HERVEY, Hon. Felton (1712-73), of Bury St. Edmunds, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1747 - 1754
9 Dec. 1754 - 1761

Family and Education

b. 12 Feb. 1712, 10th s. of John, 1st Earl of Bristol, by his 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. and h. of Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Bt., of Playford, Suff.  educ. Bury St. Edmunds g.s.; Eton 1727-30.  m. 25 Dec. 1740, Dorothy, da. of Solomon Ashley, M.P., wid. of Charles Pitfield of Brixton, 1s. 3da.

Offices Held

Equerry to the Queen 1736-7; groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of Cumberland 1737-56.

Biography

At the general election of 1754 Hervey, having quarrelled with his nephew, Lord Bristol, contested Bury St. Edmunds in opposition to Bristol’s brother Augustus. After a double return Felton was seated by the House on 9 Dec., and Augustus’s election was declared void.

In 1756 Felton Hervey resigned his place with the Duke of Cumberland.

Besides that my health would not permit me to give the same attendance I had done for seventeen years together [he wrote to Newcastle on 3 Oct. 1756] it was very inconvenient for me to be going backward and forwards, three or four times in a summer, and sometimes to be in waiting a year together.1

He claimed that Henry Pelham had often thanked him for his ‘constant attendance’, and had promised ‘to do something’ for him ‘very soon’; he now applied (unsuccessfully) for a seat at the Board of Trade. In 1760, through the good offices of Lady Yarmouth, he obtained the reversion of the place of remembrancer of the Exchequer for himself and his son.2

He died 16 Aug. 1773.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

  • 1. Add. 32868, f. 58.
  • 2. Add. 32887, f. 258.