Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/128

Grenville in 1848, the barony became extinct on the death of Nugent, on 26 Nov. 1850, at his residence in Buckinghamshire. In private life Nugent was highly esteemed. He delighted in the society of literary men, and had a considerable fund of anecdote derived both from books and from a knowledge of the world.

[Ann. Reg. 1850; Gent. Mag. 1851, pt. i. p. 91; Nugent's Works.]  GRENVILLE, JOHN, (1628–1701), born on 29 Aug. and baptised on 16 Sept. 1628 at Kilkhampton, Cornwall, was the third but eldest surviving son of Sir Bevil Grenville (1595-1643) [q. v.] of Stowe in that parish, by his wife Grace (d. 1647), daughter of Sir George Smith or Smythe, knt., of Matford in Heavitree, Devonshire (, Visitations of Cornwall, 1887, pp. 192, 195). He held a commission in his father's regiment, was knighted at Bristol, 3 Aug. 1643 (, A Book of Knights, p. 200), and was severely wounded at the second battle of Newbury on 27 Oct. 1644 (, Battles of Newbury, 2nd edit., pp. 160, 176, 253). After the downfall of the monarchy he retired to Jersey, whence he sailed in February 1649 to assume, at the request of Charles, the governorship of the Scilly Islands (Cal. Clarendon State Papers, ii. 1). In April 1650 a plot for his murder and the seizure of the islands was discovered on the very day appointed for its execution (ib. ii. 53). Grenville's stubborn defence of Scilly caused the parliament considerable anxiety. The council of state, on 26 March 1651, sent instructions to Major-general John Desborough [q. v.] to imprison Grenville's relations in Cornwall until Grenville had liberated some merchants then in his hands. Desborough was to treat with Grenville before taking action (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1651, p. 111). Meanwhile, three days previously, articles of agreement for the delivery of the Scilly Islands on the ensuing 2 June had been arranged between Grenville and Admiral Robert Blake and Lieutenant-colonel John Clarke.

Grenville had leave to visit Charles and return to England within twelve months following the surrender. In case the king should not take him into his service he had also power to raise a regiment of fifteen hundred Irish for service abroad (ib. 1651, pp. 214-17). Grenville decided to stay in England and disarm suspicion by submissive conduct. By an order in parliament made 11 July 1651 the council of state granted him leave ‘to pass up and down in England, without doing anything prejudicial to the state’ (ib. 1651, p. 285). He was occasionally able to assist Charles with money (Cal. Clarendon State Papers, ii. 361, 362). He gave the living of Kilkhampton to his kinsman, Dr. Nicholas Monck, and employed him to influence his brother the general in favour of Charles. On 26 July 1659 the council, after receiving his parole for peaceable submission, allowed him to return to Cornwall, and ordered the release of his servants and horses (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1659-60, pp. 38, 43). Having succeeded in his negotiations with Monck, Grenville delivered to both houses of parliament, 1 May 1660, the king's letters from Breda; and four days afterwards was voted by the commons 500l. to buy a jewel in token of his services (ib. 1659-60, pp. 428, 430, 559). In June 1660 he received a grant of the office of steward of the duchy of Cornwall, and the borough of Bradninch, Devonshire; also of steward of all the castles and other offices belonging to the said duchy, and rider and master of Dartmoor (ib. 1660-1, p. 73). By July he had become lord-lieutenant of Cornwall, lord warden of the stannaries, and, a little later, groom of the stole (ib. 1660-1, pp. 150, 435). In August he accepted, on behalf of himself, his wife, and his brother Bernard, the office of housekeeper at St. James's Palace, keeper of the wardrobe and gardens, and bailiff of the fair, at the fee of 8d. a day and 80l. a year (ib. 1660-1, p. 213). With Sir Robert Howard and five others Grenville was commissioned on 26 Oct. to take compound for goods forfeited to the king before 25 May 1660, and discovered by them (ib. 1660-1, pp. 323, 607). On 20 April 1661 he was created Earl of Bath, Viscount Lansdowne, and Baron Grenville of Kilkhampton and Bideford, with permission to use the titles of Earl of Corboile, Thorigny, and Granville as his ancestors had done. At the same time he received the colonelcy of a regiment of foot. In May he was chosen captain and governor of Plymouth and St. Nicholas Island, with the castle and fort (ib. 1660-1, p. 605); in October he had a grant of 2,000l. a year and all other fees due to him as groom of the stole and first gentleman usher of the bedchamber; and in the same month a large grant of felon's goods, deodands, and treasure trove in certain manors in Cornwall and Devonshire (ib. 1661-2, pp. 131, 535). On 17 May 1662 he obtained a grant of the agency for issuing wine licenses, on 28 March 1663 he received a warrant for a grant of a lease for ten years of the duties on pre-emption and coinage of tin in Devonshire and Cornwall, on rental of 1,200l. (ib. 1661-2 pp. 95, 377, 1663-4 p. 90), which was subsequently changed to a perpetuity of 3,000l. a year out of the tin revenue to