Background
He was descended from the judge and legal scholar, Thomas de Littleton. His father, also Edward, had been Chief Justice of North Wales before him.
He was descended from the judge and legal scholar, Thomas de Littleton. His father, also Edward, had been Chief Justice of North Wales before him.
He was educated at Oxford before becoming a lawyer
In 1614 he became an Member of Parliament for Bishop"s Castle, Shropshire in the Addled Parliament. In 1625 he was again returned to Parliament for Leominster and Caernarfon borough. In 1628 he was chairman of the Committee of Grievances upon whose report the Petition of Right was based.
In the famous case about ship money, Sir Edward argued against John Hampden.
In 1640, he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1641, when the previous keeper, John Finch, fled into exile, Littleton was appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
He was raised to the Peerage as Baron Lyttelton. As the Lord Keeper Littleton had begun to display a certain amount of indifference to the royal cause.
In January 1642, he refused to put the Great Seal to the proclamation for the arrest of five members and he also incurred the displeasure of Charles by voting for the Militia ordinance.
He fulfilled his promise, and in May 1642, he himself joined Charles at York, but it was some time before he regained the favour of the king and the custody of the seal. Littleton died at Oxford on 27 August 1645. He left no sons and his barony became extinct.
Their son, Sir Thomas Littleton (ca 1647-1710), was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1698 to 1700, and Treasurer of the Navy from 1700 to 1710.
Useless Parliament; Addled Parliament]
As a member of the party opposed to the arbitrary measures of Charles I, Littleton had shown more moderation than some of his colleagues, and in 1634, three years after he had been chosen Recorder of London, the king attached him to his own side by appointing him Solicitor General.