Margaret Maria Verney

“ VERNEY, Sir EDMUND (1590–1642) , knight-marshal and standard-bearer to Charles I, born in 1590, was the second son of Sir Edmund Verney, knt., of Penley, Hertfordshire, and Claydon, Buckinghamshire (d. 1599) , by his third wife, Mary Blakeney, widow, first, of Geoffrey Turville; secondly, of William St. Barbe. His father was a prominent country gentleman of Elizabeth's time, strongly protestant and patriotic, high sheriff for Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and one of the five captains commanding the Hertfordshire musters levied to oppose the Great Armada. ”

“ Processions carrying his banners converged on Aylesbury from all the neighbouring districts, two hundred gentlemen breakfasted at Claydon House, three hundred of the meaner sort were fed with the remnants of the meal ”

“ Crowther, rector of Newton Blossomville, formerly his eldest brother's Oxford tutor, who found him ‘devoid of the first grounds of logicke or other University learning,’ but ‘willing and capable.’ He entered the army as a volunteer in 1639, joined his father in the king's army on the Scottish border, and from that time proved himself a first-rate soldier, enduring hardships cheerfully, and winning the confidence of his men. ”

“ On 10 Dec. 1832 Sir Harry was returned for Buckingham to the House of Commons, in which he sat (with two short interruptions) for fifty-two years. A liberal in politics, he supported with ardour the abolition of the slave trade and the repeal of the corn laws; he voted for factory legislation, the amendment of the criminal law, the abolition of university tests, of Jewish disabilities, and of the paper duties; in later years he supported the disestablishment of the Irish church, the education act, the abolition of army purchase, and the successive measures for the extension of the franchise. ”

“ He suspects nothing, he fears nothing, he takes no precautions, he imagines all mankind to be his friend.’ Burke had reason to know this. In 1769 Edmund and Richard Burke owed Lord Verney 25,000l. between them. In 1784, in a schedule of sums due to him are the entries, ‘Rt. Hon. Ed. Burke 11,000l., Wm. Burke, esq., 20,000l., do., no security except honour 40,000l.’ Lord Verney's West India property fell heavily in value, his transactions in East India stocks proved disastrous, blow after blow fell upon him. In 1783 he sued Edmund Burke in chancery for a sum of 6,000l. ”

“ Verney of Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, he assumed the surname of Verney in place of that of Calvert by royal license, dated 23 March 1827. He found himself owner of an estate heavily burdened and long neglected, at a period of agricultural distress and widespread discontent. Giving up his hopes of distinction as a soldier, he prepared to learn the new duties he had assumed with the name of Verney. ”

“ He knew George Stephenson, made himself personally acquainted with the working of the new system of railroads, and, with more foresight than his neighbours, he welcomed railways on his estate when other landowners were ordering their gamekeepers to warn off the surveyors or to put an end to their operations by force. ”

“ Famous counsel were employed on each side; Sir Francis lost his case, sold his estates (1607–8) , escaped from his wife's sharp tongue, and went abroad, leaving no address. He reached Jerusalem in his wanderings, and is mentioned as attending service at the English embassy in Paris on his return. He was a great traveller, ‘fought several duellos,’ and squandered his large fortune. At this time Captain Philip Giffard, a connection of the Verneys, commanded two hundred Englishmen, mostly gentlemen volunteers, in the service of Muley Sidan, who claimed to be emperor of Morocco. ”

“ In 1642 he served with Ormonde in Ireland, in the savage warfare against unarmed and untrained peasants. ‘Nobler spirit never was,’ writes Gardiner, ‘than that of Edmund Verney, a younger son of Charles's knight-marshal, yet even his temper was lowered by the element in which he worked.’ ‘The enemy runs from us wheresoever we meet them,’ he writes, ‘but if we chance to overtake them, we give no quarter, but put all to the sword.’ He sent the same report after the taking of Trim ”

“ Not being fettered, as his father was, by the close personal ties that bound him to the king, Sir Ralph took the parliament side in the great struggle. ‘Peace and our liberties are the only things we aim at,’ he wrote ”

“ Francis was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, matriculating on 19 Sept. 1600. He had all the advantages that a fine face and figure, great personal courage, and a magnificent taste in dress could bestow. ”

“ He had abhorrence of military rule, but he refused to act against the Protector. After Richard Cromwell's fall he would not invite Monck to Claydon nor wait upon him during his progress to London, as most of his county neighbours were doing. ”

“ Other financial ventures turned out badly; he lost money in the Earl of Bedford's scheme for draining the fens, and he was forced to surrender a valuable patent for inspecting tobacco, as Lord Goring and some other courtiers started a fresh company to enrich themselves with this revenue ”