John Lyttelton

Who was John Lyttelton?

Sir John Lyttelton was a Member of Parliament for Worcestershire during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

He was the eldest son of Gilbert Lyttelton. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford in 1576 and studied law at the Inner Temple. He married Meriel, daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor of England. They had three sons and eight daughters.

He was elected a knight of the shire for Worcestershire in 1584, 1586 and 1597. He was also JP for the country from about 1583 and was its custos rotulorum by 1601.

He was concerned in the rebellion of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex in 1601 and was in consequence tried for high treason, but died in the Queen's Bench prison in July 1601, having been reprieved from execution. In consequence, his estates were forfeited to the Crown, but were restored to his widow Merriel on the accession of James I. She survived him 28 years and cleared the estates of debt, bringing up her children as Anglicans. The eldest became Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 1st Baronet.