GRANVILLE, Bernard II (c.1670-1723), of Coulston, Wilts. and Poland Street, Westminster

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1710 - 20 July 1711
11 Feb. 1712 - 1713

Family and Education

b. c.1670, 3rd s. of Bernard Granville I* and bro. of Sir Bevill* and George Granville*.  m. 1692, Mary (d. 1747), da. of Sir Martin Westcombe, 1st Bt., of Buckland, Glos., consul at Cadiz, 2s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Capt. 10 Ft. 1692; maj. of ft. Townshend’s regt. 1706, Honywood’s 1710–14, lt.-col. 1707; lt.-gov. Kingston-upon-Hull July 1711–14.

Carver to the Queen 1702–14.2

Biography

In William’s reign Granville was given a commission in the regiment of his uncle the Earl of Bath, and served in Flanders. When a Jacobite agent came over to England in January 1694, he reported to James II that ‘Mr Granville answers for Lord Bath’s regiment of infantry, of which he is lieutenant-colonel. He is nephew to the Earl of Bath.’ Fortunately, when Sir John Fenwick† named those involved in the plot to restore King James in 1696, he mentioned Bath but not Granville. Granville’s regiment was reduced in 1699, but placed on the Irish establishment. He accompanied his brother Sir Bevill to Barbados in March 1703, and served as an officer in the garrison there until 1706. After his return to England he was given another commission. In 1710, when his brother George was secretary-at-war and a manager of the government interest in the Cornish boroughs, Granville was returned for Camelford. Classed as a Tory in the ‘Hanover list’, he was included in 1711 among the ‘worthy patriots’ who had helped to detect the mismanagements of the previous ministry. In July 1711 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Hull, his military service spanning over 20 years and including action in Flanders and the West Indies. As such he was obliged to seek re-election, whereupon in February 1712 he transferred to Fowey. In the 1713 session he voted on 18 June 1713 for the French commerce bill. Somewhat surprisingly, he did not stand in 1713.3

On the death of Queen Anne Granville lost his place and had to rely on financial help from his brother George to supplement ‘the small remains of his fortune’. In 1715, when his brother was sent to the Tower charged with high treason, Granville’s house in Poland Street was searched in the middle of the night by soldiers on an information that he was about to flee the country. The next day he left London and went to live in retirement at Buckland, near Campden, Gloucestershire, where, according to his daughter Mary, his ‘excellent temper, great cheerfulness, and uncommon good humour’ compensated his family for the poverty and dullness of their lives. He died there on 8 Dec. 1723, aged 53. His daughter Mary married first Alexander Pendarves*, and secondly Dr Delany, achieving fame for her autobiography and letters.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 192; M. Delany, Autobiog. and Corresp. i. 9; R. Granville, Granville Fam. 434.
  • 2. R. O. Bucholz, Augustan Court, 262.
  • 3. Granville, 404, 409; HMC Portland, v. 97; CSP Dom. 1694–5, p. 136; Orig. Pprs. ed. Macpherson, i. 473.
  • 4. Delany, 7–13; The Gen. n.s. vi. 26.