Ralph Verney, 1st Earl Verney (18 March 1683 – 4 October 1752), of Middle Claydon, near Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, known as The Viscount Fermanagh until 1742, was initially a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

and later a 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. ...

in two phases between 1717 and 1752.

Early life

Verney was born at

Little Chelsea Little Chelsea was a hamlet, located on either side of Fulham Road, half a mile Southwest of Chelsea, London. The earliest references to the settlement date from the early 17th century, and the name continued to be used until the hamlet was surrou ...

, the only surviving son of

John Verney, 1st Viscount Fermanagh John Verney, 1st Viscount Fermanagh (5 November 1640 – 23 June 1717), known as Sir John Verney, 2nd Baronet, between 1696 and 1703, was an English peer, merchant and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1710 to 1717. Early life ...

and his first wife Elizabeth Palmer, the eldest daughter of Ralph Palmer, and was baptised in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. He was educated at Mrs Morland's school at Hackney from around 1695 to 1700 and matriculated at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

in 1700. He married Catherine Paschall, eldest daughter of Henry Paschall of Baddow, Essex at

St Giles in the Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

on 24 February 1708.

Career

Verney succeeded his father as viscount and took his seat in the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...

on 23 June 1717. The latter title was in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

and thus didn't prevent him from entering the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

. He was returned unopposed as Tory

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

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

at a by-election on 10 July 1717. In 1719, he voted against the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts and the

Peerage Bill {{short description, Proposed British law of 1719 The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland which would have largely halted the ...

. At the 1722 British general election, he was returned again unopposed as MP for Amersham. He did not stand 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 ...

, by which time he was described as ‘being unconcerned for any party’. Verney did not sit in parliament for several years, but began to develop an electoral interest at

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

. At the 1741 British general election he was elected MP for Wendover as a Whig. He voted consistently with the Administration and was created Earl Verney, in the Province of Leinster in 1743. He was returned unopposed for Wendover at the 1747 British general election.

Family

Verney's wife died in 1748 and Verney survived her by four years, dying at Little Chelsea on 4 October 1752. They were both buried in

Middle Claydon Middle Claydon is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about south of Buckingham and about west of Winslow. The toponym "Claydon" is derived from the Old English for "clay hill" ...

.Lodge (1789), p. 287 The couple had two sons and two daughters. The older son John predeceased him in 1737 and he was succeeded in his titles by his second son

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

. John's daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

was raised to the Peerage in her own right in 1792.Beatson (1806), p. 177

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, Ralph Verney, 1st Earl of 1683 births 1752 deaths

British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies