Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/283

 with the king, he divided the lands and revenues of the monastery between himself and the monks, greatly to his own advantage, assigning the worst lands to the latter, the historian complains, and reserving the richer and more productive for himself. Seeking also in every way, it is said, to impoverish the abbey, he obtained a discharge for himself and his successors from the repair or enlargement of the church, and imposed this duty on the monks alone (, Hist. of Ely, p. 136; ‘Richard of Ely,’ Anglia Sacra, i. 616). Warned by a vision of St. Edmund, he had a causeway constructed across the previously impassable fen from the village of Soham to Exning, ‘a work which caused all to wonder and bless God’ (‘Richard of Ely,’ u.s.).

In his endeavours to secure from the king redress of grievances or increase of privileges, Hervey made frequent journeys to Normandy. He attended the council of London on clerical marriages 1 Aug. 1129. He also took part, a few months before his translation, in the consecration of Thomas, the archbishop of York, and after it in that of Theulf to the see of Worcester. Towards the close of his life he proposed to enter his convent as a monk, but was prevented by death. In his last sickness he sent for his relative, [q. v.], afterwards bishop of London, who at his suggestion had originally left France for England, and sought his aid in settling both his temporal and spiritual affairs. He died 30 Aug. 1131, and was buried the next day in his cathedral. Dempster (Hist. Eccl. Scot. viii. 660) ascribes to Hervey a book of Letters to Henry I, but no such work is now extant (, Cat. Brit. Hist. ii. 182). Tanner confuses him with Hervé Nedellec (Hervæus Natalis).



HERVEY, AUGUSTUS JOHN, third (1724–1779), admiral and politician, second son of, lord Hervey of Ickworth [q. v.], and grandson of, first earl of Bristol [q. v.], was born on 19 May 1724. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1736, was stationed chiefly in the Mediterranean, and, as he quickly acquired a practical knowledge of nautical affairs, was advanced to be lieutenant on 31 Oct. In 1744 he met at Winchester races the notorious Miss [q. v.], then on a visit at Lainston in Hampshire, and having obtained a short leave of absence, they were married in Lainston Church at eleven o'clock on the evening of 4 Aug. 1744. A few days later the young lieutenant embarked at Portsmouth to join his vessel, the Cornwall, then the flagship of Vice-admiral Davers, on the Jamaica station. On his return to England in 1746 the married pair lived together as husband and wife in Conduit Street, Hanover Square, London, and their child, Henry Augustus, was born at Chelsea, and baptised in its parish church on 2 Nov. 1747. Walpole says that Hervey had two children by this marriage, but this statement seems to be erroneous, for the pair soon separated, and their only child, put out to nurse, shortly afterwards died. On 16 Sept. 1746 Hervey was promoted to the command of the sloop Porcupine, and was employed as a cruiser, with the result that he captured off Cherbourg a small French privateer, the Bacquer Court. In the following January he was appointed a post-captain in the navy, and promoted to the command of the Princessa, a third-rate of 70 guns, which had been taken from the Spaniards. In her and in the Phœnix of 24 guns he served in the Mediterranean under Admirals Medley and Byng. While in the latter vessel, in April 1756, he was despatched by the Hon. [q. v.], then commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean squadron, from Villa Franca to England with the earliest intimation of the sailing of the French fleet from Toulon to Minorca. He joined Byng off Majorca on 17 May, and patriotically offered to convert his ship, if necessary, into a fireship, but the change was not considered desirable. Hervey took part in Byng's indecisive engagement, and when Captain Andrews was slain in the action was promoted to his place in the Defiance of 64 guns. He was ordered home as a witness at Byng's trial, and on its conclusion, being advanced to the command of the Hampton Court, was sent back to his former station where he distinguished himself (July 1757) by driving the Nymph, a French frigate of 32 guns, on the rocks off Majorca, and, on a refusal to surrender, sinking her. In February 1758, when on the same station, he fell in with the little squadron of the Marquis du Quesne, but was not fortunate enough to get to close quarters with the enemy until Captain Gardiner had attacked and captured the Foudroyant. As the captain was slain in the contest, Hervey removed to his vessel, the Monmouth, and in the following July burnt the Rose, a French frigate of 36 guns,