William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey
William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey (died July 1642), was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1611.
Hervey was the son of Henry Hervey and his wife Jane Thomas, daughter of John Thomas, of Llanvihangell. He was grandon of Sir Nicholas Hervey, of Ickworth,Suffolk. He was in service against the Spanish Armada and was knighted at Cadiz by the Earl of Essex on 27 June 1596.[1] He served afterwards in Ireland.[2]
In 1601, Hervey was elected Member of Parliament for Horsham. He was elected MP for Petersfield in 1604. He was created baronet of St Martin-in-the-Fields on 31 May 1619. On 5 August 1620, he was created Baron Hervey of Rosse, County Wexford. He was created Baron Hervey of Kidbrooke, Kent, on 27 February 1628. The baronetcy merged into these peerages and continued until his death in 1642, when all his other honours became extinct.[2]
Hervey married firstly, in May 1597, Mary, dowager Countess of Southampton, widow of Sir Thomas Heneage, and formerly of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, by his first wife, Jane Radcliffe, daughter of Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex. They had no issue and she died in 1607. He married secondly on 5 February 1607, Cordell Annesley, daughter of Brian Annesley, of Lee and Kidbrooke, Kent, gentleman-pensioner, and his wife Audrey Tirrell, daughter of Tirrell, of Essex, warden of the Fleet Prison.[2]
As the step-father of the Earl of Southampton, Hervey has been suggested as one of several candidates to be the "Mr W. H." of Shakespeare's sonnets and has also been proposed as their transmitter for publication.[3][4]
References
- Thomas Birch, Memorials of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 2 (London, 1754), p. 50.
- George Edward Cokayne Complete Baronetage Volume 1 1900; cf. Edward Chaney‘ “Thy pyramids buylt up with newer might”: Shakespeare and the Cultural Memory of Ancient Egypt.’ Aegyptiaca; Journal of the History of Reception of Ancient Egypt, No. 5 (2020), pp. 263-344. https://doi.org/10.11588/aegyp.2020.5.76145
- 'William Hervey (Harvey)', in The Sonnets Part II, Volume 25 of Works of Shakespeare (Classic Books Company, 2001), Appendix VIII, pp. 219–221.
- Gerald Massey, Athenaeum dated 27 April 1867, p. 552, cited by Edward Chaney, 'Shakespeare and Egypt' (paper delivered at University of Chichester conference, 29 October 2010, 'Shakespeare: Puzzles, Mysteries, Investigations'); cf. Chaney, as above,‘ “Thy pyramids buylt up with newer might”: Shakespeare and the Cultural Memory of Ancient Egypt.’
Parliament of England | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by John Hare James Booth |
Member of Parliament for Horsham 1601 With: Michael Hicks |
Succeeded by John Dodderidge Michael Hicks |
Preceded by Sir William Kingswell John Swynnerton |
Member of Parliament for Petersfield 1604–1611 With: Sir William Kingswell |
Succeeded by Sir Walter Tichbourne Walter Savage |
Baronetage of England | ||
New creation | Baronet of St Martin-in-the-Fields 1619–1642 |
Extinct |
Peerage of Ireland | ||
New creation | Baron Hervey 1620–1642 |
Extinct |
Peerage of England | ||
New creation | Baron Hervey 1628–1642 |
Extinct |