Littleton Groom

The Honourable Sir Littleton Groom KCMG KC
6th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 13 January 1926 – 11 October 1929
Preceded by	William Watt
Succeeded by	Norman Makin
Attorney-General of Australia
In office 21 December 1921 – 18 December 1925
Prime Minister	Billy Hughes Stanley Bruce
Preceded by	Billy Hughes
Succeeded by	John Latham
Minister for Works and Railways
In office 27 March 1918 – 21 December 1921
Prime Minister	Billy Hughes
Preceded by	William Watt
Succeeded by	Richard Foster
Minister for Trade and Customs
In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Prime Minister	Joseph Cook
Preceded by	Frank Tudor
Succeeded by	Frank Tudor
Minister for External Affairs
In office 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910
Prime Minister	Alfred Deakin
Preceded by	Lee Batchelor
Succeeded by	Lee Batchelor
Attorney-General of Australia
In office 12 October 1906 – 13 November 1908
Prime Minister	Alfred Deakin
Preceded by	Isaac Isaacs
Succeeded by	Billy Hughes
Minister for Home Affairs
In office 5 July 1905 – 12 October 1906
Prime Minister	Alfred Deakin
Preceded by	Dugald Thomson
Succeeded by	Thomas Ewing
Member of the Australian Parliament for Darling Downs
In office 19 December 1931 – 6 November 1936
Preceded by	Arthur Morgan
Succeeded by	Arthur Fadden
In office 14 September 1901 – 12 October 1929
Preceded by	William Henry Groom
Succeeded by	Arthur Morgan
Personal details
Born	(1867-04-22)22 April 1867 Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Died	6 November 1936(1936-11-06) (aged 69) Canberra, Australia
Political party	Protectionist (1901–09) Fusion (1909–17) Nationalist (1917–29) Independent (1929–33) UAP (1933–36)
Spouse	Jessie Bell ​ (m. 1894)​
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Lawyer

Sir Littleton Ernest Groom KCMG KC (22 April 1867 – 6 November 1936) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers between 1905 and 1925, and subsequently served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1926 to 1929.

Groom was the son of William Henry Groom, who had arrived in Australia as a convict but became a prominent public figure in the Colony of Queensland. He was a lawyer by profession, entering federal parliament at the 1901 Darling Downs by-election following his father's death. Groom was first appointed to cabinet by Alfred Deakin in 1905. Over the following two decades he served as Minister for Home Affairs (1905–1906), Attorney-General (1906–1908), External Affairs (1909–1910), Trade and Customs (1913–1914), Vice-President of the Executive Council (1917–1918), Works and Railways (1918–1921), and Attorney-General (1921–1925).

A political liberal and anti-socialist, Groom was initially affiliated with Deakin's Protectionists, who were later superseded by the Liberals (1909) and Nationalists (1917). He came into conflict with Prime Minister Stanley Bruce during the 1920s, and as speaker in 1929 refused to use his casting vote to save the government on a confidence motion. He was expelled from the Nationalists and lost his seat at the resulting election, but was re-elected in 1931 as an independent. He joined the United Australia Party (UAP) in 1933 and continued as a backbencher until his death in 1936.