Dr Charles Littleton

Senior Research Fellow, House of Lords 1660-1832

clittleton@histparl.ac.uk

Current Research/Role

I am a Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords, 1660-1832 section, having joined the History in October 2001. Before that, I was a researcher for the Robert Boyle project with Prof. Michael Hunter at Birkbeck College. I have researched and written on the Boyle family and its many branches and connections throughout the late 17th and 18th centuries, including the Saviles, marquesses of Halifax, Cavendishes, dukes of Devonshire, and Ponsonbys, earls of Bessborough. I also have an interest in, and have written the biographies of the Dutch and French followers of William III who were rewarded with peerages after 1689, and their descendants.

Research Interests

My wider research interests include the experiences of the Huguenots, French Protestant refugees, who settled in England in the 17th century. I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Huguenot Society Journal. I also have an abiding interest in the history of early modern science and medicine, and I carry that into my work for the History of Parliament with an exploration of legislation for early industrial ventures and infrastructure such as canals and navigations.

Publications

Chapters in Books

‘Diplomatic Residents in England and Approaches to Reporting Parliament in the First Years of George I’, in R. Eagles and M. Schaich (eds.), Scribal News in Politics and Parliament, 1660-1760 (Wiley-Blackwell, Parliamentary History Book Series 41:1, 2022), pp. 105-18. 

‘“‘Tis Not in the Power of Words to Tell What My Heart Feels in Favour of You”; or, What the Ossulston Diary Does Not Reveal’, in R. A. Gaunt and D. W. Hayton (eds.), Peers and Politics, c. 1650-1850: Essays in Honour of Clyve Jones (Wiley-Blackwell, Parliamentary History Book Series 39:1, 2020), pp. 85-98. 

‘Abel Boyer and Other Huguenot Reporters of Parliament: Hansard Avant la Lettre?’, in V. Laramie, Huguenot Networks, 1560-1780: The Interactions and Impact of a Protestant Minority in Europe (London: Routledge, 2018), pp. 61-74

Specialisms: Late Seventeenth Century, Eighteenth Century, Georgian, Political History, Parliamentary History, British Aristocracy, Huguenots, History of Science