▶Date of birth:  14 February 1854        Place of birth: Norton, Stourbridge, Worcestershire

▶Father:   Benjamin Littlewood, JP and Deputy Lieutenant, Glass-manufacturer, of Client House, Clent, near Stourbridge, Worcestershire    Mother: Sarah Campbell Derby Waite

▶Spouse(s):  Ellen Mabel Burges    Date(s) of marriage: 24 July 1889      Place(s) of marriage: Warfield, Berkshire

▶Occupation: Clergyman; Antiquary

▶Lifestory: Benjamin Littlewood was parish priest who lived mainly in the south-west and south Midlands; he was also a keen antiquarian and meteorologist. Littlewood was the only son of Benjamin Littlewood, JP and Deputy Lieutenant, glass-manufacturer, of Client House, Clent, near Stourbridge, Worcestershire, and his second wife, Sarah. He was educated at Cheltenham College, boarding with the Revd. Peter Gantillon, and gaining the Walker Prize in 1872. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, as an Exhibitioner in 1872, BA (4th class in Theology) 1876, MA 1879, and was ordained Deacon in 1877, and Priest (both Lichfield) in 1878.

In 1877 he moved away from Greenways, Shurdington, where he lived with his parents, when he was appointed Curate of Codsall, Staffordshire. He remained there for two years, becoming Curate of Keele, Staffordshire 1879-80. In this latter year he moved as a clergyman “without cure of souls” to Pittville. He went first, in late 1879, to live with his parents, then at Pittville Hall (now St Anne’s), Pittville Circus Road, but on the death of his father he moved in September 1880 with his widowed mother to a newly built house, Holmdale, also on Pittville Circus Road. Benjamin advertised himself from Holmdale as a “Priest […] of moderate views, [in search of] permanent work in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham” (John Bull, 11 September 1880). He was licensed to preach in the Gloucester diocese 1884-8.

In 1887 he was presented to the Prince of Wales as a Member of the 18th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers at a royal levee, and towards the end of the year received the Grand Star of the Primrose League (2nd grade). In 1888, when he was also Curate-in-Charge of Woolston and Oxenton near Tewkesbury, he presented himself with the vicarage of Warfield, Berkshire (of which he possessed the advowson). He moved there in 1889, when he was also married to Ellen Mabel, only daughter of George Burges, of Hawthorndale, Bracknell.

A long-term friend of the Revd. Maurice Smelt, clergyman and meteorologist, he supplied the Reading Mercury with detailed rainfall statistics for Warfield in 1899; he was also a keen antiquary, regularly attending meetings of the Berkshire Archaeological Society and knowledgeable about the history of his church. In addition, he represented the ward of Warfield for about twenty years on the Easthampstead District Council, and held several positions of responsibility in educational and charitable organisations in the area.

He died suddenly at Warfield in 1911, at the age of fifty-seven, leaving his wife and one daughter. His personal estate at death was sworn at just over £40,000.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  Keele, Staffordshire      Moved from Pittville to: Warfield, Berkshire

▶Date of death:  26 May 1911      Place of death: Warfiezld, Berkshire

▶Date of burial:   1 June 1911      Place of burial: St Michael the Archangel, Warfield, Berkshire

▶Notes:        ID: 10134

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden