John Lyttelton (MP)

John Lyttelton MP JP (1561 – 1601) was an English politician and member of the Lyttelton family who served as Member of Parliament for Worcestershire during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

John Lyttelton MP JP
St John the Baptist Church, Hagley, monument to Meriel Bromley, the wife of Sir John Lyttelton, with a remarkable anti-Catholic inscription
Born	1561
Died	1601
Nationality	English
Occupation	Politician and Knight
Title	Sir
Spouse(s)	Meriel Bromley
Children	11, including Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 1st Baronet
Parent(s)	Sir Gilbert Lyttelton Elizabeth Coningsby

He was the eldest son of Sir 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 to parliament as 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 involved 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 (in Frankley, Halesowen, Hagley and Upper Arley) 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.

His brother Humphrey was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot.

Sir John was buried at St. George the Martyr, Southwark.[1]