Family and Education

b. 16 Mar. 1616, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Thomas Jervoise^† of Britford, Wilts. by 1st w. Lucy, da. and coh. of Sir Richard Powlett of Herriard. educ. L. Inn 1638. m. 30 July 1657, Mary, da. of George Purefoy of Wadley, Berks., 2s. 4da. suc. fa. 1654.1

Offices Held

Capt. of horse (parliamentary) 1643-6.

Commr. for assessment, Hants 1649-52, Aug. 1660-80, Hants and Wilts. 1689-90; j.p. Hants 1652-56, 1658-80, ?1689-d., commr. for militia 1659, Mar. 1660, capt. of militia horse Apr. 1660, sheriff 1666-7; commr. for wastes and spoils, New Forest 1672-3; dep. lt. Hants 1673-6, 1689-d., freeman, Winchester 1689.2

Biography

The Jervoise family was founded by a London Mercer who bought Britford in 1538. Jervoise’s father, a Puritan and eventually an Independent, acquired Herriard by marriage, and with it a strong interest at Whitchurch, which he represented as a country Member in every Parliament from 1621 to 1653. He supported Parliament in the first Civil War and sat in the Rump. During the Civil War, Jervoise was in arms for Parliament. He was present at the siege of Corfe Castle and was taken prisoner before Basing House in 1644. In 1645 he served under Fairfax throughout the campaign of the New Model Army in the West. Presumably reconciled to the Restoration, he was appointed to the militia commission and the commission of the peace in March 1660. He was removed in 1680 as an exclusionist, but returned to Parliament later in the year at a by-election for Hampshire. He made no speeches and served on no committees. He did not stand again until after the Revolution, when he was returned at a contested by-election for the county. He was again totally inactive in the Convention. He was given leave for a month to recover his health on 29 Nov., and did not vote for the disabling clause in the bill to restore corporations, though he was presumably a Whig. He did not stand again, and died on 13 May 1693. He was buried at Herriard. His son Thomas had been returned for Stockbridge in 1691, subsequently sitting for Hampshire in four Parliaments as a Whig.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. The Ancestor, iii. 1-5.
• 2. Parl. Intell. 30 Apr. 1660, 1673, p. 462; Cal. Treas. Bks. iii. 1204; iv. 124; Eg. 2557; Winchester corp. assembly bk. 6, f. 38.
• 3. The Ancestor, iii. 5; Clarendon, Rebellion, iii. 414.