Thomas Levett (rector)

Rev. Thomas Levett (died 1843) served as rector of Whittington, Staffordshire, for 40 years, and as a large landowner in addition to being a clergyman, played a role in the development of Staffordshire's educational system. He was also a member of one of Staffordshire's longest-serving families in ecclesiastical circles, having produced three rectors of the parish of Whittington. The Levett family also produced members of parliament, High Sheriffs of Staffordshire, Lichfield town recorders and businessmen who were friends and contemporaries of Samuel Johnson, Erasmus Darwin, writer Anna Seward, actor David Garrick and other local luminaries. Several streets in Lichfield are named for the family.

Rev. Thomas Levett was the son of Thomas Levett of Packington Hall and nephew of John Levett, who sat for one term as a Tory Member of Parliament before he was recalled. Rev. Levett was the grandson of Theophilus Levett, Lichfield town clerk in the early eighteenth century.

Large landowners, the Levett family also made liberal endowments to the church at Whittington. Rev. Levett lived in Packington Hall, a Levett family property that had been acquired in the eighteenth century. The same Levett family also lived at Wychnor Hall at nearby Wychnor, Staffordshire. The family also owned the ancient woods at Hopwas, Staffordshire, a holding inherited by Rev. Thomas Levett.

Levett was early interested in education in the region in which his ancestors had lived for more than a century. He was among family members managing a family bequest to the local schools. Rev. Richard Levett served as Whittington's vicar from 1743 to 1751. His son, also Rev. Richard Levett, served as vicar of Whittington from 1795 to 1796; and Rev. Thomas Levett served for forty years, from 1796 to 1836. There are memorials to the Levett family in St. Giles Church in the village, located about three miles (5 km) from Lichfield. Large landowners, the family also established charitable gifts towards the Whittington Free School, and were generous donors to schools and other foundations in the county.

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