Herman Merivale CB (8 November 1806 – 8 February 1874) was an English civil servant and historian. He was the elder brother of Charles Merivale, and father of the poet Herman Charles Merivale. He was born at

Dawlish Dawlish is an English seaside resort town and civil parish in Teignbridge on the south coast of Devon, from the county town of Exeter and from the larger resort of Torquay. Its 2011 population of 11,312 was estimated at 13,355 in 2019. It is t ...

, Devon to John Herman Merivale (1770–1844) and Louisa Heath Drury. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

. In 1823 he entered

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

. In 1825 he became a scholar of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

and also won the Ireland scholarship, and three years later he was elected fellow of

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He became a member of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

and practised on the western circuit, being made in 1841 recorder of Falmouth,

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

and

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

. From 1837 to 1842 he was professor of political economy at Oxford in this capacity he delivered a course of lectures on the

British Colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

in which he dealt with questions of emigration, employment of labour and the allotment of public lands. The reputation he secured by these lectures had much to do with his appointment in 1847 as Assistant Under-Secretary for the colonies, and in the next year he became Permanent Under-Secretary. In 1859 he was transferred to the permanent under-secretaryship for India, receiving the distinction of CB. In 1870, Merivale was awarded the degree of DCL by

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He died in 1874 and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

, London. Besides his ''Lectures on Colonization and Colonies'' (1841), he published ''Historical Studies'' (1865), and completed the ''Memoirs of

Sir Philip Francis Sir Philip Francis GCB (22 October 1740 – 23 December 1818) was an Irish-born British politician and pamphleteer, thought to be the author of the ''Letters'' of Junius, and the chief antagonist of Warren Hastings. His accusations against t ...

'' (1867); he wrote the second volume of the ''Life of

Sir Henry Lawrence Brigadier-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence KCB (28 June 18064 July 1857) was a British military officer, surveyor, administrator and statesman in British India. He is best known for leading a group of administrators in the Punjab affectiona ...

'' (1872) in continuation of Sir Herbert Edwardes's work. A tribute to his powers as an original thinker by his chief at the Colonial Office, Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, is printed with a notice of his career which his brother contributed to the ''Transactions'' (1884) of

the Devonshire Association The Devonshire Association (DA) is a learned society founded in 1862 by William Pengelly and modelled on the British Association, but concentrating on research subjects linked to Devon in the fields of science, literature and the arts. History ...

Family

On 29 October 1834 he married Caroline Penelope Robinson, daughter of William Villiers Robinson and Anne Brooksbank. ''Children'' * Herman Charles Merivale (27 January 1839 – 17 August 1906) married Elizabeth Pitman * Isabel Frances Sophia Merivale married William Peere Williams-Freeman * Agnes Merivale (1847-1872) married John Townsend Trench on 10 August 1870. ----

References

* Merivale, Anna Wilhelmina, and Charles Merivale. ''Family Memorials.'' (p. 390) Exeter: T. Upward, printer, 1884
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Retrieved February 6, 2009 * ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Merivale, Herman People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford 1806 births 1874 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Burials at Brompton Cemetery People from Dawlish Civil servants in the Colonial Office Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for India Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Colonies Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple Drummond Professors of Political Economy 19th-century English historians English civil servants English male non-fiction writers 19th-century English male writers Presidents of the Oxford Union