Hello from a new subscriber, I'm trying to sort out the family of Sir John LITTLETON of Frankley. Information gathered from various sources gives a very confusing picture. The sources I have looked at to date include the following: (1) Spink, Henry Hawkes, "The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter" (London 1902) (2) A e-mail message sent to me by RAH Williams, containing descendancy information apparently taken from "Burke's Peerage" (3) Edwards, Francis, S.J., tr., "The Gunpowder Plot - The Narrative of Oswald Tesimond alias Greenway" (London, 1973) To start with, Spink (1) says the following on page 172: "At Coventry, Robert Winter was joined by Stephen Littleton, of Holbeach [sic] House, in Staffordshire ...; and also by his cousin, Humphrey Littleton, brother to the then late John Littleton, of Hagley House, Worcestershire, who had been engaged in the Essex rising." Burke (2) says something quite different, that Stephen and Humphrey were brothers, not cousins: my information gives three sons for Sir John Littleton (c.1518-1590) of Frankley: 1. Gilbert (b. c. 1540) 2. George (b. c. 1544) 3. William Gilbert had 3 sons and 1 daughter, including John Littleton (b. c. 1561) who was the one involvd in the Essex rising. George had 8 sons, including Stephen of Holbeach House (executed at Worcester 1606) and Humphrey (also executed). Following this, Edwards (3) says something different again on page 132: "George Lyttleton, second son of Sir John Lyttleton of Frankley (d. 1591) 'married Margaret, daughter and heir to Rich. Smith of Shirford, Warwickshire; his eldest son Stephen settled at Holbeach House in King's Swinford, Staffordshire; was executed on account of the gunpowder plot, and left no issue. His 8th brother, Humphrey, was likewise executed for harbouring the powder consiprators at Hagley': T. Nash, Worcestershire, vol. I, pedigree at p. 493. Thus Humphrey and Stephen were uncle and nephew." So now I'm totally confused. Three different sources give three different relationships for Humphrey and Stephen: (1) Spink says that they were first cousins; (2) Burke says that they were brothers; (3) Edwards [after Nash] says that they were uncle and nephew. Which one should we believe? I have a problem with Burke: after John Littleton M.P. died in prison in 1601 after his arrest for being involved in the Essex rising, his widow Muriel continued to reside at Hagley House, but there seems to have been a close association between Hagley House and Humphrey, as Humphrey seemed to be in charge when Stephen and Robert Wintour dropped by after being on the run for two months. Had Humphrey taken over Hagley House as his seat by this time? This might imply a closer relationship between John and Humphrey than between Humphrey and Stephen, discounting the account from Burke. I'd appreciate any detailed information anyone could give on the children and grandchildren of Sir John Littleton, to try and clear up this particular mess. Best regards, Douglas Burbury -- E-mail: dburbury@vision.net.au http://www.vision.net.au/~dburbury/burbury.htm (Burbury family page) http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/gun-plot.htm *NEW* (Gunpowder Plot page) Listowner: BURBURY Mailing List Co-owner: GUNPOWDER-PLOT Mailing List