Constituency Dates
Buckinghamshire 1710 – 1713
Amersham 1713 – 1715
Buckinghamshire 1713 – 1715
Amersham 1715 – 23 June 1717
Family and Education
b. 5 Nov. 1640, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Bt., M.P., of Middle Claydon by Mary, da. and h. of John Blacknall of Wasing and Abingdon, Berks. educ. at Blois in France 1648-53 and schools at Barn Elms and Kensington 1653-8.1Verney Mems. during 17th Cent. ii. 87-107. m. (1) 27 May 1680, Elizabeth (d. 20 May 1686), da. of Ralph Palmer of Little Chelsea, Mdx., 1s. 3da.; (2) 10 July 1692, Mary (d. 24 Aug. 1694), da. of Sir Francis Lawley, 2nd Bt., M.P., of Spoonhill, Salop, 1s.; (3) 8 Apr. 1697, Elizabeth, da. of Daniel Baker of Penn House, Bucks., alderman of London, s.p. suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 24 Sept. 1696; cr. Visct. Fermanagh and Baron Verney of Belturbet [I] 16 June 1703.
Address
Main residence: Middle Claydon, nr. Buckingham, Bucks.
biography text

Lord Fermanagh was the grandson of Sir Edmund Verney, knight marshal and standard bearer to Charles I, who was M.P. for Buckingham, Aylesbury and Chipping Wycombe and was killed at Edgehill in 1642.2Ibid. passim; Verney Letters of 18th Cent. i. passim. His father represented Aylesbury in the Short and Long Parliaments until 1643 and Buckingham in three Parliaments, 1681-90. A younger son, apprenticed in 1659 to Gabriel Roberts, a Levant merchant, for twelve years he was a factor at Aleppo.3Verney Mems. ii. 97, 261-273. Returning to England in 1674, he set up as a merchant on his own account until he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1696. In his seventieth year he entered Parliament for his county as a Tory, but refused for reasons of age and health to stand for it again in 1715.

My happiness [he wrote] is that I have no place to be removed out of and I am too much for the Church of England to be put into any, so I shall live quietly under my own vine and remain an honest Sacheverellian.

Signing the compromise for the county arranged by the local Whig and Tory leaders,4Verney Letters, i. 315-16, 317. he was persuaded to stand on the Drake interest at Amersham, where he was unopposed, voting against the septennial bill in 1716. He died 23 June 1717.

Author
R.S.L.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
Notes
  • 1. Verney Mems. during 17th Cent. ii. 87-107.
  • 2. Ibid. passim; Verney Letters of 18th Cent. i. passim.
  • 3. Verney Mems. ii. 97, 261-273.
  • 4. Verney Letters, i. 315-16, 317.