Sir Thomas Jervoise (11 June 1587 – 20 October 1654) was an English 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. T ...

variously between 1621 and 1653. He was a staunch supporter of the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

side during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Jervoise was a member of the Jervoise family of Britford, Wiltshire. He received his knighthood from James I at Sarum on 20 August 1607. In 1621 Jervoise was elected

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 o ...

for Whitchurch and held the seat until 1625. He was re-elected in 1628 and sat until 1629, when King Charles decided to rule without parliament. Jervoise was re-elected MP for Whitchurch in April 1640 for the Short Parliament, and again in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He survived

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

and was a member of the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason. "Rump" ...

until 1653. Blair Worden ''The Rump Parliament 1648-53''
/ref> He was a puritan and a strong supporter of the parliamentary cause. In July 1601, aged 14, Jervoise married Lucy Powlet, daughter of Sir Richard Powlet of

Herriard Herriard is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, which lies north. The village is situated mainly on the A339 road between Alton, and Basingstoke. At the 2001 ...

and

Freefolk Freefolk is a village in Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, S ...

, Hampshire, and thereby acquired the Herriard estate and influence in Hampshire, to add to his family's substantial estates in Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Lucy died in 1641, and within two years Jervoise married Frances, daughter of Thomas Jay of Foscott, Buckinghamshire. He had four sons (one predeceased) and two daughters by his first wife, and two sons by his second. His son Richard Jervoise was MP with him at Whitchurch, and his eldest son Thomas Jervoise was later MP for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. Jervoise died at the age of 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jervoise, Thomas 1587 births 1654 deaths English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 17th-century English Puritans