George William Lyttelton
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The Hon George William Lyttelton (6 January 1883 – 1 May 1962) was a British teacher and ''littérateur'' from the Lyttelton family. Known in his lifetime as an inspiring teacher of classics and English literature at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
, and an avid sportsman and sports writer, he became known to a wider audience with the posthumous publication of his letters, which became a literary success in the 1970s and 80s, and eventually ran to six volumes.


Early life

Lyttelton was born at Hagley Hall in Worcestershire, the second son of Charles Lyttelton, 5th Baron Lyttelton and later 8th Viscount Cobham, and Mary Susan Caroline Cavendish (second daughter of the 2nd Baron Chesham). He was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a sporting young man, distinguishing himself at the Eton field game (a form of football), and at
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, in which he shared a second wicket partnership of 476 for
A. C. Benson Arthur Christopher Benson, (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet and academic, and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of Edward Elgar’s '' Coronation Ode'', including the words of th ...
's XI v H. V. Macnaghten's XI (Eton, 1901), and played at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
in the
Eton v Harrow The Eton v Harrow cricket match is an annual match between public school rivals Eton College and Harrow School. It is one of the longest-running annual sporting fixtures in the world and is the last annual school cricket match still to be pla ...
matches of 1900 and 1901. At Trinity, Lyttelton was a member of the
University Pitt Club The University Pitt Club, popularly referred to as the Pitt Club, the UPC, or merely as Club, is a private members' club of the University of Cambridge, with a previously male-only membership but now open to both men and women. History The ...
and was its librarian. He became president of the university athletics club, and was a distinguished
shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
competitor, winning the event for Cambridge v Oxford three years in a row (1904, 37'7"; 1905, 37'11" and 1906, 38'3¾"). He was a less distinguished amateur musician: according to a contemporary university magazine: "When George Lyttelton practises the cello, all the cats in the district converge upon his rooms in the belief that one of their members is in distress."


Adult life

After graduation he returned as a master to Eton, where his uncle
Edward Lyttelton Edward Lyttelton (23 July 1855 – 26 January 1942) was an English schoolmaster, cleric and sportsman from the Lyttelton family who was headmaster of Eton College from 1905 to 1916. During his early years he played first-class cricket for Cambr ...
was headmaster from 1905 to 1916. He married Pamela Marie Adeane, daughter of Charles Robert Whorwood Adeane and Madeline Pamela Constance Blanche Wyndham, on 3 April 1919. They had four daughters and one son – the latter being the jazz trumpeter and radio presenter Humphrey Lyttelton. Lyttelton retired in 1945, having taught at Eton for his entire career. He taught, among others, Aldous Huxley,
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
,
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,
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, and John Bayley. He taught mostly classics in the fifth form, but became known for his optional course of English as "extra studies" for senior specialists.Hart-Davis, p. ix The biographer
Philip Ziegler Philip Sandeman Ziegler (born 24 December 1929) is a British biographer and historian. Background Born in Ringwood, Hampshire, Ziegler was educated at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, and went with the school when it merged with Summer Field ...
said of him: :George Lyttelton was one of the greatest of English schoolmasters. He was wise and tolerant; his massive presence ensured a dignity which his fine sense of the ridiculous alleviated without diminishing; he cared passionately about good writing and communicated that passion to his pupils.''The Times'', 8 June 1978, p. 12 Another former pupil wrote: :From that study we staggered with our arms full of books,
Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...
and Hemingway,
Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
and Dr Johnson, Henry James and George Moore, our minds fired by his enthusiasm and wise advice, our shoulders tingling from the squeeze of his mighty hand as he guided us through the bookshelves. We think of him... majestically immobile as he umpired in the Field, and he was the best of them all in ruling the game and in writing about it afterwards; or... those brilliant expositions of the reading or writing of English where he achieved the perfect artistry of teaching; or at his Old Boy dinners, enveloped in a vast and aging dinner-jacket, delivering with commendable timing a string of improbable stories about his large family or the more obscure annals of
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
agricultural life. Lyttelton was a member of the Johnson Club and
The Literary Society The Literary Society is a London dining club, founded by William Wordsworth and others in 1807. Its members are generally either prominent figures in English literature or eminent people in other fields with a strong interest in literature. No pap ...
in London, and of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Between the wars, he contributed '' The Timess reports on the Eton and Harrow matches, usually anonymously, but in 1929 on the occasion of the hundredth match his ''tour d'horizon'' of the series appeared under his name. His reports were later described in ''The Times'' as the best prose of their time. In 1945 Lyttelton retired from Eton and moved to Grundisburgh, Suffolk, where he died at the age of 79.


Legacy

Lyttelton co-edited an anthology, '' An Eton Poetry Book'' (1925), which was well received, but his life would not have come to the notice of the wider world were it not for his weekly correspondence with a former pupil, Rupert Hart-Davis, which lasted from 1955 until Lyttelton's death in 1962. This correspondence, published after Lyttelton's death as ''The
Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters The Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters are a correspondence between two literary Englishmen, George Lyttelton (1883–1962) and Rupert Hart-Davis (1907–99), written between 1955 and Lyttelton's death, and published by Hart-Davis in six volumes betwee ...
'', was an immediate literary success and eventually ran to six volumes. Reviewers contrasted Hart-Davis's weekly accounts of a busy urban life with Lyttelton's detached, and often humorous, observations from his retirement in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
. '' The Daily Telegraph'' said of them: "In a hundred years' time, I suspect, the letters will be read with as much pleasure as they are today.... This is a book one could go on quoting forever." In 2002 Lyttelton's commonplace book was edited and published, confirming how broad his literary interests were, ranging from Greek and Latin classics to quirky advertisements and press cuttings – not all of them fit for publication, as his son Humphrey makes clear in the foreword to the commonplace book.Ramsden, p. 8


Notes


References


Sources

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External links


Notes, references and biographies to ''The Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyttelton, George William 1883 births 1962 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English letter writers People educated at Eton College Teachers at Eton College Younger sons of viscounts George William