TREVELYAN, Sir John, 2nd Bt. (?1670-1755), of Nettlecombe, Som.

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

Constituency

Dates

1695 - 1698
1708 - 10 Sept. 1715
23 May 1717 - 1722

Family and Education

b. ?1670, 1st surv. s. of Sir George Trevelyan, 1st Bt. of Nettlecombe by Margaret, da. and h. of John Willoughby of Ley Hill, Devon. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 15 Oct. 1687, aged 17. m. (1) 1693, Urith (d. 26 Apr.1697), da. of Sir John Pole, 3rd Bt., M.P., of Shute, 1da. d.v.p.; (2) 1700, Susanna, da. and h. of William Warren of Stallensthorn, Devon, 3s. 5da. suc. fa. 1671.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Som. 1704-5.

Biography

Sir John Trevelyan, of a family seated at Nettlecombe since the reign of Henry VII, was a member of the October Club. Returned for Minehead in 1715 on the interest of his neighbours, the Luttrells of Dunster Castle, he was unseated on petition but recovered his seat on petition after the ensuing by-election in 1717. No votes of his are recorded nor did he not stand again. His name was included in the list of leading English Jacobites sent to the Pretender in 1721.1 He subsequently married one of his daughters to Alexander Luttrell, who died in 1737, appointing him a trustee for his daughter and heir Margaret. Shortly after her marriage in 1747, her husband, Henry Fownes Luttrell, M.P., wrote to Francis Luttrell, bencher of the Middle Temple and one of the few surviving representatives of the family:2

I am extremely sorry I am obliged to trouble you with a letter on such a subject ... What obliges me to do it now, is, that I am going to revive the cause in Chancery against Sir John Trevelyan and Mr. Bampfylde, two surviving trustees under Mr. Luttrell’s will, and a term of 500 years being created in the same will to them, for the payment of his debts. Now Sir John out of a particular dislike to me, refuses even to act in the said trust, or assign over the term, thinking thereby to distress me, by keeping me out of the rents and profits of the estate for which purpose, to get the power vested in myself, I have revived the cause ...

Francis Luttrell expressed himself as not surprised to learn

how ill Sir John hath treated you, which is no wonder. Can you expect better usage when his own son (nay his heir apparent) hath such reason to enter the lists with him. God be thanked he cloth not come in my way.3

Trevelyan died 25 Sept. 1755, aged 85.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Shirley Matthews

Notes

  • 1. Stuart mss 65/16.
  • 2. Maxwell-Lyte, Dunster Castle (1909 ed.), i. 225.
  • 3. Add. 41843, f. 116.