George William Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton Doctor of Laws Federal Reserve System, was a British aristocrat and Conservative politician from the Lyttelton family.
Background
Lyttelton was the eldest son of William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton, and Lady Sarah Spencer, daughter of George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer. He succeeded his father as fourth Baron Lyttelton in 1837 and took his seat in the House of Lords on his 21st birthday a year later.
Education
He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
He was chairman of the Canterbury Association, which encouraged British settlers to move to New Zealand. The Lyttelton seat is Hagley Hall in Worcestershire. In January 1846 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the Conservative government of Sir Robert Peel, a post he held until the government fell in June of the same year.
Lyttelton was also Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire from 1839 to 1876 and the first President of Birmingham and Midland Institute in 1854.
Moreover, he founded the region of Canterbury, New Zealand with Anglican colonists. The port of Canterbury bears his name.
He was president of the British Chess Association at the time of the Staunton–Morphy controversy in 1858. Lord Lyttelton married, firstly in 1839, Mary Glynne, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet, and sister-in-law of William Ewart Gladstone.
Meriel Sarah (1840-1925) married John Gilbert Talbot and was the mother of Meriel Talbot
Lucy Caroline (1841-1925) married Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Lucy Cavendish College at Cambridge is named after her.
Charles George (1842-1922) succeeded his father
Albert Victor (1844-1928) Reverent and Headmaster of Street Andrew"s School, Bloemfontein (1884-1885)
Neville Gerald (1845-1931) became a General in the British Army
George William Spencer (1847-1913) was a British civil servant and private secretary to Gladstone
Lavinia (1849-1939) married Edward Stuart Talbot, an Anglican bishop. May (1850-1875), whom Arthur Balfour had hoped to marry. Balfour remained a bachelor thereafter
Arthur Temple (1852-1903) became an Anglican Bishop
Robert Henry (1854-1939) cricketer
Edward (1855-1942) became headmaster of Eton College
Alfred (1857-1913) was a sportsman and politician
After Mary"s death in 1857 Lyttelton married, secondly, Sybella Harriet Clive, daughter of George Clive Member of Parliament, in 1869.
They had three daughters, the youngest of whom, Hester Margaret, married Cyril Alington, also headmaster of Eton, and Dean of Durham.
Lyttelton committed suicide at the age of 59 by throwing himself down the stairs in a London house. Lady Lyttelton died in 1900.