Ralph Verney, 2nd Earl Verney PC, FRS (1 February 1714 – 31 March 1791), was a member of the Verney family of Middle Claydon and a British politician. From 1737 until 1752, when he succeeded to the earldom, he was styled Lord Fermanagh. He 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. ...

several times between 1753 and 1791.

Life

Verney was born on 1 February 1714, the son of Ralph Verney, the first

Earl Verney Earl Verney, in the Province of Leinster, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Sir Ralph Verney sat as a member of parliament for Aylesbury, for Great Bedwyn and for Buckingham. In 1661 he was created a Baronet, of Middle Claydon in the Coun ...

, of

Claydon House Claydon House is a country house in the Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, England, near the village of Middle Claydon. It was built between 1757 and 1771 and is now owned by the National Trust. The house is a listed Grade I on the National Heri ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

; and Catherine, daughter to Henry Paschall of Baddow Hall in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. In 1740 he married Mary, daughter of Henry Herring, a director of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. They had no children. She died on 22 January 1791, and Verney died on 31 March of the same year; both were buried in the family vault in the church of Middle Claydon. He left debts of over £115,000. His various titles were extinguished at his death. His estates were inherited by Mary Verney, the daughter of his elder brother John, who had died in 1737. At the recommendation of William Pitt, she was created Baroness Fermanagh in 1792.

Politics

Verney succeeded his father in the earldom in 1752. However, as this was an

Irish peerage 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 divis ...

, it did not entitle him to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

(although it did entitle him to a 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 ...

). He was elected to the

for

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 ...

in 1753, a seat he held until 1761. He later represented

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

between 1761 and 1768, and

from 1768 to 1784 and again from 1790 to 1791. On 22 November 1765 he was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1758.

Claydon House

He rebuilt

in Buckinghamshire between 1757 and 1771. The house today represents only the west wing, which was originally connected to an identical east wing by a colonnaded rotunda surmounted by a cupola. Cost overruns on the building meant that Lord Verney had to spend the final years of his life on the continent to escape his creditors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, Ralph Verney, 2nd Earl 1714 births 1791 deaths Verney family Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1790–1796 Fellows of the Royal Society