George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol
George William Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, the eldest son of John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, by his marriage with Mary, daughter of Nicholas Lepell. Lord Bristol served for some years in the army, in 1755 was sent to Turin as envoy extraordinary, he was ambassador at Madrid from 1758 to 1761, filling a difficult position with credit and dignity, ranked among the followers of Pitt. Appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1766, he never visited that country during his short tenure of this office, after having served for a short time as keeper of the Privy Seal, became groom of the stole to George III in January 1770, he died unmarried, was succeeded by his brother
Feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp
The feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp or honour of Hatch Beauchamp was an English feudal barony with its caput at the manor of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. The site of the mediaeval manor house is today occupied by Hatch Court, a grade I listed mansion built in about 1755 in the Palladian style; the Saxon word Hache signifies "gateway" and it is believed Hatch in Somerset formed the gateway to the royal hunting forest of Neroche. The small River Rag, which flows through Hache, was the northern boundary of the forest. Hache was held from King Edward the Confessor by the Saxons Godric and Bollo, as stated in the Domesday Book of 1086; the Domesday Book of 1086 records Hache as one of the many holdings in-chief of Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of King William the Conqueror, whose tenant there was Robert Fitz Ivo, known as "Robert the Constable". On the rebellion of the Count of Mortain against King William's younger son and successor to the English throne, his lands escheated to the crown, were soon thereafter re-granted to the de Beauchamp family from Normandy.
The early history of the de Beauchamp family of Hatch is "by no means clear". Robert I de Beauchamp in 1092 witnessed a charter. Robert II de Beauchamp witnessed a Somerset charter c. 1150, is again recorded in the Somerset Pipe Roll in 1158. He was the "Robert de Beauchamp", Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset between 1176 and 1181. In the Cartae Baronum return of 1166 a certain Robert de Beauchamp certified that he held of the King in-chief, 17 knights' fees, referred to as the "honour of Robert Beauchamp in Somerset and Dorset", 2 held in demesne and 15 sub-enfeoffed to tenants. Robert III de Beauchamp witnessed a charter in 1185, he left no male progeny, only a daughter and sole heiress, the wife of Simon de Vautort, of which name were the feudal barons of Trematon in Cornwall. Robert de Vautort, alias "Robert IV de Beauchamp", son and heir of Simon de Vautort by his wife the heiress of de Beauchamp, he was aged about 8 at his father's death and became a ward of King John, who granted the wardship to his chamberlain Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent.
He adopted the surname "de Beauchamp" in lieu of his patronymic, on reaching his majority of 21 he became seized of the Honour of Beauchamp. Robert V de Beauchamp and heir, was summoned on many occasions by King Henry III to perform the military service required by his feudal tenure per baroniam, in Scotland and Wales, he married Alice de Mohun, daughter of Reginald II de Mohun, of Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster. John I de Beauchamp and heir, who married Cecily de Vivonne/de Forz, one of the four daughters and co-heiresses of William de Vivonne/de Forz, who held a one-half moiety of the feudal barony of Curry Mallet in Somerset. Cecily thus inherited a one-eighth share of the barony of Curry Malet, he served both in Wales. John built a manor house at his other seat of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, his landholdings included the manors of Shepton Malet in Somerset. He was summoned to join the king's army at Worcester with horse and arms to combat the rebellious Prince Llywelyn of Wales.
He died at Hatch, Somerset 24 October 1283, was buried in the Chapel of St. Nicholas in the church of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset 31 October 1283. John II de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp and heir, received in 1333 from King Edward III a royal licence to crenellate his mansion at Hatch, he fought in the Scottish wars. He received regular writs to attend the king in Parliament, by which in 1299 he was created a baron by writ under the title "Baron Beauchamp de Somerset". John III de Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp and heir, who fought in the wars in France and attended Parliament from 1337 to 1342. In 1301 he was granted a royal licence to hold weekly markets on Thursdays and a fair within the manor of Hatch Beauchamp. John IV de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp and heir, he married Lady Alice Beauchamp, daughter of Sir Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick ) by his wife Katherine Mortimer. The marriage was without progeny and thus; the co-heiresses to the feudal barony of Hatch and its lands were his three aunts, the most richly endowed of whom was Cecily de Beauchamp, wife of Roger Seymour, of whose share the capital manor of Hatch formed a part.
