Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue

John Hervey, Baron Hervey of Ickworth (1696-1743), Pamphlet and memoir writer

Courtier, author; younger son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, styled Lord Hervey after the death of his elder brother, 1723; married Mary Lepell, maid of honour to the Princess of Wales, celebrated beauty, 1723; MP, 1725-33; vice-chamberlain of the household, 1730-40; succeeded his father in the Barony of Ickworth, 1733; lord privy seal, 1740-42; supporter of Walpole, friend of Queen Caroline, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and, until a bitter quarrel in 1733, also of Frederick, Prince of Wales; his Memoirs, like Walpole's Letters written for posterity, are indispensable source material for the history of George II and his court.

Referencesback to top

Beckett 1949
R. B. Beckett, Hogarth, 1949.

Melbury Catalogue, 1883.

The Diary of John Lord Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, Suffolk Record Society, 1894.

Paulson 1971
R. Paulson, Hogarth, his Life, Art and Times, 1971.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.