LYTTELTON, EDWARD, Lord Lyttleton of Munslow (1589-1645), lord chancellor. [See Littleton.]
LYTTELTON, GEORGE, first Baron Lyttelton (1709–1773), born on 17 Jan. 1709, was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, bart., of Hagley, Worcestershire, by his wife Christian, second daughter of Sir Richard Temple, bart., of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and sister of Richard, first viscount Cobham. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 11 Feb. 1726, but did not take any degree. He was distinguished as a scholar both at school and at the university. His tutor at Oxford was Francis Ayscough [q. v.], who subsequently married his sister Ann. Early in 1728 Lyttelton set out for the usual grand tour on the continent, returning to England towards the close of 1731. He was at Soissons during the meeting of the congress, and from Rome wrote the poetical epistle to Pope which is prefixed to many of the editions of Pope's ‘Works.’ Lyttelton's letters written during this tour to his father are printed in his ‘Works’ (iii. 209–303). Soon after his return to England he joined in the opposition to Walpole, and was appointed equerry to the Prince of Wales, whose ‘chief favourite’ he quickly became (Memoirs, i. 51). In 1730 he wrote ‘Observations on the Reign and Character of Queen Elizabeth,’ which still remains in manuscript. At a by-election in March 1735 he was returned to the House of Commons for Okehampton, Devonshire, a borough which he continued to represent until his elevation to the House of Lords. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 29 April 1736 upon the congratulatory address on the marriage of the Prince of Wales (Parl. Hist. ix. 1223–5). Though he had urged the prince, in an able letter dated 12 Oct. 1735, not to ask for an increased allowance (Memoirs, i. 74–8), he both spoke and voted for Pulteney's motion on 22 Feb. 1737, and in August of that year was appointed the prince's secretary in the place of Pelham (Works, iii. 312). In this year he contributed two papers to ‘Common Sense, or the Englishman's Journal’ (9 April and 15 Oct.), and is said to have previously written some articles for the ‘Craftsman.’ On 3 Feb. 1738 he spoke in favour of Shippen's amendment for the reduction of the army (Parl. Hist. x. 405–17). The government writers abused him for his opposition to Walpole, and were answered by Chesterfield in ‘Common Sense’ for 4 March 1738 (Chesterfield, Works, 1853, v. 204–8). In February 1739 Lyttelton attacked the convention with Spain, and again urged the reduction of the standing army (Parl. Hist. xi. 956–60, 1283–90). On 29 Jan. 1740 he supported Sandys's Place Bill in an able speech (ib. xii. 335–9), and on 21 Feb. following spoke in favour of Pulteney's motion for an inquiry into the conduct of the authors and advisers of the convention with Spain (ib. xi. 506–9). In February 1741 he both spoke and voted for Sandys's motion for the dismissal of Walpole (ib. xi. 1370–2), and at the general election in May of that year unsuccessfully contested Worcestershire. About this time he is said by Richard Glover [q. v.] to have tried to come to terms with Walpole (Memoirs by a Celebrated … Character, 1814, pp. 4–5). In March 1742 he spoke in favour of the inquiry ‘into the conduct of our affairs both at home and abroad during the last twenty years,’ as well as for the resolution for the appointment of a committee to inquire into Walpole's conduct (Parl. Hist. xii. 517–22, 584–6). After the death of Wilmington, Lyttelton favoured a coalition with Pelham for the overthrow of Carteret, and formed one of the committee of nine to whom the direction of the opposition policy was entrusted. Upon Carteret's downfall Lyttelton was appointed a lord of the treasury in the Broad Bottom administration (25 Dec. 1744), and was immediately dismissed from his post in the household of the Prince of Wales. In April 1747 he distinguished himself in the debate on the second reading of the bill for taking away the heritable jurisdictions in Scotland, and ‘made the finest oration imaginable’ (Works, iii. 3–17; Walpole, Letters, ii. 81). In 1749 he refused Pelham's offer of the treasurership of the navy in favour of his friend Henry Bilson-Legge [q. v.] In January 1751 he voted with Pitt against Pelham's motion for the reduction of the seamen (Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George II, i. 12–13), and in March following delivered an elaborate set speech in favour of the Mutiny Bill (Works, iii. 18–29). Shortly before the Prince of Wales's death in this month Lyttelton appears to have made some attempts to conciliate his old master, which, according to Walpole, explained the secret of his ‘oblique behaviour this session in parliament’ (Memoirs of the Reign of George II, i. 201–2). On the death
