Marquess of Bristol

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Marquess of Bristol is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It has been held by a member of the Hervey family since 1826; prior to that, the Herveys held the title of Earl of Bristol.

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Bristol, Earls and Marquesses of

The Marquess's subsidiary titles are: Earl of Bristol (created 1714), Earl Jermyn, of Horningsheath in the County of Suffolk (1826), and Baron Hervey, of Ickworth in the County of Suffolk (1703). The Barony is in the Peerage of England, the Earldom of Bristol in the Peerage of Great Britain and the Earldom of Jermyn in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The title Earl Jermyn is the courtesy title of the Marquess's eldest son and heir. The Marquess of Bristol also holds the title "Hereditary High Steward of the Liberty of St. