Francis Negus (1670 – 9 September 1732) of

Dallinghoo Dallinghoo is a village about north of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Location Dallinghoo is formed from Church Road to the west, Pound Hill to the south and branches northeast after the centre of the village. Dallinghoo Village Hall is on ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, was an English Army officer, courtier, and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1717 to 1732. He is the reputed inventor of the drink

negus Negus (Negeuce, Negoose) ( gez, ንጉሥ, ' ; cf. ti, ነጋሲ ' ) is a title in the Ethiopian Semitic languages. It denotes a monarch,

Early life

Negus is a

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

family name. Negus was baptized on 3 May 1670, the son of Francis Negus of

St Paul's, Covent Garden St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit ...

and his wife Elianore Boone. His father was secretary to

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, (11 January 1655 – 2 April 1701) was an English nobleman, politician, and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of ...

, and in that capacity made the acquaintance of

Elias Ashmole Elias Ashmole (; 23 May 1617 – 18 May 1692) was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he ...

. Negus joined the army and was ensign in the 3rd Foot in 1687, captain in 1691, and major in 1694. He renewed his commission in 1702 and served in the French wars under

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

, attaining the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in the

25th Regiment of Foot Fifth is the Ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 5, five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth ...

in 1703. He married, by licence dated 14 February 1704, Elizabeth Churchill, daughter of William Churchill. In 1712 he succeeded his father to the Dallinghoo estate. He was sometime ranger of Bagshot Rails and Sandhurst Walks, Windsor forest. In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

and others.Thomas McGeary. ''The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain''. Cambridge University Press, 2013. p. 254

Political career

In 1715, Negus was appointed joint commissioner for executing the office of

master of the horse Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (Ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse ( la, Magister Equitu ...

, becoming on 27 June 1717 sole commissioner, an office he held until 1727. He was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

at a by-election on 13 November 1717 in succession to his father in law. He voted regularly with the Government and was returned unopposed at the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

and in a contest at the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

. He was appointed avener and

clerk marshal The Clerk Marshal (also spelled Clerk Martial) was an official of the British Royal Household in the department of the Master of the Horse. From the Restoration the office was held with that of Avenor until the latter post was abolished in 1793. Th ...

to George II on 20 June 1727, and master of his majesty's buckhounds on 19 July in the same year. Negus was also

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

of Swinley Chase, lieutenant and deputy warden of

Windsor Forest Windsor may refer to: Places Australia *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland ** Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, and one of the commissioners of the lieutenancy of Middlesex and

liberty of Westminster The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the county of Middlesex, England. It was located immediately to the west of the City of London. Originally under the control of Westminster Abbey, the local authority for the ...

. In 1728 he became an assistant of the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trade, trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal House of Stuart, Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the West Africa, west coast of Africa. It was led by the J ...

for the rest of his life. He was also a governor of

Chelsea Waterworks The Chelsea Waterworks Company was a London waterworks company founded in 1723 which supplied water to many central London locations throughout the 18th and 19th centuries until its functions were taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in ...

Death and legacy

Negus died at Dallinghoo, on 9 September 1732 leaving a son and daughter. The Ipswich Gazette published a poem in his memory which began 'Is Negus gone? ah! Ipswich weep and mourn'.

The invention of negus

Edmond Malone Edmond Malone (4 October 174125 May 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare. Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first p ...

in his ''Life of Dryden'' (1800) states that "the mixture now called ''Negus'' ... was invented in Queen Anne's time by Colonel Negus," but does not go into further detail. Additional evidence is cited by

Thomas Seccombe Thomas Seccombe (1866–1923) was a miscellaneous English writer and, from 1891 to 1901, assistant editor of the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', in which he wrote over 700 entries. A son of physician and episcopus vagans John Thomas Se ...

in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

''.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Negus, Francis 1670 births 1732 deaths British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 Military personnel from Suffolk Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Ipswich King's Own Scottish Borderers officers Masters of the Buckhounds Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers