Richard Neville Aldworth Neville (3 September 1717 – 17 July 1793) was an English politician and diplomat.

Life

The only son of Richard Aldworth of Stanlake, by Catherine, daughter of

Richard Neville Richard Neville may refer to: *Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428–1471), "Warwick the Kingmaker", English noble, fought in the Wars of the Roses *Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–1460), Yorkist leader during the Wars of the ...

Billingbear House Billingbear House was situated in the parish of Waltham St. Lawrence in Berkshire, England, about six miles from Windsor. Originally owned by the Bishop of Winchester, the land was given to Sir Henry Neville (father of politician and diplomat, ...

, he was born on 3 September 1717; through his mother he was descended from Sir Henry Neville. He was educated at Eton College, where he was on good terms with

Lord Sandwich Earl of Sandwich is a noble title in the Peerage of England, held since its creation by the House of Montagu. It is nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu ...

, Lord Rochford, Lord Orford, Owen Cambridge, and

Jacob Bryant Jacob Bryant (1715–1804) was an English scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." Life Bryant was born at Plymouth ...

. On 12 July 1736 he 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 ...

. Instead of finishing his course at Oxford Aldworth travelled abroad. In 1739 he visited Geneva, and he spent every winter there till 1744, with other English visitors: John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, William Windham Sr., and Benjamin Stillingfleet. He later contributed to William Coxe's ''Literary life and Select works of Benjamin Stillingfleet'' (1811). At the general election of 1747 Neville became Member of Parliament for . He represented from 1754 to 1761, and from 1761 to 1768, and again till 1774. He joined the Whigs, and had the support of the Duke of Bedford. He was appointed under-secretary of state for the southern department on 13 February 1748, under Bedford, and held office till his chief's resignation, 12 July 1751. He was also joint secretary to the council of regency in 1748 and 1750. Aldworth assumed the name and arms of Neville in August 1762, when, on the death of the Countess of Portsmouth, widow of his maternal uncle Henry Neville Grey, he succeeded to the estate of

Billingbear Billingbear is a hamlet in the civil parish of Binfield and a former country estate in the civil parish of Waltham St Lawrence, near Bracknell, in the English county of Berkshire. Geography The settlement lies between the M4 motorway and the ...

. On 4 September 1762 he became secretary to the embassy at Paris. Bedford was acting as British plenipotentiary at the conference then summoned to consider the terms of peace between England and France in the Seven Years' War. Walpole credited Neville with causing a delay in the signature of the preliminaries, till the capture of Havana had become known. By way of reward, Neville was made paymaster of the band of pensioners. On 15 February he arrived in England with the definitive treaty, which had been signed on the 10th at Paris. Neville soon returned to Paris to act as plenipotentiary until the arrival of the Earl of Hertford, Bedford's successor, in May 1763. While he was at Compiègne in August, John Wilkes visited him; Louis XVI gave him his picture set with diamonds. After his return England he took no significant part in public affairs. He suffered from gout, and died at

, after a lingering illness, on 17 July 1793. He is buried nearby at

Ruscombe Ruscombe is a village and civil parish, east of Twyford in the Borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England. History Reports from the late 1800s provided summaries of the status of the village; in 1876, the population was 200 and that increased ...

with a monument sculpted by

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.150

Family

By his wife Magdalen, daughter of Francis Calandrini, first syndic of Geneva, whom he married in 1748, and who died in 1750, Neville had two children: a daughter Frances, who became the wife of Francis Jalabert, and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

Notes

External links

historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Aldworth, Richard Neville (1717-93), of Stanlake and Billingbear, Berks''.
Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Richard Neville Aldworth 1717 births 1793 deaths Alumni of Merton College, Oxford People educated at Eton College British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Tavistock