Nathaniel Stephens

Stephens was the son of Richard Stephens of Eastington.[1] He inherited Chavenage House and enhanced the house which had been reconstructed by his father.[2] He was elected Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[3][4]

In November 1640, Stephens was re-elected MP for Gloucestershire in the Long Parliament.[4][5] He was Colonel of a regiment of horse which he raised in support of Parliament in the Civil War.[2] In 1644 he was sent to Gloucester to secure the town and relieve Colonel Edward Massey for other duties. In 1645 he was granted a commission to investigate the spoils of Forest of Dean.

Chavenage House.

Stephens acquiesced in the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649, and a few months later he was struck down with a fatal sickness, which gave rise to the legend of Chavenage.[1] Henry Ireton had been sent to visit Stephens at Christmas time in 1648 to persuade him to acquiesce in the execution of the King. Stephens, known as a mild man, was wavering but it is said the Ireton sat up all night and persuaded him. In the New Year, Stephens' daughter Abigail returned home and angrily laid a curse on her father for bringing the family name into disrepute. The story goes that after being taken terminally ill, he never rose from his bed again.[2]

Stephens died at the age of 71 and was buried at Eastington on 30 May 1660.[1] It was said that at his funeral, a hearse drew up at the door of the manor house driven by the figure of a headless man, and thereupon the ghost of Stephens rose from the coffin and paid deep reverence.[2]

By 1617 Stephens had married Catherine, daughter of Robert Beale of Barnes, Surrey. They had three sons and six daughters (a son and a daughter predeceased him).[4]

On 25 February 1661 Stephens's daughter Abigail married Edward Harley. They had four sons (one of whom predeceased his father) and one daughter,[6] Their son Robert became 1st Earl of Oxford, and another son Edward (1664–1735) became a member of parliament for the consistences of Droitwich and Leominster.

• Davidson, Alan; Coates, Ben (2010), "Stephens, Nathaniel (1589–1660), of Eastington, Glos.", in Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629, Cambridge University Press
• Helms, M. W.; Rowlands, Edward (1983), "Harley, Edward (1624–1700), of Brampton Bryan, Herefs.", in Henning, B.D. (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660–1690, Boydell and Brewer
• Williams, W.R. (1898), Parliamentary History of Gloucester, Hereford, pp. 52–53
• Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 221, 244.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)