LITTLETON, THOMAS, was the eldest son of Thomas Westcote, of the county of Devon, Esq., by Elizabeth, the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Littleton, or Luttloton, Lutteltou, or Lyttelton (the last being the mode in which he himself appears to have written it : see the extract from his will given below), of Frankley in Worcestershire, whose surname and arms he took. He was educated at one of the universities, and thence removed to the Inner Temple, where in due time he became one of the readers of that society : Sir Edward Coke mentions his reading on the statute Westm. 2, De donis conditionalibus.' He was appointed by Henry VI. steward or judge of the court of the palace or marshalsea of the king's house hold. On the 13th of May 1455, in the 33 Henry VI., he was made king's serjeant, and in that capacity rode the northern circuit as judge of assize. In 1454 he had a general pardon under the great seal, and two years after was in commission, with Humphrey, duke of Bucking ham, and William Birmingham, Esq., to raise forces in the county of Warwick. (Collins, 'Peerage,' who gives as his reference, Pat.' 36, Hen. 6, p. 1, m. 7). In 1462 (2 Edward IV.) he received a general pardon from the crown, and was continued in his post as king's serjeant, and also as justice of assize for the same circuit. On the 2Gth of April 1466 (6 Edward IV.), Littleton was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and rode the Northampton shire circuit. About the same time he obtained a writ, directed to the commissioners of the customs for the ports of London, Bristol, and Kingston-upon-Hull, for the annual payment of 110 marks, to support his dignity, with 106s. Mid. to furnish him with a furred robe, and 6s. 6d. more for another robe, called linura: In the fifteenth year of the same he was created a knight of the order of the Bath. Sir Thomas Littleton married Joan, widow of Sir Philip Cbetwln, of Ingeatre, in the county of Stafford, one of the daughters and co-heiresees of William Burley, of Broomscroft Castle, in the county of Salop, Esq., with whom be bad large possessions. By her he had three cone and two daughters : 1, William, ancestor of the Lords Lyttelton, barons of Frankley, in the county of Worcester ; 2, Richard, to whom the 'Tenures' are addressed, an eminent lawyer in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII; 3, Thomas. from whom
were descended the Lord-Keeper Lyttelton, baron of Mounslow, in the reign of Charles I., and Sir Thomas Lvttelton. Bad., Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of William III. His two daughters, named Ellen and Alice, both died unmarried. (Collins's 'Peerage,' vol. p. 424).
Littleton died at Frankley on the 23rd of August 1481, aged about sixty, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral, where his tomb bore the following inscription :—" Hic facet corpus Thome Littelton de Frankley, Militia de Baloeo, et unns Justiciarorum de Communi Banco, qui obiit 23 Augusti, Ann. Dom. stcceesxxxs" In Collins's ' Peerage' there is a copy of Sir Thomas Littleton's will, "faithfully copied from the original remaining in the Prerogative Office." It contains some curious particulars ; but we can only make room for the following extract from its commencement :— " In the name of God, Amen. I, Thomas Littleton, Knight, oon of King's justice of the common place, make my testament. and notifie my wille, in the manner and forme that followeth. First, I bequeth my soul to Almighty God, Fader, Saone, and Hollye Ghost, three Persons and eon God, and our Lorde, maker of haven and erth, and of all the worlde ; and to our most blessed Lady and Virgin, Saynt Mary, moder of our Lord and Jesu Christ, the only begotten Sonne of our saido Lorde God, the Fader of heven, and to Saint Christopher, the which our saido Lorde did truste to here on his shouldres, and to all the saints of haven; and my body to be berried in the torabe I late make for me on the south side of the body of the cathedrall-church of the monaatere of our said blessed lady of Worcester, under an image of St. Christopher, in caas if I die in Worces tershire. Also, I wulle, and specially desire, that immediately after my decease, myn executors finde three Bode preeets for to singe jjj trentala for my soule, so that everich precet, by himself, sing con trental, and that everich such preest have right sufficiently for his labor; also, that myn executors findo another godo preest for to singe for my souk fyve masses," &c. He then makes a provision for his two younger sons, willing that the " feoffeea to myn use" of and in certain manors and lordships should "make some estates" unto his sons Richard and Thomas Lyttelton.