Sir Edward Littleton (Chief Justice of North Wales)1 M, b. circa 1550, d. 1621 Father Rev. John Littleton b. c 1510, d. 1560 Mother Alice Thornes b. c 1530, d. 1597

He was the great-grandson of Sir Thomas Littleton, K.B. of Frankley, Worcestershire, the famous judge and author of the Tenures. Sir Thomas was one of the most famous law writers in the English language. [Col. Wise] Edward was born circa 1550 at Henley, Shropshire, England.2 He married Mary Walter, daughter of Sir Edward Walter (Chief Justice), circa 1585 at (Shropshire?).2 Edward died in 1621 at Henley, Shropshire, England.2 Family Mary Walter b. 1567, d. 1633

Children

• Sir Edward Littleton b. c 1588, d. 27 Aug 1645
• William Littleton b. c 1590
• James Littleton b. c 1592
• William Littleton b. c 1594
• John Littleton b. c 1596, d. a 1644
• Timothy Littleton (Sir) b. c 1598
• Samuel Littleton b. c 1600
• Mary Littleton b. c 1602, d. b 25 Nov 1649
• Col. Nathaniel Littleton+ b. c 1605, d. c 1654

Citations

1. [S389] Count D'Angerville, Living Descendants of Blood Royal, Volume Five.
2. [S19] VA Hist Society Jennings Cropper Wise, Col. John Wise, His Ancestors and Descendants.

Note: Shropshire has officially been on the English side of the England-Wales border since 1542 (it was usually de facto on the English side long before that).

According to an article in The Pembrokeshire Historian, Margaret Littleton, wife of Perrot ap Rice, was daughter of Sir Edward Littleton and sister of Sir William Littleton, Lord Keeper. A footnote says, "When Perrot's father suffered a Recovery of his estate in 1627, Adam and Thomas Littleton were parties to the transaction."

However, other sources say the Lord Keeper was Edward LIttleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton (son of the Edward Littleton who "had been Chief Justice of North Wales before him.") The younger LIttleton had an only daughter Anne, who married her first cousin Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet (Wikipedia). Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet, was son of Adam Littleton, 1st Baronet.

• Major Francis Jones (Wales Herald Extraordinary), "Rickeston and Scotsborough : a study in family history" in The Pembrokeshire Historian (1966), 19-47.

LITTLETON, Edward I (c.1556-1622), of Henley, Salop
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010 Available from Cambridge University Press http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/li...

Constituency

BISHOP'S CASTLE 1614

Family and Education

b. c.1556, 2nd surv. s. of John Littleton (d.1560), clerk, rect. of Mounslow, Salop and Alice, da. of Richard Thornes of Condover, Salop.1 educ. Clement’s Inn; I. Temple 1574, called 1584.2 m. 9 Apr. 1588, Mary (bur. 16 Oct. 1633), da. of Edmund Walter of Ludlow, c.j. Brecon circ. 1581-94, 7s., 7da. (1 d.v.p.).3 kntd. 22 Aug. 1621.4 d. by 2 Nov. 1622.5

Offices Held

J.p. Salop by 1608-d., N. Wales circ. 1621-d.;6 commr., oyer and terminer, Oxf. circ. 1621-d., subsidy, Ludlow, Salop and Card. 1621-2.7

Justice, Council in the Marches and c.j. N. Wales circ. 1621-d.8

Biography

This MP left no trace on the surviving records of the Addled Parliament, and in the absence of an indenture he cannot be certainly identified from among several namesakes resident in the Marches. Sir Edward Littleton II*, knighted in 1603, can be discounted; and while (Sir) Thomas Littleton (1st bt.)* of Frankley, Worcestershire had a younger brother of this name, he was aged only 14 at the time of the election, and died later the same year. Bishop’s Castle usually allowed its recorder to choose one of its MPs: Sir Henry Townshend*, one of the justices at Ludlow, held the borough’s recordership in 1614, and his nominee was probably either Edward Littleton II*, then a student at the Inner Temple, or more likely Edward’s father, a senior lawyer in the Marches court, whose career is outlined below.9

