William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey

The Right Honorable

The Lord Hervey
Bornc.1565
DiedJuly 1642
BuriedWestminster Abbey
Spouse(s)Mary Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton
Cordell Annesley
IssueWilliam Hervey
Elizabeth Hervey
FatherHenry Hervey
MotherJane Thomas

William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey (c.1565 – July 1642),[1] 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 grandson 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.[2] He served afterwards in Ireland.[3]

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.[3]

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.[3]

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.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ "from "The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629"". Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  2. ^ Thomas Birch, Memorials of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 2 (London, 1754), p. 50.
  3. ^ a b c 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
  4. ^ 'William Hervey (Harvey)', in The Sonnets Part II, Volume 25 of Works of Shakespeare (Classic Books Company, 2001), Appendix VIII, pp. 219–221.
  5. ^ 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 Member of Parliament for Horsham
1601
With: Michael Hicks 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Petersfield
1604–1611
With: Sir William Kingswell 		Succeeded by
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