The Seymour family of Hatch is earliest recorded seated at Penhow Castle in Glamorgan in the 12th century. The parish church of Penhow is dedicated to St Maur, it should however be differentiated from the Anglo-Norman "baronial family" named St Maur, created Baron St Maur by writ in 1314, who bore different armorials and which originated at the manor of St. Maur, near Avranches, in Normandy; the ancestor of the "baronial St Maurs" was Wido de St Maur who came to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066, whose son William FitzWido is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a substantial tenant of Geoffrey Bishop of Coutances, who held a feudal barony with lands in Somerset and Gloucester, with ten manors in Somersetshire. He made conquests in Wales in about 1090. No conclusive evidence exists to confirm the "baronial St Maurs" and the "Seymours of Hatch" as derived from a common stock, however Camden believed this to be most probable; the two families adopted different arms at the start
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, was Lord Protector of England during part of the Tudor period from 1547 until 1549 during the minority of his nephew, King Edward VI. Despite his popularity with the common people, his policies angered the gentry and he was overthrown, he was the eldest brother of Queen Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. Edward Seymour was born c. 1500, the son of Sir John Seymour by his wife Margery Wentworth, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead and descended from Edward III. In 1514, aged about 14, he received an appointment in the household of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, was enfant d’honneur at her marriage with Louis XII. Seymour served in the duke of Suffolk's campaign in France in 1523, being knighted by the duke on the 1st of November, accompanied Cardinal Wolsey on his embassy to France in 1527. Appointed Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII in 1529, he grew in favour with the king, who visited his manor at Elvetham in Hampshire in October 1535.
When Seymour's sister, married King Henry VIII in 1536, Edward was created Viscount Beauchamp on 5 June 1536, Earl of Hertford on 15 October 1537. He became Warden of the Scottish Marches and continued in royal favour after his sister's death on 24 October 1537. In 1541, during Henry's absence in the north, Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Audley had the chief management of affairs in London. In September 1542 he was appointed Warden of the Scottish Marches, a few months Lord High Admiral, a post which he immediately relinquished in favour of John Dudley, the future duke of Northumberland. In March 1544 he was made lieutenant-general of the north and instructed to punish the Scots for their repudiation of the treaty of marriage between Prince Edward and the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, he landed at Leith in May and pillaged Edinburgh, returned a month later. In July 1544 he was appointed lieutenant of the realm under the queen regent during Henry's absence at Boulogne, but in August he joined the king and was present at the surrender of the town.
In the autumn he was one of the commissioners sent to Flanders to keep Charles V to the terms of his treaty with England, in January 1545 he was placed in command at Boulogne, where on the 26th he repelled an attempt of Marshal de Biez to recapture the town. In May he was once more appointed lieutenant-general in the north to avenge the Scottish victory at the Battle of Ancrum Moor. In March 1546 he was sent back to Boulogne to supersede the earl of Surrey, whose command had not been a success. From October to the end of Henry's reign he was in attendance on the king, engaged in the struggle for predominance, to determine the complexion of the government during the coming minority. Personal and religious rivalry separated him and Baron Lisle from the Howards, Surrey's hasty temper precipitated his own ruin and that of and his father, the duke of Norfolk, they could not acquiesce in the Imperial ambassador's verdict that Hertford and Lisle were the only noblemen of fit age and capacity to carry on the government.
Upon the death of Henry VIII, Seymour's nephew became king as Edward VI. Henry VIII's will named sixteen executors, who were to act as Edward's Council until he reached the age of 18; these executors were supplemented by twelve men "of counsail" who would assist the executors when called on. The final state of Henry VIII's will has occasioned controversy; some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a shareout of power to their benefit, both material and religious. In this reading, the composition of the Privy Chamber shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of the Protestant faction. In addition, two leading conservative Privy Councillors were removed from the centre of power. Stephen Gardiner was refused access to Henry during his last months. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, found. Other historians have argued that Gardiner's exclusion had non-religious causes, that Norfolk was not noticeably conservative in religion, that conservatives remained on the Council, that the radicalism of men such as Sir Anthony Denny, who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king's signature, is debatable.
Whatever the case, Henry's death was followed by a lavish hand-out of lands and honours to the new power group. The will contained an "unfulfilled gifts" clause, added at the last minute, which allowed Henry's executors to distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court to Seymour, who became the Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King's Person, who created himself Duke of Somerset. Henry VIII's will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector, it entrusted the government of the realm during his son's minority to a Regency Council that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge". A few days after Henry's death, on 4 February, the executors chose to invest regal power in the earl of Hertford. Thirteen out of the sixteen agreed to his appointment as Protector, which they justified as their joint decision "by virtue of the authority" of Henry's will. Seymour may have done a de
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick; the county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The county is divided into five districts of North Warwickshire and Bedworth, Rugby and Stratford-on-Avon; the current county boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. The historic county boundaries include Solihull, as well as much of Birmingham; the county is bordered by Leicestershire to the northeast, Staffordshire to the northwest and the West Midlands to the west, Northamptonshire to the east and southeast, Gloucestershire to the southwest and Oxfordshire to the south. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles from the Derbyshire border. An average-sized English county covering an area of 2,000 km2, it runs some 60 miles north to south. Equivalently it extends as far north as Shrewsbury in Shropshire and as far south as Banbury in north Oxfordshire; the majority of Warwickshire's population live in the centre of the county.
The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, include Atherstone, Bedworth and Rugby. Of these, Atherstone has retained most of its original character. Major industries included coal mining, textiles and cement production, but heavy industry is in decline, being replaced by distribution centres, light to medium industry and services. Of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby are well known outside of Warwickshire; the prosperous towns of central and western Warwickshire including Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Alcester and Wellesbourne harbour light to medium industries and tourism as major employment sectors. The north of the county, bordering Staffordshire and Leicestershire, is mildly undulating countryside and the northernmost village, No Man's Heath, is only 34 miles south of the Peak District National Park's southernmost point; the south of the county is rural and sparsely populated, includes a small area of the Cotswolds, at the border with northeast Gloucestershire.
The plain between the outlying Cotswolds and the Edgehill escarpment is known as the Vale of Red Horse. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour; the highest point in the county, at 261 m, is Ebrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire, grid reference SP187426 at the county's southwest extremity. There are no cities in Warwickshire since both Coventry and Birmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves; the largest towns in Warwickshire in 2011 were: Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Kenilworth. Much of western Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry and Birmingham, was covered by the ancient Forest of Arden, thus the names of a number of places in the central-western part of Warwickshire end with the phrase "-in-Arden", such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden – from fielden.
Areas part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Sutton Coldfield and some of Birmingham including Aston and Edgbaston. These became part of the metropolitan county of West Midlands following local government re-organisation in 1974. In 1986 the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Birmingham and Solihull became effective unitary authorities, however the West Midlands county name has not been altogether abolished, still exists for ceremonial purposes, so the town and two cities remain outside Warwickshire; some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, still observe the historic county boundaries. The flag of the historic county was registered in October 2016, it is a design of a bear and ragged staff on a red field, long associated with the county. Coventry is in the centre of the Warwickshire area, still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as a single area and share a single Chamber of Commerce and BBC Local Radio Station.
Coventry has been a part of Warwickshire for only some of its history. In 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire. In recent times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this; the county's population would increase by a third-of-a-million overnight should this occur, Coventry being the UK's 11th largest city. The town of Tamworth was divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire, but since 1888 has been in Staffordshire. In 1931, Warwickshire gained the town of Shipston-on-Stour from Worcestershire and several villages, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, from Gloucestershire. Warwickshire contains a large expanse of green belt area, surrounding the West Midlands and Coventry conurbations, was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of the belt.
