PENDARVES, Alexander (?1665-1725), of Roskrow, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1689 - 1698
16 Jan. 1699 - 1705
1708 - 1710
1710 - 22 Jan. 1714
12 Apr. 1714 - 1715
11 Jan. 1721 - 8 Mar. 1725

Family and Education

b. ?1665, 3rd s. of John Pendarves of Roskrow by Bridget, da. of Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Bt., M.P., of Antony, Cornw. educ. Exeter, Oxf. 14 July 1682, aged 17; G. Inn 1682. m. (1) Lady Dorothy Bourke, da. of Richard, 8th Earl of Clanricarde [I], (2) 17 Feb. 1718, Mary, da. of Bernard Granville, bro. of George Granville, M.P., 1st Baron Lansdowne, she later m. Dr. Patrick Delany.

Offices Held

Commr. of prizes 1703-5; surveyor gen. of crown lands 1714.

Biography

A Tory, Pendarves was brought in for Launceston by his intimate friend George Granville, later Lord Lansdowne.1 Like Lansdowne, he was arrested in 1715 and was brought prisoner to Plymouth, in company with several other Cornish gentlemen suspected of being favourable to the Pretender.2 After his release, he visited Lansdowne at Longleat, where he met and married Mary Granville, the future Mrs. Delany. According to her he was ‘excessively fat, of a brown complexion, negligent in his dress, and took a vast quantity of snuff, which gave him a dirty look; his eyes were black, small, lively and sensible; he had an honest countenance, but altogether a person rather disgusting than engaging. He was good-natured and friendly, but so strong a party man that he made himself many enemies’.3 His name was sent to the Pretender as a Jacobite supporter in 1721, and he was in contact with Atterbury’s agents during the plot of 1722.4 He died of a fit on 8 Mar. 1725, leaving his widow, who had unfortunately dissuaded him from signing his will the day before, with nothing but her jointure.5

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Mrs. Delany, Autobiog. and Corresp. i. 22-4.
  • 2. Walter Moyle to Humphry Morice, 26 Sept. 1715, Morice mss in Bank of England.
  • 3. Mrs. Delany, 34.
  • 4. Stuart mss 65/16; Report from the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to examine Christopher Layer and others, app. F. 11.
  • 5. Mrs. Delany, 107.