Francis Vernon, 1st Earl of Shipbrook

Francis Vernon
Member of Parliament for Ipswich
In office
1762–1765
Personal details
Born1715 (1715)
Died15 October 1783 (aged 67–68)
SpouseAlice Ibbetson
Children1
Parent
RelativesJames Vernon (grandfather)
Charles Boyle (grandfather)
Military career
AllegianceGreat Britain
RankColonel
Commands2nd or East Suffolk Battalion

Francis Vernon, 1st Earl of Shipbrook (1715 – 15 October 1783), known as The Lord Orwell between 1762 and 1776 and as The Viscount Orwell between 1776 and 1777, was an English politician.

Biography

[edit]

Vernon was the son of James Vernon by his wife Arethusa, daughter of Charles Boyle, Lord Clifford.[1][2]

When the militia was reconstituted under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War, Vernon was appointed Colonel of the 2nd or East Suffolk Battalion on 27 April 1759. In June 1762, under his personal command, the regiment attended a training camp at Sandheath, near Ripley. With the Seven Years War drawing to a close, he was instructed on 20 December 1762 to disembody the regiment. He had been succeeded in the command by William Wollaston by the time the regiment was next embodied, in 1778.[1][3]

Vernon sat as Member of Parliament for Ipswich from 1761 to 1768.[1][2] In 1762 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Orwell, of Newry in the County of Down.[4] He was further honoured when he was made Viscount Orwell in 1776[5] and in 1777 Earl of Shipbrooke "of Newry in the County of Down",[6] also in the Irish peerage. Shipbrook Castle in Cheshire was the earliest recorded seat of the Vernon family.

Alice, Countess of Shipbrook. (Francis Cotes)

He married Alice, daughter of Samuel Ibbetson of Denton Hall, Wharfedale, Yorkshire.[7] Their son, Francis (1752–1760) died early.[8]

Lord Shipbrooke died in October 1783 when all the titles became extinct.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Vernon at History of Parliament Online.
  2. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I" (part 1)
  3. ^ Lt-Col E.A.H. Webb, History of the 12th (The Suffolk) Regiment 1685–1913, London: Spottiswoode, 1914/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84342-116-0, pp. 424–8.
  4. ^ "No. 10194". The London Gazette. 25 March 1762. p. 2.
  5. ^ "No. 11679". The London Gazette. 2 July 1776. p. 1.
  6. ^ "No. 11739". The London Gazette. 28 January 1777. p. 1.
  7. ^ thePeerage.com http://www.thepeerage.com/p47359.htm#i473585
  8. ^ "Catalogue note for the painting Alice, Countess of Shipbrook by Francis Cotes". Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Ipswich
1762–1765
With: Thomas Staunton
Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
New creation Earl of Shipbrook
1777–1783
Extinct
Viscount Orwell
1776–1783
Baron Orwell
1762–1783