Show ContentsLittlewood History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Littlewood

What does the name Littlewood mean?

The lineage of the name Littlewood begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. It is a result of when they lived by a small grove of trees or near a grove of young trees or saplings. The surname Littlewood belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees.

Early Origins of the Littlewood family

The surname Littlewood was first found in Lancashire where they held a family seat from early times and their first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Early History of the Littlewood family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Littlewood research. Another 63 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Littlewood History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Littlewood Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Littlewood has undergone many spelling variations, including Littlewood, Lyttlewood and others.

Early Notables of the Littlewood family

Notables of the family at this time include

  • Littlewood of Lancashire


Littlewood migration to the United States +

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Littlewood were among those contributors:

Littlewood Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Elizabeth Littlewood, who settled in Virginia in 1642 with her husband William
  • Eliza Littlewood, who landed in Virginia in 1642 1
  • William Littlewood, who arrived in Virginia in 1649 1
Littlewood Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Richard Littlewood, who landed in Virginia in 1702 1
  • Jacob Littlewood, who arrived in Virginia in 1714 1
  • Ben Littlewood, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1774
Littlewood Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • C Littlewood, aged 35, who arrived in Key West, Fla in 1843 1
  • Harry Littlewood, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1865

Littlewood migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Littlewood Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century
  • Joseph Littlewood, who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1749
Littlewood Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • Ann Littlewood, aged 20, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick aboard the ship "Ambassador" in 1834

Littlewood migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Littlewood Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. William Littlewood, English convict who was convicted in Norfolk, England for life, transported aboard the "Atlas" on 16th January 1816, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 2
  • John Littlewood, English convict from Derby, who was transported aboard the "Adelaide" on August 08, 1849, settling in Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip, Australia 3

Littlewood migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Littlewood Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Henry Littlewood, who landed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1840
  • Emma Littlewood, aged 33, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bebington" in 1872
  • Emma L. Littlewood, aged 12, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bebington" in 1872
  • Herbert P. Littlewood, aged 10, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bebington" in 1872
  • Fanny L. Littlewood, aged 9, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bebington" in 1872

Littlewood migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 4
Littlewood Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century
  • Peter Littlewood, who settled in Barbados in 1678

Contemporary Notables of the name Littlewood (post 1700) +

  • Cecil "Chic" Littlewood (1930-2015), English-born, New Zealand television entertainer and actor
  • John Edensor Littlewood (1885-1977), English mathematician
  • Yvonne Mary Pearl Littlewood MBE (1927-2023), British television director and producer
  • Peter Littlewood (b. 1955), British physicist
  • Dominic Littlewood (b. 1965), English television presenter and journalist
  • John Eric Littlewood (1931-2009), British Mathematician and chess player
  • George Littlewood Hirst (1890-1967), Welsh international rugby union player

HMS Dorsetshire
  • Alan Duxbury Littlewood, British Schoolmaster aboard the HMS Dorsetshire (1945) when she was struck by air bombers and sunk; he survived the sinking 5


  1. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  2. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 14th July 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/atlas
  3. State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2014, November 17) Adelaide voyage to Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip, Australia in 1849 with 303 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/adelaide/1849
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
  5. Force Z Survivors HMS Dorsetshire Crew List, (Retrieved 2018, February 13th), https://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listdorsetshirecrew.html


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