Humphrey Littleton

Last updated

Humphrey Littleton
Born1576 [1]
Frankley
Died7 April 1606
Red Hill, Worcester
Cause of deathExecuted
Childrenone son (at least)
Parent Sir John Lyttelton

Humphrey Littleton, or Humphrey Lyttelton, [2] (died 7 April 1606) was a member of the Lyttelton family, who was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder plot. Robert Wintour and Stephen Lyttelton who had escaped from the fight at Holbeche House were captured at Hagley Park on 9 January 1606 despite Littleton's protests that he was not harbouring anyone. It was Littleton who told the authorities that Edward Oldcorne was hiding at Hindlip Hall after he had given him mass. [3] Wintour, Oldcorne, and both Littletons were all executed.

Biography

Littleton was one of the eight sons of Sir John Lyttelton. [3] He was also the brother of another John Littleton who had been a member of parliament and had died in gaol for his part in the Essex rebellion. John had lost his estates at Hagley, Frankley, Upper Arley and Halesowen. Humphrey came from Frankley. This John left a widow called Muriel or Meriel who lived at Hagley Park, [4] her husband's estates having been restored to her by James I in 1603. [5]

Before the Gunpowder Plot was revealed Littleton had little knowledge of the true nature of the plot to kill the King and Parliament. He understood that Robert Catesby (the leader of the plot) was just raising a regiment to fight in Flanders. Catesby had offered to take one of Littleton's illegitimate sons as his page. [3] Humphrey had been summoned to Dunchurch by Robert Catesby, but following the plot's failure he did not go to his nephew Stephen's Holbeche House with Stephen and the rest of the main plotters. (Stephen was the son of his elder brother George). Later, Stephen came to him with Robert Wintour. [6] The two men had escaped arrest at Holbeche House and were on the run.

Littleton arranged for a tenant farmer to harbour the two fugitives, swearing his own servants to secrecy. The fugitives were captured at Hagley Park on 9 January 1606 because the authorities had been informed of their presence by Littleton's cook, John Fynwood. [7] Despite Littleton's protests that he was not harbouring anyone, a search was made and another servant, David Bate, showed where the two plotters were escaping from a courtyard into the countryside. [7] All three of them were to be tried and executed.

Littleton had visited and taken mass with Father Oldcorne and he let it be known that the priest was at Hindlip Hall. This information was to lead to four more people being caught there in priest holes  ; Father Oldcorne, Ralph Ashley, Henry Garnet and Nicholas Owen. Ironically Nicholas Owen had constructed the hideaways. Moreover, it was Muriel Littleton's brother who conducted the search of Hindlip Hall.

At Oldcorne's trial Littleton publicly asked for forgiveness and believed that he deserved to die for betraying his friends. Humphrey Littleton died on 7 April 1606; he was hanged, drawn and quartered together with Father Oldcorne, John Wintour, and Ralph Ashley at Red Hill, just outside the city of Worcester. John Perkes, the Hagley tenant farmer, and his servant Thomas Burford, were also executed for aiding the fugitives. [8] [9] Owen had died under torture. Garnet was hanged in London. Stephen Littleton was executed at Stafford.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunpowder Plot</span> 1605 failed attempt to assassinate King James I

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who considered their actions attempted tyrannicide and who sought regime change in England after decades of religious persecution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Catesby</span> English conspirator

Robert Catesby was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated at Oxford University. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, and presumably to avoid swearing the Oath of Supremacy he left college before taking his degree. He married a Protestant in 1593 and fathered two children, one of whom survived birth and was baptised in a Protestant church. In 1601 he took part in the Essex Rebellion but was captured and fined, after which he sold his estate at Chastleton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Garnet</span> 16th-century English Jesuit priest (1555–1606)

Henry Garnet, sometimes Henry Garnett, was an English Jesuit priest executed for high treason, based solely on having had advanced knowledge of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and having refused to violate the Seal of the Confessional by notifying the authorities. Born in Heanor, Derbyshire, he was educated in Nottingham and later at Winchester College before he moved to London in 1571 to work for a publisher. There he professed an interest in legal studies and in 1575, he travelled to the continent and joined the Society of Jesus. He was ordained in Rome some time around 1582.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert and Thomas Wintour</span> Members of the Gunpowder plot

Robert Wintour and Thomas Wintour, also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Brothers, they were related to other conspirators, such as their cousin, Robert Catesby, and a half-brother, John Wintour, also joined them following the plot's failure. Thomas was an intelligent and educated man, fluent in several languages and trained as a lawyer, but chose instead to become a soldier, fighting for England in the Low Countries, France, and possibly in Central Europe. By 1600, however, he changed his mind and became a fervent Catholic. On several occasions he travelled to the continent and entreated Spain on behalf of England's oppressed Catholics, and suggested that with Spanish support a Catholic rebellion was likely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrose Rookwood</span> 17th century English conspirator

Ambrose Rookwood was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. Rookwood was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and educated by Jesuits in Flanders. His older brother became a Franciscan, and his two younger brothers were ordained as Catholic priests. Rookwood became a horse-breeder. He married the Catholic Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, and had at least two sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everard Digby</span> 16th- and 17th-century English conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605