A great-grandson of the fifteenth-century judge and legal writer Sir Thomas Littleton, Edward Littleton acquired a modest estate at Henley, eight miles east of Bishop’s Castle. He trained at the Inner Temple but made his career at the bar of the Council in the Marches, being described late in life as ‘a man (by repute) that never pleaded in Westminster Hall’. Early in 1617 he was tipped to succeed Lewis Prowde* as one of the justices at Ludlow, but following the death of two lords president in quick succession a rival was appointed. In March 1621 he was one of the Ludlow lawyers consulted about the parliamentary bill to revoke the prerogative clause of the 1536 Welsh Act of Union, advising the insertion of a proviso confirming the king’s right to issue instructions for the Marches court on his own authority. He secured a judgeship at Ludlow upon the death of Sir Francis Eure* shortly thereafter, and was knighted in the following August. He was dead by 2 Nov. 1622, when it was (correctly) reported that his eldest son, the future lord keeper, was to succeed him as justice of North Wales. Administration was granted to his wife, and upon her death in 1634, to one of his daughters.10

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Author: Simon Healy

Notes

• 1.Vis. Worcs. (Harl. Soc. xc), 64; Trans. Salop Arch Soc. (ser. 4), iii. 302-3, 306-7.
• 2. I. Temple database of admiss.; CITR, i. 329.
• 3.Vis. Worcs., 64; Trans. Salop Arch Soc. (ser. 4), iii. 306-7.
• 4. Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 177.
• 5. PROB 6/10, f. 182.
• 6. SP14/33, f. 52; JPs in Wales and Monm. ed. Phillips, 8, 26, 45.
• 7. C181/3, f. 64; C212/22/20-1.
• 8. NLW, Add. 339F, pp. 130, 147.
• 9. Shaw, ii. 103; Vis. Worcs. 64-8; Soc. Gen., Hagley (Worcs.) par. reg.; J.M.J. Tonks, ‘Lytteltons of Frankley and their estates’ (Oxf. B.Litt. thesis 1978), p. 146.
• 10. NLW, 9056E/780, 9057E/954, 9058E/1046; NLW, Add. 339F, pp. 120, 130; CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 495; PROB 6/15, f. 11.

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Sir Edward Littleton (Chief Justice)1 M, b. circa 1550, d. 1621

• Father Rev. John Littleton b. c 1510, d. 1560
• Mother Alice Thornes b. c 1530, d. 1597
• Biography* He was the great-grandson of Sir Thomas Littleton, K.B. of Frankley, Worcestershire, the famous judge and author of the Tenures. Sir Thomas was one of the most famous law writers in the English language. [Col. Wise]
• Birth* circa 1550 Edward was born circa 1550 at Henley, Shropshire, North Wales.2
• Marriage* circa 1585 He married Mary Walter, daughter of Sir Edward Walter (Chief Justice), circa 1585 at North Wales.2
• Death* 1621 Edward died in 1621 at Henley, Shropshire, North Wales.2

Family Mary Walter b. 1567, d. 1633

Children

• 1. Sir Edward Littleton b. c 1588, d. 27 Aug 1645
• 2. William Littleton b. c 1590
• 3. James Littleton b. c 1592
• 4. William Littleton b. c 1594
• 5. John Littleton b. c 1596, d. a 1644
• 6. Timothy Littleton (Sir) b. c 1598
• 7. Samuel Littleton b. c 1600
• 8. Mary Littleton b. c 1602, d. b 25 Nov 1649 (m. Gilbert Jones)
• 9. Col. Nathaniel Littleton (Gateway Ancestor) (Councillor)+ b. c 1605, d. c 1654 Citations [S389] Count D'Angerville, Living Descendants of Blood Royal, Volume Five. [S19] VA Hist Society Jennings Cropper Wise, Col. John Wise, His Ancestors and Descendants.

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128603024/edward-littleton