Arthur Lyttelton

Arthur Temple Lyttelton (7 January 1852 – 19 February 1903) was an Anglican Bishop from the Lyttelton family. After studying at Eton College and Cambridge University, he was ordained as a priest in 1877, and was a curate at St Mary's in Reading. He later served as vicar in Eccles, before being appointed as the third Suffragan Bishop of Southampton. He gave and published a number of lectures relating to his faith, and was the Hulsean Lecturer in 1891. He was also one of eleven members of the Lyttelton family to play first-class cricket.

After a short time as a tutor at Keble College, Oxford, he became the first Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Early life and education Arthur Lyttelton was born in Westminster, London, on 7 Jan 1852, the fifth son of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton and his first wife Mary Glynne. He attended Eton College, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1874. He was awarded his MA degree in 1877.

School and university cricket

Lyttelton played a match for the "Gentlemen of Worcestershire" in 1866, when he was 14, playing alongside two of his older brothers, Charles and George. The Lyttelton family was closely associated with cricket in Worcestershire, and most of the family appeared for the county at some time. He played for Eton in his final year at the school, and appeared in the annual fixture against Harrow that year, his performance being of little note. Eton won the match by 21 runs, in which Lyttelton scored two runs in the first innings and remained not out with five runs in the second. He batted at number ten in both innings, and did not bowl. He suffered a pair during a match between Worcestershire and Herefordshire in 1871. During his time at Cambridge University, Lyttelton frequently appeared for the Quidnuncs Cricket Club, a cricket club generally populated by former university cricketers who had earned a blue.

He never played first-class cricket for the university, but did appear against them in one match in 1872; his only first-class appearance. Lyttelton was part of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team which played the university at Lord's Cricket Ground in June that year. He batted at number seven, and after scoring a duck in the first innings, he scored four runs in the second of a low-scoring match in which only W. G. Grace passed 50 runs in an innings. He made a second appearance for the MCC that summer, as part of a side which beat a Worcestershire team containing two of his brothers by three wickets. He played little more notable cricket, turning out for the Quidnuncs and the Free Foresters infrequently. He was described in Scores and Biographies as being "Like the rest of the family he is a fine free hitter, and an excellent field at long-leg, or middle-wicket-off."

After graduation

Lyttelton was ordained as a deacon in Oxford in 1876, and as a priest the following year. He began his career with a curacy at St Mary's, Reading, and in 1879 became a tutor at Keble College, Oxford, a post he retained until 1882.

Lyttelton's moderate political views along with his political connections to the prime minister (his aunt was Gladstone's wife, and his brother served as his private secretary He was an Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria from 1895 until the following year a position in which he served until 1898. He was Lady Margaret's Preacher in each of 1885 and 1897, delivering the Hulsean Lectures in 1891. In 1900 he was appointed Archdeacon of Winchester.

Lyttelton was one of a number of contributors to Lux Mundi. He was granted a Doctorate in Divinity from the University of Cambridge in 1899.

Death

Lyttelton died at his home in Petersfield, Hampshire on 19 February 1903.

Publications The Place of Miracles in Religion (1899)