Sir Everard Digby was a member of the group of provincial members of the English nobility who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in an Anglican household and married a Protestant, Digby and his wife were secretly received into the strictly illegal and underground Catholic Church in England by the Jesuit priest Fr. John Gerard. In the autumn of 1605, he made a Christian pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride's Well in Holywell, Wales. About this time, he met Robert Catesby, who was planning to blow up the House of Lords with gunpowder as an alleged act of tyrannicide and a decapitation strike against King James I. Catesby then planned to lead a popular uprising aimed at regime change, through which a Catholic monarch would be placed upon the English throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hagley Hall</span>

Hagley Hall is a Grade I listed 18th-century house in Hagley, Worcestershire, the home of the Lyttelton family. It was the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773), secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before the death of his father in 1751, he began to landscape the grounds in the new Picturesque style, and between 1754 and 1760 it was he who was responsible for the building of the Neo-Palladian house that survives to this day.

Oswald Tesimond, SJ was an English Jesuit born in either Northumberland or York who, while not a direct conspirator, had some knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot beforehand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bates</span> UK 1605 Gunpowder plot planner

Thomas Bates was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Grant (Gunpowder Plot)</span> Member of the failed Gunpowder Plot

John Grant was a member of the failed Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I of England with a Catholic monarch. Grant was born around 1570, and lived at Norbrook in Warwickshire. He married the sister of another plotter, Thomas Wintour. Grant was enlisted by Robert Catesby, a religious zealot who had grown so impatient with James's lack of toleration for Catholics that he planned to kill him, by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder. Grant's role in the conspiracy was to provide supplies for a planned Midlands uprising, during which James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, would be captured. However, on the eve of the planned explosion, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the plotters had positioned in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and arrested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Lyttelton</span> 16th-century English politician and knight

Gilbert Lyttelton MP was an English politician and landowner from the Lyttelton family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lyttelton (MP)</span> 16th-century English politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Ashley</span> English Jesuit lay-brother and martyr

Ralph Ashley, SJ was an English Jesuit lay brother who became involved with the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Oldcorne</span> English Jesuit priest

Edward Oldcorne alias Hall was an English Jesuit priest. He was known to people who knew of the Gunpowder Plot to destroy the Parliament of England and kill King James I; and although his involvement is unclear, he was caught up in the subsequent investigation. He is a Roman Catholic martyr and was beatified in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindlip Hall</span> Stately home in Hindlip

Hindlip Hall is a stately home in Hindlip, Worcestershire, England. The first major hall was built before 1575, and it played a significant role in both the Babington and the Gunpowder plots, where it hid four people in priest holes. It was Humphrey Littleton who told the authorities that Edward Oldcorne was hiding here after he had been heard saying Mass at Hindlip Hall. Four people were executed and the owner at that time barely escaped execution himself due to the intercession of Lord Monteagle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hill, Worcester</span> Suburb of Worcester in Worcestershire, England

Red Hill is a southeastern suburb of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. It is on the A44. It has historically been used as a high ground to attack the city and as a place of execution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyttelton family</span> British aristocratic family

The Lyttelton family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family include the viscountcies of Cobham and Chandos, as well as the Lyttelton barony and Lyttelton baronetcy. Several other members of the family have also risen to prominence, particularly in the field of cricket.

Stephen Littleton, was an Englishman executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meriel Lyttelton</span> English aristocrat

Meriel Lyttelton or Littelton was an English aristocrat with extensive family and court connections. She was a daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley and Elizabeth Fortescue. The MP for Worcestershire Thomas Bromley was her nephew.

Mary Habington or Abington, néeParker was an English recusant. Antiquarian writers thought that she was the author of the anonymous letter to her brother William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle which warned of the Gunpowder Plot. This theory is dismissed by modern historians. She sheltered a number of Catholic priests and recusants at her Worcestershire home Hindlip Hall.

References

  1. ↑ Humphrey had a son who could be a page to Catesby so he is probably over 30.
  2. ↑ Gunpowder, treason and plot and the Lytteltons Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service Blog Friday, 8 November 2013 Accessed 5 November 2014
  3. 1 2 3 Humphrey Littleton Archived 7 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine , gunpowder-plot.org, accessed 7 July 2008
  4. ↑ Pedigree from Burkes Peerage (1939 edition), s.v. Cobham, Viscount
  5. ↑ 'Parishes: Hagley', Victoria County History, Worcestershire: volume 3 (1913), pp. 130–136. manor. Date accessed: 9 July 2008.
  6. ↑ The Patrician, John Burke, Bernard Burke, p. 207, 1847
  7. 1 2 Robert Wintour Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine at Britannia.com, accessed 8 June 2008
  8. ↑ Caulfield, J. The History of the Gun-Powder Plot, 1820, p. 75
  9. ↑ Calendar of the manuscripts of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Salisbury, HMSO, 1976, 57
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.