The following towns and villages in Warwickshire have populations of over 5,000. Warwickshire came into being as a divisio
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford was an 18th-century British statesman. He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey. Known as Lord John Russell, he married in October 1731 Diana Spencer, daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland. In the House of Lords he joined the Patriot Whig opposition hostile to the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, took a prominent part in public business, earned the dislike of George II; when Carteret, now Earl Granville, resigned office in November 1744, Bedford became First Lord of the Admiralty in the administration of Henry Pelham, was made a privy councillor. He was successful at the admiralty, but was not fortunate after he became Secretary of State for the Southern Department in February 1748. Pelham accused him of idleness and he was at variance with his colleague The Duke of Newcastle. Newcastle, who had admired The Earl of Sandwich, Bedford's successor as First Lord of the Admiralty, for his forthright and hardline views, had begun to distrust him and his relationship with Bedford.
Newcastle engineered the dismissal of both of them, by sacking Sandwich in June 1751. Bedford resigned in protest, as Newcastle had calculated, allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal to him. During his time in the post he was accused of spending far too much time at his country estate playing cricket and shooting pheasants. Bedford was keen on cricket; the earliest surviving record of his involvement in the sport comes from 1741 when he hosted Bedfordshire v Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire at Woburn Park. The combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team won. Bedford arranged the match with his friends George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. A few days there was a return match at Cow Meadow and the combined team won again. By 1743, Bedford had developed Woburn Cricket Club into a leading team, able to compete against London; the team was prominent in 1743 and 1744 but, after that, there is no further mention of it in the surviving sources.
Instigated by his friends, he was active in opposition to the government, becoming the leader of a faction named after him, the Bedford Whigs. After Newcastle's resignation in November 1756, Bedford became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the new government led by William Pitt and the Duke of Devonshire, he retained this office after Newcastle, in alliance with Pitt, returned to power in June 1757. In Ireland he favoured a relaxation of the penal laws against Roman Catholics, but did not keep his promises to observe neutrality between the rival parties, to abstain from securing pensions for his friends, his own courtly manners and generosity, his wife's good qualities, seem to have gained for him some popularity, although Horace Walpole says he disgusted everybody. He oversaw the Irish response to the threatened French invasion in 1759, the landing of a small French force in northern Ireland. In March 1761 he resigned this office. Having allied himself with the Earl of Bute and the party anxious to bring the Seven Years' War to a close, Bedford was noticed as the strongest opponent of Pitt, became Lord Privy Seal under Bute after Pitt resigned in October 1761.
The cabinet of Bute was divided over the policy to be pursued with regard to the war, but pacific counsels prevailed, in September 1762 Bedford went to France to treat for peace. He was annoyed because some of the peace negotiations were conducted through other channels, but he signed the Peace of Paris in February 1763. Resigning his office as Lord Privy Seal soon afterwards, various causes of estrangement arose between Bute and Bedford, the subsequent relations of the two men were somewhat virulent; the duke refused to take office under George Grenville on Bute's resignation in April 1763, sought to induce Pitt to return to power. A report, that Pitt would only take office on condition that Bedford was excluded, incensed him and, smarting under this rebuff, he joined the cabinet of Grenville as Lord President of the Council in September 1763, his haughty manner, his somewhat insulting language, his attitude with regard to the regency bill in 1765 offended George III, who sought in vain to supplant him, after this failure was obliged to make humiliating concessions to the ministry.
In July 1765, however, he was able to dispense with the services of Bedford and his colleagues, the duke became the leader of a political party, distinguished for rapacity, known as the Bedford party, or the Bloomsbury gang. During his term of office he had opposed a bill to place high import duties on Italian silks, he was assaulted and his London residence attacked by a mob. He took some part in subsequent political intrigues, although he did not return to office, his friends, with his consent, joined the ministry of the Duke of Grafton in December 1767; this proceeding led "Junius" to write his "Letter to the Duke of Bedford," one of especial violence. Bedford was hostile to John Wilkes, narrowly escaped from a mob favourable to the agitator at Honiton in July 1769. Child of John Russell and his first wife Lady Diana Spencer: John Russell, Marquess of Tavistock Children of John Russell and his second
Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond
Field Marshal Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 3rd Duke of Lennox, 3rd Duke of Aubigny, styled Earl of March until 1750, was a British Army officer and politician. He associated with the Rockingham Whigs and rose to hold the post of Southern Secretary for a brief period, he was noteworthy for his support for the colonists during the American Revolutionary War, his support for a policy of concession in Ireland and his advanced views on the issue of parliamentary reform. He went on to be a reforming Master-General of the Ordnance first in the Rockingham ministry and in the ministry of William Pitt; the son of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sarah Cadogan, daughter of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan. Brother of the famous Lennox sisters, he was educated at Westminster School and Leiden University and succeeded his father as Duke of Richmond in August 1750, he was commissioned as an ensign in the 2nd Foot Guards in March 1752, promoted to captain in the 20th Regiment of Foot on 18 June 1753 and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 11 December 1755.
