Sir Edward Littleton (died 1705) was an administrator of the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast A ...

. He served as President of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in the early eighteenth century. Littleton was the eldest son of Sir Edward Littleton, 2nd Baronet. He studied at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, and in 1671 married Susannah, daughter of Sir Theophilus Biddulph. From 1685 until 1689, he sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. Littleton was expelled from the East India Company in 1682. Later he was a founding director of the New East India Company, and was sent out to Bengal to act as president in its interest. He was knighted early in 1699. Later in that year he was at

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, opposing John Beard of the old Company in Indian matters. It was some years before the two companies were amalgamated.

References

1705 deaths English businesspeople English MPs 1685–1687 Year of birth unknown Presidents of Bengal Heirs apparent who never acceded {{1685-England-MP-stub