George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton

Lyttelton was the eldest son of William Henry Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton, and Lady Sarah Spencer, daughter of George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] 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. The Lyttelton seat is Hagley Hall in Worcestershire.[2]

In January 1846 Lyttelton became 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 the Birmingham and Midland Institute in 1854. Moreover, he promoted the settlement (1850 onwards) of Canterbury, New Zealand with Anglican colonists. The port town Lyttelton, New Zealand bears his name. He served as president of the British Chess Association at the time of the Staunton–Morphy controversy in 1858.[3] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1869 Birthday Honours.[4]

Hon. Lavinia Lyttelton (1920)
by Frank Bernard Dicksee

Lord Lyttelton married, firstly in 1839, Mary Glynne, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet, and sister-in-law of William Ewart Gladstone. They had eight sons and four daughters:

• The Honourable Meriel Sarah Lyttelton (1840–1925) married John Gilbert Talbot and was the mother of Meriel Talbot.
• The Honourable Lucy Caroline Lyttelton (1841–1925), married Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Lucy Cavendish College at Cambridge is named after her.
• Charles Lyttelton, 8th Viscount Cobham (1842–1922) succeeded his father.
• The Honourable Rev Albert Victor Lyttelton (1844–1928), Headmaster of St Andrew's School, Bloemfontein (1884–1885).
• The Honourable Neville Gerald Lyttelton (1845–1931), became a General in the British Army.
• The Honourable George William Spencer Lyttelton (1847–1913), was a British civil servant and private secretary to Gladstone.
• The Honourable Lavinia Lyttelton (1849–1939), married Right Rev Edward Stuart Talbot and is the great-great-grandmother of adventurer Bear Grylls.
• The Honourable May Lyttelton (1850–1875), whom Arthur Balfour had hoped to marry. Balfour remained a bachelor thereafter.
• The Honourable Arthur Temple Lyttelton (1852–1903), became an Anglican Bishop
• The Honourable Robert Henry Lyttelton (1854–1939), cricketer.
• The Honourable Edward Lyttelton (1855–1942), became headmaster of Eton College
• The Honourable Alfred Lyttelton (1857–1913), sportsman and politician.

After Mary's death in 1857 Lyttelton married, secondly, Sybella Harriet Clive, daughter of George Clive MP, in 1869. They had three daughters:

• The Honourable Sarah Kathleen Lyttelton (12 May 1870 – 1 October 1942); she married John Bailey on 26 April 1900. They had children.
• The Honourable Sybil Lyttelton (17 February 1873 – 2 October 1934); she married Sir Lionel Cust on 16 July 1895. They had one son:
  • Sir Lionel George Arthur Cust (6 June 1896 – 22 May 1962)
• The Honourable Hester Margaret Lyttelton (26 December 1874 – 26 March 1958); she married Very Reverend Cyril Argentine Alington on 5 April 1904. They had six children:
  • Patrick Alington ( -1943)
  • Giles Alington (1914–1956)
  • Kathleen Alington
  • Elizabeth Hester Alington (6 November 1909 – 3 September 1990)
  • Joan Argentine Alington (5 November 1916 – 1999)
  • Lavinia Alington

St John the Baptist Church, Hagley, grave of the 4th Baron Lyttelton and of his second wife Sybella Harriet (née Clive).

St John the Baptist Church, Hagley, memorial to Sybella Harriet Lyttelton (née Clive, 1836–1900)

St John the Baptist Church, Hagley, inscription inside the lychgate

In 1876 Lyttelton killed himself at the age of 59 by throwing himself down the stairs in a London house.[5] He was succeeded by his eldest son Charles, who later also inherited the viscounty of Cobham. Lady Lyttelton died in December 1900.

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• George Lyttelton profile, CricketArchive.com; accessed 2 April 2016.

• Media related to George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton at Wikimedia Commons
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Lyttelton