lyttelton, 6th Baronet, 2nd Baron Lyttelton (30 January 1744 – 27 November 1779) was an English member of parliament, MP and profligate from the Lyttelton family. Life Sometimes dubbed "the wicked Lord Lyttelton" and "bad Lord Lyttelt ...

in 1779, William Lyttelton inherited the family

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

cy (see Lyttelton Baronets) and family estates in

Frankley Frankley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire. The modern Frankley estate is part of the New Frankley civil parish in Birmingham, and has been part of the city since 1995. The parish has a population of 122. History Frankley is li ...

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...

, and

Hagley Hagley is a large village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 2 ...

, including

Hagley Hall Hagley Hall is a Grade I listed 18th-century house in Hagley, Worcestershire, the home of the Lyttelton family. It was the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773), secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters ...

. However, the estates in

Upper Arley Upper Arley () is a village and civil parish near Kidderminster in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, the village had a population of 741 at the 2011 census. Amenities The Arley railw ...

passed to the late lord's sister Lucy, wife of

Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Mountnorris Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Mountnorris FRS (7 August 1744 – 4 July 1816) was an Irish peer. He was the son of Richard Annesley, 6th Earl of Anglesey, and Juliana Donovan, Countess of Anglesey, who belonged to the junior sept of the O'Donov ...

. In 1794, Lord Westcote was also created

Baron Lyttelton Baron Lyttelton is a title that has been created one in Peerage of England and twice in Peerage of Great Britain, both times for members of the Lyttelton family. Since 1889 the title has been a subsidiary title of the viscountcy of Cobham. Ba ...

in the Peerage of Great Britain. He married twice. His first wife was Martha, daughter and coheir of James Macartney of Longford and his wife; Macartney was the nephew and coheir of Ambrose Aungier, 2nd Earl of Longford. They had three children before Martha's death, including George Fulke, his successor. His second wife was Caroline Bristow, daughter of

John Bristow John Bristow (25 April 1701 – 14 November 1768), of Mark Lane, London, and Quidenham, Norfolk, was an English merchant, financier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1768. Early life Bristow was the third survivin ...

, MP and merchant, and his wife. They had two children together, including William Henry Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton.

References

*Attig, Clarence John. "William Henry Lyttelton: A Study in Colonial Administration." PhD diss., University of Nebraska, 1958. * * * *''Burkes Peerage and Baronetage'' (1939), s.v. Cobham, Viscount ;Specific

External links

*
The William Henry Lyttelton papers
William L. Clements Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyttelton, William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron 1724 births 1808 deaths Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Streathamites Tory MPs (pre-1834) British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Colonial governors of South Carolina Diplomatic peers Governors of Jamaica Ambassadors of Great Britain to Portugal Westcote of Ballymore, William Lyttelton, 1st Baron Peers of Great Britain created by George III Peers of Ireland created by George III

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...