Early life

Frederick William Hervey was born on 2 October 1769, the son of Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet. He was the younger son but, as his elder brother John Hervey died during their father's lifetime, he succeeded to the title on the father's death in 1803. He also had three sisters, Lady Mary Erne, Countess Erne, Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and Louisa Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool.^[1]

Adult life

Hervey was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge, in 1786,.^[2] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1805.^[3]

Hervey served as an Ensign in the 1st Foot Guards from 1788 to 1793, and in 1798 was captain in a volunteer infantry regiment at Bury St Edmunds and Major-commandant of the Ickworth yeomanry which were both raised during the French Revolutionary War. Hervey was a member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds 1796–1803.^[4]

In 1806 he inherited the estates of his uncle, Sir Charles Davers, 6th Baronet.

In 1826, he was created Marquess of Bristol and Earl Jermyn. He was succeeded by his son Frederick William (1800–1864), M.P. for Bury St Edmunds 1830–1859, as 2nd Marquess.^[5]

Personal life

Hervey married Elizabeth Albana (1775–1844),^[6] daughter of Clotworthy Upton, 1st Baron Templetown and Elizabeth Upton, Baroness Templetown, by whom he had two daughters and six sons:

• Lady Augusta Hervey (29 December 1798 – 17 March 1880)^[7] married Frederick Charles William Seymour, son of Adm. Lord Hugh Seymour, and had six children.
• Frederick Hervey, 2nd Marquess of Bristol (15 July 1800 – 30 October 1864), the great-great-great-grandfather of the present Marquess
• Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Charlotte Hervey (8 September 1801 – 16 January 1869) married Rev. Hon. John Grey, son of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and had three children.
• Major Lord George Hervey (25 January 1803 – 3 February 1838)
• Lord William Hervey (27 September 1805 – 6 May 1850), the great-great-grandfather of the current second in line to the marquessate
• Rt. Rev. Lord Arthur Charles Hervey (20 August 1808 – 9 June 1894), Bishop of Bath and Wells
• Lady Sophia Elizabeth Caroline Hervey (26 April 1811 – 1 October 1863)
• Rev. Lord Charles Amelius Hervey (1 November 1814 – 11 April 1880), cricketer and clergyman
• Lord Alfred Hervey MP (25 June 1816 – 15 April 1875)

Death

He died on 15 February 1859 from gout. He had given the land for the Woodvale Cemetery at Brighton, where he was originally buried in the cruciform Gothic Revival tomb which still bears his name, but his body was later taken to St Mary's Church, Ickworth—the church closest to Ickworth House, where the Marquesses are traditionally buried. Cremated remains are now stored in the gable-topped mausoleum. It stands near the eponymous Bristol Ground, originally a pauper burial area within the Extra Mural Cemetery but now part of the Woodvale grounds: it has become a memorial garden attached to Woodvale crematorium. ^[8]