Thomas Hervey
Thomas Hervey (20 January 1699–1775) , of Bond St., London., was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 to 1747. He became embroiled with the wife of a neighbour who left her husband, and the ensuing dispute brought him to the brink of madness.
Hervey was the second son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, MP and his second wife Elizabeth Felton, daughter of Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet of Playford, Suffolk. He was educated at Westminster School from 1712 to 1717 and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 10 May 1717 aged 17. [1]
Hervey was appointed Equerry to Queen Caroline in 1728. He was returned as Member of Parliament for the family seat at Bury St Edmunds at a by-election on 29 June 1733. He was returned again at the 1734 In 1737, his brother Lord Hervey procured him a present of money from Walpole, and in 1738, a post of £500 p.a. as surveyor of the King’s gardens in place of his equerry position. [2]
In 1737, the wife of Sir Thomas Hanmer, a considerable heiress, left her husband and put herself under Hervey’s protection . In 1739 she made a will bequeathing to Hervey the reversion of her estates in Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, Anglesey and Caernarvonshire, which had been settled ‘after death of me and my husband and failure of issue of my body to the use of such person or persons as I should appoint’. She also asked to Hanmer to leave to Hervey her principal estate of Barton, Suffolk, which he had acquired absolutely under their marriage settlement. Lady Hanmer died in 1741 and Hanmer ignored her request. He also started cutting down timber of one of the reversionary estates. The ensuing dispute with Sir Thomas Hanmer had an effect on Hervey’s ‘distressed mind in a distempered body’ and drove Hervey mad to the extent that he was admitted to an asylum.[2]
Hervey was returned as MP for Bury St Edmunds at the 1741 and continued to vote with the government except in an important vote on the chairman of the elections committee in December 1741, when he erratically voted with the Opposition. His only explanation was ‘Jesus knows my thoughts, one day I blaspheme and pray the next’ which prompted Horace Walpole to say ‘Tom Hervey is quite mad’.[2]
In August 1745, Hervey married Anne Coghlan, daughter of Francis Coghlan, counsellor at law in Ireland. When Hanmer died in 1746, Hervey succeeded all his wife’s estates except Barton which went to Hanmer’s nephew. Hervey decided not to stand at the 1747 British general election.[2]
Hervey felt aggrieved over several matters and carried on writing open letters ‘full of madness and wit’. He died on 18 January 1775 leaving one son. Samuel Johnson wrote of him ‘Tom Hervey, though a vicious man, was one of the genteelest men that ever lived.’[2]
References
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds 1733–1747 With: Thomas Norton |
Succeeded by Felton Hervey Viscount Petersham |
