Charles Lyttelton, 8th Viscount Cobham

"Cricket, Railways & Agriculture"
Viscount Cobham as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, May 1904

Charles George Lyttelton, 8th Viscount Cobham (27 October 1842 – 9 June 1922), known as The Lord Lyttelton from 1876 to 1889, was a British peer and Liberal Member of Parliament.

Biography

Cobham was the eldest son of George William Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, and Mary Glynne. Alfred Lyttelton was his younger brother. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]

He was elected to the House of Commons for East Worcestershire in 1868, a seat he held until 1874.[2] Apart from his parliamentary career he also served as High Sheriff of Bewdley. Cobham succeeded his father as fifth Baron Lyttelton in 1876. In 1889 he also succeeded his distant relative Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, as eighth Baron and Viscount Cobham.

Cobham married the Hon. Mary Susan Caroline Cavendish, daughter of William George Cavendish, 2nd Baron Chesham, in 1878. He died in June 1922, aged 79, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John. His second son George William Lyttelton became a noted master at Eton and was the father of the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton. Lady Cobham died in 1937.

He came from a notable cricketing family, his father (GW Lyttelton), five brothers (GWS Lyttelton, AT Lyttelton, RH Lyttelton, E Lyttelton, Hon. A Lyttelton), his sons (JC Lyttelton, CF Lyttelton) and his grandson (CJ Lyttelton) all playing first-class cricket, and in the case of the Hon. A Lyttelton Test cricket. He himself played 35 first-class matches between 1861 and 1867, mainly for Cambridge University. A right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper, he scored 1439 runs at an average of 27.15, including 2 centuries. Cobham was President of Marylebone Cricket Club in 1886.

Cobham was a member of the Tennis Committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club which was responsible for framing standardized rules for the new sport of lawn tennis. These unified Laws of Lawn Tennis were published on 29 May 1875.[3]

Notes

  1. "Lyttelton, the Hon. Charles George (LTLN859CG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. "COBHAM, 8th Viscount (cr. 1718), Charles George Lyttelton". Who's Who, 59: p. 352. 1907.
  3. Alexander, George E. (1974). Lawn Tennis : Its Founders & Its Early Days. Lynn: H.O. Zimman. p. 33. OCLC 1177585.

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Frederick Gough-Calthorpe
Harry Foley Vernon
Member of Parliament for East Worcestershire
1868–1874
With: Harry Foley Vernon 1868
Richard Paul Amphlett 1868–1874
Succeeded by
Henry Allsopp
Thomas Eades Walker
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Richard Temple-Nugent-
Brydges-Chandos-Grenville
Viscount Cobham
1889–1922
Succeeded by
John Cavendish Lyttelton
Preceded by
George William Lyttelton
Baron Lyttelton
1876–1922
Succeeded by
John Cavendish Lyttelton