Thomas Littleton 1647-1709

Sir Thomas LITTLETON, 3rd bart 1647-1709

Sir Thomas Littleton's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection *147)

Biographical Note

Of North Ockenden, Essex. Son of Sir Thomas Littleton, second baronet (1619/20?-1681). Apprenticed to a City merchant before matriculating at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1665. Entered the Inner Temple 1666; called to the bar 1671. MP for Woodstock 1689, 1690, 1695, 1698, 1701, for Castle Rising 1702-5, Chichester 1705-8 and for Portsmouth in 1708. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1698 and as Treasurer of the Navy from 1699 until his death.

Characteristic Markings

Littleton used an engraved armorial bookplate dated 1702 (Franks 18416/*147); the extent and disposition of his library is not known.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Hanham, A. A. "Littleton, Sir Thomas, third baronet (1647–1709), speaker of the House of Commons." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.