Hervey, John Augustus Hervey, Lord
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- Hervey, John Augustus Hervey, Lord
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(1757 - 96), 1st surv. s. of 4th E. Bristol; naval officer, midshipman 1770, capt.1780; sty. Ld. Hervey 1779; m. 1779 in Quebec, Elizabeth Drummond, dau. of Colin Drummond of Megginch, Perth; env. Florence 1783 - 93; d. Leghorn.
1770 - 2 see Frederick, 4th Earl of Bristol
1785 - 96 Turin (23 Mar. 1785), Milan (29 Mar.), Florence (6 Apr.), Naples (4 May - 21 Jun.), Ischia (21 Jun. - 12 Jul.), Vietri (Jul. - Aug.), Naples (1785 - 7), Salerno (Sep. - 2 Oct. 1787), Florence (13 Feb. 1788 - Feb. 1794), Verona (23 - 26 Jun.), Venice, Florence, Bergamo (3 - 24 Sep. 1794), Florence (Mar. 1795), Leghorn (d. Jan. 1796)
As a thirteen-year-old midshipman he accompanied his father on his second tour in 1770. At Aprica, near Bergamo, on 1 October 1771 the young Hervey got into a dispute with some shepherds whose dog was shot.1 The incident foreshadowed much of his subsequent career, for he grew up to be somewhat intemperate.
He returned to Italy in 1785 with his wife and daughter (Elizabeth, d. 1803; m. 1798 Charles Rose Ellis), and stayed for some ten years. He met his sister, Lady Elizabeth Foster, in Paris and they all travelled together to Italy: in March 1785 they were in Lyons en route for Turin,2 and Lord Hervey and his sister arrived in Naples in May.3 Hervey attended his sister while she gave birth in secret to her illegitimate daughter by the Duke of Devonshire (see Lady Elizabeth Foster). On 3 December 1785 in Naples 'Lady H.' (somewhat ironically) confided to her sister-in-law how unhappy she was in her marriage, and she had to agree that her brother 'certainly neglects her very much'.4
Lord Hervey was living at Naples in July 1786,5 much involved with the Princess Roccafionta,6 and he was listed at Naples with Lady Hervey and Lady Erne, his elder sister, on 18 January 1787.7 He was becoming increasingly preoccupied with financial problems, frequently and unsuccessfully seeking help from his father. The situation was relieved in August 1787 when, perhaps through his father's influence, he was appointed British envoy to the Tuscan Court in Florence, in succession to Sir Horace Mann, and he arrived to take up his post on 13 February 1788.8
While Hervey had always lacked Mann's tact, there was nevertheless a gracious side to his character as witnessed by several travellers. In September 1787 Captain Sutherland received the 'greatest civilities' from him in Naples, and described Lady Hervey's 'gentleness and good sense';9 in Florence Elizabeth Gibbes considered that Lord Hervey did 'the honours of his court with great eclat',10 and Lady Malmesbury found him 'a pleasant man, odd, but civil and gentlemanlike'.(11) But he was more generally disliked.(12) By 1791 he was living openly with Lady Anne Hatton, but graver diplomatic inadequacies were displayed in 1792, when Austria declared war on France.(13) Hervey then did all he could to incite Tuscany (traditionally neutral) to declare against the French (whom he hated). In 1793 he called the Grand Duke and his Minister a fool and a knave,14 and a further incident involving truculent behaviour led to his recall in September 1793 (though the Grand Duke was not officially informed of his dismissal until February 1794). 'It will not be possible to allow him to remain', wrote Lady Webster who, having heard him talk 'of going again into the navy', then found herself listening to a passionate declaration from him in February 1794.15
Hervey was granted a pension by the British government, but stayed in Italy, travelling from city to city. He was in Verona in late June on his way to Venice; in Bergamo on 3 September 1794,16 and in February 1795 in Florence where he became involved in a duel and was expelled in March. A miniature of him by Alexander Day is dated Rome 1795 (Ickworth). He rejoined the navy and died at Leghorn in January the following year, 'I believe', wrote Charles Grignion, 'aboard a ship'.17
Lady Hervey's movements, and those of their daughter, are not altogether clear. In the summer of 1786 she went with her sister-in-law, Lady Erne, from Leghorn to Genoa.18 She was in Rome by 6 December 178719 and in 1788 she was painted with her daughter at Rome by Angelica Kauffman (Ickworth). She was with her husband in Florence in November 1788,20 and was presumably the 'Miledi Arvy' who arrived in Venice on 20 May 1789.21 She was in Lausanne on 31 August 1792,22 en route for Italy with 'Mr Hervey' (presumably Frederick William) and Charles Greville (1762 - 1832), and she attended with her husband the wedding of Lord Bruce in Florence on 21 May 1793.23 In February 1794, when Hervey had been recalled, Brand wrote that Lady Hervey 'I think would conduct the business better than him for she is very clever'.24 'Miledi Arvi Inglese' with her daughter arrived in Verona from London on 26 October 1795 and left the following day for Venice; they left Venice on 6 December.25 See also Mary, Countess Erne.
1. Childe-Pemberton, 1:116 - 17. 2. Berry Jnls., 1:146. 3. Blackett letters MSS (22 Apr. 1785). 4. Bessborough, Georgiana (sel. corr. of Ds. of Devonshire), [1955], 101. 5. Morrison, 1:118 (no.152). 6. Childe-Pemberton, 2:397. 7. World Fashionable Advertiser, 5 Feb. 1787. 8. Horn, 1:82. 9. Capt. Sutherland, A Tour up the Straits, 93. 10. Gibbes jnl.MSS (23 May 1790). 11. Elliot Letters, 1:412 (23/30 Apr. 1792). 12. J. Forsyth, Remarks ... on Italy, [1835], 420 - 1. 13. See B. Moloney, English Misc., 19[1968]: 273 - 81. 14. Childe-Pemberton, 2:453. 15. Ibid., 453, 456 - 7. Holland Jnl., 1:115 - 16. Starke, Travels, 1:51 - 4. 16. ASV is 770, 771. 17. Add.36498, f.58 (Grignion, 20 Jan. 1796). 18. Wal. Corr., 25:652. 19. Lloyd
jnl.MSS. 20. Danby jnl.MSS. 21. ASV is 760. 22. Blagden Jnl., 76. 23. HMC Ailesbury, 250, 254. 24. Brand letters MSS c. 25. ASV is 783, 776.