Difference between revisions of "John Hervey, second Baron Hervey"

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Baron John Hervey of Ickworth, as a vice-chamberlain exercised a great influence over Queen Caroline. He was a close friend of Lady M. W. Montagu. He was satirized by Pope in various works from 1732 onwards, at first with mildness, as "Lord Fanny", and an idle versifier, and then with increasing bitterness.
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[[File:John Hervey, Baron Hervey of Ickworth by Jean Baptiste van Loo detail.jpg|thumb|John, Lord Hervey]]'''John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey''' (1696–1743) was a courtier and politicial writer. He was the son of the first Earl of Bristol, and took the courtesy title of Baron Hervey of Ickworth on his brother's death in 1723, but died before his father and so never became Earl of Bristol.
  
Historians have understimated him as a politician, as literary men have little appreciated him as a writer. His Memoirs of the Reign of Georges II (1848) are probably the most brilliant ever written by an Englisman, and give a vivid satirical picture of the court.
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Hervey was born in Jermyn Street, [[St James's]] and educated at [[Westminster School]] and at [[Clare College, Cambridge]], where he took his MA degree in 1715.<ref>http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?sur=&suro=c&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&tex=%22HRVY713J%22&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50</ref>
  
He was irresistible to his friends; he must have had charm for both sexes, and was successful with both, as he vas actively bisexual. At 23 he made a love-match with beautiful Molly Lepel, gave her eight cildren, and remained in good terms with her throughout his passionate relatioship with younh Stephen Fox. They were much alike in physical type, slight, delicately made, pale complexion; the difference was made by Hervey's eyes which expresse fire within.
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He was a frequent visitor at the court of the Prince and Princess of Wales at [[Richmond]]. He may have had an affair with Caroline, and possibly also with her son Frederick, subsequently also Prince of Wales. In 1720 he married Mary Lepell, one of the princess's ladies-in-waiting, who was a great court beauty. They had eight children, and remained on good terms, despite John's infidelities.
  
When he was 31 he went off to Italy for eighteen months with Stephen Fox, then 23 year-old, to the latter suggestion. Both were Members of Parliament, but Hervey was a Whig and Fox a Tory - it's nice to think that love can at times transcend political faith.
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In 1725 he was elected MP for [[Bury St Edmunds]], but in 1733 he moved to the House of Lords under a writ of acceleration (a procedure whereby the sons of peers could be admitted under their courtesy titles).
  
Hervey came up with a remarkable proposal for the time - that he and Fox should set up a common home in London together:
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In 1727 the Prince and Princess of Wales came to the throne as King George II and Queen Caroline. Hervey remained in touch with them.
  
    "I have made it impossible for me to live without You".
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==Sexuality==
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Hervey was bisexual.<ref>Lucy Moore, ''Amphibious Thing: the Life of Lord Hervey'' (Viking, 2000)</ref> He was married to Mary Lepell, but he had an affair with Anne Vane, and possibly also with [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]] and Princess Caroline. He lived with [[Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester|Stephen Fox]] often during the decade after he followed him to Italy in 1728. He wrote passionate love letters to the Venetian philosopher Francesco Algarotti, whom he first met in 1736 when Algarotti was 24. He may have had a sexual affair with Prince Frederick before their friendship dissolved. He was in fact denounced as a sexually ambiguous figure in his time most notably by William Pulteney, then leader of the Opposition and as cited above, by Alexander Pope in his "Sporus" portrait: "Let Sporus tremble/ What that thing of silk...His wit all seesaw between that and this/Now high, now low, now master up, now miss/  And he himself one vile antithesis...".  He was also attracted to Henry Fox before his affair with Stephen Fox.<ref>James Dubro - "The Third Sex: Lord Hervey and his Coterie", Eighteenth Century Life", Summer 1976 and see also "John Lord Hervey,"  ''Body Politic'', Toronto. summer 1975.</ref><ref>Reed Browning, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004</ref>
  
Hervey had quarters in St Jame's Palace; the home he set up for Stephen had to be not far off, in Great Burlington Street. Such a public move exposed him to public insult. Hervey and Fox remained lovers for twelve years, until Fox married in 1736. They remained in good terms, but the romance was over.
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He is buried at [[Ickworth]], where the Hervey family have a vault in the parish church.
  
He then had a relation with Algarotti, a brilliant youth of 24, who possesed all the graces of mind and body. It was not the passion he had experienced with Stephen, but on the other hand there was not only the appeal of youth and beauty, but of the intellectual interests Hervey and Algarotti shared.
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==See also==
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*[[John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol]]
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==References==
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<references>
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[[Category:Peers]]
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[[Category:1696 births]]
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[[Category:1743 deaths]]

Latest revision as of 14:05, 26 December 2016

John, Lord Hervey
John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey (1696–1743) was a courtier and politicial writer. He was the son of the first Earl of Bristol, and took the courtesy title of Baron Hervey of Ickworth on his brother's death in 1723, but died before his father and so never became Earl of Bristol.

Hervey was born in Jermyn Street, St James's and educated at Westminster School and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took his MA degree in 1715.[1]

He was a frequent visitor at the court of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Richmond. He may have had an affair with Caroline, and possibly also with her son Frederick, subsequently also Prince of Wales. In 1720 he married Mary Lepell, one of the princess's ladies-in-waiting, who was a great court beauty. They had eight children, and remained on good terms, despite John's infidelities.

In 1725 he was elected MP for Bury St Edmunds, but in 1733 he moved to the House of Lords under a writ of acceleration (a procedure whereby the sons of peers could be admitted under their courtesy titles).

In 1727 the Prince and Princess of Wales came to the throne as King George II and Queen Caroline. Hervey remained in touch with them.

Sexuality

Hervey was bisexual.[2] He was married to Mary Lepell, but he had an affair with Anne Vane, and possibly also with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Princess Caroline. He lived with Stephen Fox often during the decade after he followed him to Italy in 1728. He wrote passionate love letters to the Venetian philosopher Francesco Algarotti, whom he first met in 1736 when Algarotti was 24. He may have had a sexual affair with Prince Frederick before their friendship dissolved. He was in fact denounced as a sexually ambiguous figure in his time most notably by William Pulteney, then leader of the Opposition and as cited above, by Alexander Pope in his "Sporus" portrait: "Let Sporus tremble/ What that thing of silk...His wit all seesaw between that and this/Now high, now low, now master up, now miss/ And he himself one vile antithesis...". He was also attracted to Henry Fox before his affair with Stephen Fox.[3][4]

He is buried at Ickworth, where the Hervey family have a vault in the parish church.

See also

References

  1. http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?sur=&suro=c&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&tex=%22HRVY713J%22&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50
  2. Lucy Moore, Amphibious Thing: the Life of Lord Hervey (Viking, 2000)
  3. James Dubro - "The Third Sex: Lord Hervey and his Coterie", Eighteenth Century Life", Summer 1976 and see also "John Lord Hervey," Body Politic, Toronto. summer 1975.
  4. Reed Browning, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004