Sir William Lytton was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  from 1640 to 1648. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Biography

Lytton was the son of Sir Rowland Lytton

Roland Lytton

Sir Roland Lytton was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1586 and 1611....

 of Knebworth, and his wife Anne St John, daughter of Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso

Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso

Oliver St John of Bletsoe, 1st Baron St John of Bletso was an English peer.St John was the son of Sir John St John of Bletsoe and Spelsbury and his wife Margaret . His paternal great-great-great-grandfather Sir Oliver St John of Bletsoe, Spelsbury and Lydiard Tregoze Oliver St John of Bletsoe,...

 and widow of Robert Corbet.

In 1628, Lytton was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertfordshire was a county constituency covering the county of Hertfordshire in England. It returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

. In April 1640, he was re-elected MP for Herefordshire in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

 and then in November 1640 for the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. Lytton supported the Parliamentary cause in the Civil War and was one of the commissioners sent by Parliament and received by King Charles who tried to negotiate peace at Oxford

Treaty of Oxford

The Treaty of Oxford of 1643 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Long Parliament and King Charles I to negotiate a peace treaty.On 28 January 1643, Charles, at the request of both houses, granted a safe-conduct for the earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury and Holland, and five commoners The...

 in 1643, (They failed to reach terms and the war was to continue for three more years). Lytton was excluded from parliament under Pride's Purge

Pride's Purge

Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

 in 1648.

Family

Lytton married firstly Anne Slaney, daughter of Stephen Slaney of Norton Shropshire. He married secondly Ruth Barrington, daughter of Francis Barrington of Barrington Hall. His son Rowland

Rowland Lytton

Sir Rowland Lytton was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1656 and 1660.Lytton was the son of Sir William Lytton of Knebworth, and his wife Anne Slaney, daughter of Stephen Slaney of Norton Shropshire. He was schooled at Hertford and was admitted to Sidney Sussex...

was later MP for Hertfordshire.