LITTLETON, James (1668-1723), of North Ockendon, Essex.

James Littleton’s grandfather, Thomas, was a younger brother of Edward Littleton, M.P., 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow,Vis. Surr. 1662-68 (Harl. Soc. lv), 74; Salop Arch. Soc. Trans. (ser. 4), iii. 302-32. whose daughter and heir, Anne, married her kinsman Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Bt. Their son Sir Thomas Littleton, 3rd Bt., Speaker of the House of Commons and treasurer of the navy, died without issue in 1710, making James his eventual heir. After a successful career in the navy, Littleton was returned three times as a Whig for Weymouth, for which he sat in Anne’s last Parliament, after being twice unseated on petition. He did not stand in 1715, when his son succeeded him at Weymouth, but, after further service afloat in 1717, he was brought in on the Admiralty interest for Queenborough in 1722. He died shortly afterwards, on 3 Feb. 1723, and was buried at North Ockendon, six admirals supporting the pall.Morant, Essex, i. 103.