Richmond became lieutenant-colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot on 7 June 1756. A second battalion of this regiment was raised and in 1757, the following year it became an independent regiment, the 72nd Foot. In May 1758 he became colonel of the 72nd Regiment. Richmond took part in the Raid on Cherbourg in August 1758 and served as aide-de-camp to Prince Frederick of Brunswick at the Battle of Minden in August 1759. Promoted to major-general on 9 March 1761, he saw the 72nd Regiment disbanded in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years' War, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Sussex on 18 October 1763. Richmond was appointed British ambassador extraordinary in Paris and made a Privy Counsellor in 1765, in the following year he served as Southern Secretary in the Rockingham Whig administration, resigning office on the accession of Pitt the Elder in July 1766, he was promoted to lieutenant general on 30 April 1770 and was leader of the parliamentary Whigs in opposition in 1771 when Rockingham's wife was ill.
Richmond's anti-colonial positions earned him the sobriquet "the radical duke." In the debates on the policy that led to the American Revolutionary War Richmond was a firm supporter of the colonists, he initiated the debate in 1778 calling for the removal of British troops from America, during which Pitt was seized by his fatal illness. He advocated a policy of concession in Ireland, with reference to which he originated the phrase "a union of hearts" which long afterwards became famous when his use of it had been forgotten. In 1779 Richmond brought forward a motion for retrenchment of the civil list, in 1780 he embodied in a bill his proposals for parliamentary reform, which included manhood suffrage, annual parliaments and equal electoral areas. Richmond joined the Second Rockingham Ministry as Master-General of the Ordnance in March 1782, he resigned as Master-General when the Fox–North Coalition came to power in April 1783. In January 1784 he joined the First Pitt the Younger Ministry as Master-General of the Ordnance.
He now developed Tory opinions, his alleged desertion of the cause of reform led to accusations of apostasy, an attack on him by Lord Lauderdale in 1792, which nearly led to a duel. In November 1795, when Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke were charged with treason and cited his publications on reform in their defence, Richmond became a liability to the Government and was dismissed in February 1795, he became colonel of the Royal Horse Guards on 18 July 1795 and was promoted to field marshal on 30 July 1796. On 15 June 1797 he raised a Yeomanry artillery troop, the Duke of Richmond's Light Horse Artillery at his estate at Goodwood; the troop was equipped with his own design of Curricle gun carriage. In retirement Richmond built the famous racecourse at the family seat of Goodwood, he was a patron of artists such as George Stubbs, Pompeo Batoni, Anton Raphael Mengs, Joshua Reynolds and George Romney. Richmond was buried in Chichester Cathedral, he did have three illegitimate children by his housekeeper.
Brereton, J. M.. C. S.. History of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Duke of Wellington's Regiment. ISBN 978-0952155201. Heathcote, Tony; the British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-696-5. L. Barlow & R. J. Smith, The Uniforms of the British Yeomanry Force 1794–1914, 1: The Sussex Yeomanry Cavalry, London: Robert Ogilby Trust/Tunbridge Wells: Midas Books, ca 1979, ISBN 0-85936-183-7. Lee, Sidney, ed.. "Lennox, Charles". Dictionary of National Biography. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Gilman, D. C.. "Richmond, Charles Lennox, third Duke of". New International Encyclopedia. New York: Dodd, Mead
_by_Alexander_Roslin.jpg)
