Grey Neville (23 September 1681 – 24 April 1723) 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 ...

, Berkshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the

English House of Commons The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

from 1705 to 1708 and in 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 ...

between 1708 and 1723.

Early life

Neville was the elder son of Richard Neville of

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, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and his wife Katherine Grey, the daughter of

Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke (27 October 1630 – 15 June 1675) was an English peer. Early life Grey was baptised on 27 October 1630. He was the eldest son of William Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Werke and the former Cecilia Wentworth. The fa ...

. He was born in the parish of

St Giles's-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 ...

, London, on 23 September 1681. His brother was Henry Neville, later Henry Grey. He was educated privately in 1691 and was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1699. From 1699 to 1700, he travelled abroad in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France recording his observations in a diary and discussing theology in depth. When he returned he subscribed to the

SPCK The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

and the SPG, and for a while attended their meetings regularly. This enthusiasm earned him the nickname ‘Bishop Neville’. After a few years, he left the Established Church and joined Thomas Bradbury’s Independent congregation in Fetter Lane. He married Elizabeth Boteler, daughter of Sir John Boteler of Watton Woodhall, Hertfordshire on 14 February 1706.

Political career

Neville 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 of ...

for Abingdon at the 1705 general election on 10 May. His Tory opponent, Sir Simon Harcourt, raised a petition against his return and was unsuccessful. At the

1708 general election Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

, Neville was returned unopposed as MP for Wallingford, but was defeated in contests in 1710 and 1713. He was also defeated at

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

in 1713. At the 1715 general election he was returned unopposed as MP for

with fellow dissenter John Barrington. He was appointed as one of the Commissioners for Stating the Debts due to the Army in 1715 and held the post until 1721. In 1717, he inherited Billingbear in the death of his father. He was returned for Berwick in a contest in the 1722 general election. In Parliament, Neville was a Whigs loyalist. He supported the Act for naturalising foreign Protestants in 1708, voted for the impeachment of

Henry Sacheverell Henry Sacheverell (; 8 February 1674 – 5 June 1724) was an English high church Anglican clergyman who achieved nationwide fame in 1709 after preaching an incendiary 5 November sermon. He was subsequently impeached by the House of Commons and ...

, and generally acted with the Whigs. When the first split developed in the Whig party, he joined the Walpole faction, and voted with the majority which threw out 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 ...

of 1719. Neville's most prominent action as a member of the House of Commons was his defence in 1721 of

James Craggs the elder James Craggs the Elder (1657 – 16 March 1721), of Jermyn Street, Westminster and Charlton, Lewisham, Kent, was an English financier and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1702 to 1713. Life Craggs was ba ...

and

John Aislabie John Aislabie or Aslabie (; 4 December 167018 June 1742), of Studley Royal, near Ripon, Yorkshire, was a British politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1695 to 1721. He was of an independent mind, and did not stick r ...

, former chancellor of the exchequer, who had been implicated in the affairs of the

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

. Neville died on 24 April 1723.Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 He had one daughter who died without issue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Grey 1681 births 1723 deaths People from Waltham St Lawrence People from Holborn Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies English MPs 1705–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727

Grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...