chief of the squadron going to Jamaica, with his broad pennant in the Defence. He arrived there in November, and in the following July put to sea on intelligence of a Spanish fleet of twelve large ships being assembled at Cartagena. He came on the coast of New Spain with five two-decked ships on the 26th, and drove five large vessels in under the guns of the castle of Boca-Chica, the entrance to the harbour of Cartagena. On the next day, 27 July, four others were sighted and chased. About 6 p.m. the headmost ships, Salisbury and Salisbury prize, came up with the rearmost, which, after a sharp combat, struck on the approach of the Defence. The Jersey captured another; the other two escaped [see Hosier, Francis; Vernon, Edward]. Afterwards, Littleton, with his squadron, cruised off Havana, in order to intercept Du Casse, who was expected there with his squadron; but having received intelligence, given on oath before the governor of Jamaica, that a fleet of eighteen ships of war, with many transports and a large body of troops, had arrived at Martinique, destined, it was supposed, for an attack on Jamaica, Littleton drew back to cover that island. The intelligence proved to be false; but Du Casse, taking advantage of his absence, got into Havana. In July 1712 Littleton was relieved by Sir Hovenden Walker and returned to England. In November 1715 he was appointed resident commissioner and commander-in-chief at Chatham. On 1 Feb. 1715–16 he was promoted to be rear-admiral of the red; and on 15 March 1716–17 to be vice-admiral of the blue. In the spring of 1719 he was for a few weeks first captain to the Earl of Berkeley, first lord of the admiralty, specially authorised to fly the flag of lord high admiral [see Berkeley, James, third Earl of Berkeley]. He was elected M.P. for Queensborough on 24 March 1721–2, and died 3 Feb. 1722–3 (Hist. Reg. 1723; Chron. Diary, p. 10).
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. iii. 37; Burchett's Transactions at Sea; Lediard's Naval History; Members of Parl. ii. 53; official papers in the Public Record Office.]
LITTLETON, Sir THOMAS (1422–1481), judge and legal author, born at Frankley House, Frankley, Worcestershire, in 1422, was eldest son of Thomas Westcote of Westcote, near Barnstaple, whom Coke calls ‘the king's servant in court.’ His mother was Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Thomas de Littleton, lord of the manor of Frankley, and esquire of the body to Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. As heir to his mother, whose estates were more considerable than his father's, he was baptised in her name, though the rest of the family retained that of Westcote.
He was a member of the Inner Temple, where he gave a reading, still extant (Harl. MS. 1691, ff. 188 et seq.), on the Statute of Westminster II., ‘De Donis Conditionalibus.’ He was in practice as a pleader in 1445, was escheator of Worcestershire about the same time, and served the office of sheriff of that county in 1447.
Littleton was also recorder of Coventry in 1450, when, as representing the mayor and corporation of that city, he presented Henry VI, on his visit to the city, 21 Sept., with a tun of wine and twenty fat oxen, for which, and for his ‘good rule of the citizens,’ he received the royal thanks.
In 1451 he had from Sir William Trussel a grant of the manor of Sheriff Hales, Staffordshire, for life, ‘pro bono et notabili consilio’ given by him, and on 2 July 1453 he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law.
Littleton was apparently more or less involved in the troubled politics of the period, for in 1454 he obtained from the protector, Richard of York, a general pardon under the great seal. In 1455 he was appointed (13 May) king's serjeant, rode the northern circuit as justice of assize, and was placed on a commission under the privy seal for raising funds for the defence of Calais. In the following year he was one of the commissioners of array for Warwickshire. Littleton was also appointed, before the demise of Henry VI, steward of the Marshalsea court, and justice of the county palatine of Lancaster. On the accession of Edward IV he again obtained a general pardon under the great seal, and was at once placed on a parliamentary commission to adjust some disputes between the Bishop of Winchester and his tenants. He was soon in high favour with the new king, whom he attended on his Gloucestershire progress in 1463–4, and by whom he was raised to the bench as justice of the common pleas on 27 April 1466. His salary was fixed, de gratia speciali, at 110 marks a year, with an allowance of 106s. 11⅓d. for a furred robe at Christmas and 66s. 6d. for a linen robe at Pentecost. He continued on the northern circuit, was a trier of petitions from Gascony in the parliaments of 1467 and 1472, was created a knight of the Bath on the admission of the Prince of Wales to the order, 18 April 1475, and died at Frankley on 23 Aug. 1481. He was interred in the nave of Worcester Cathedral—south side—under an altar-tomb of marble, erected by himself, upon which was his effigy in brass a scroll with the
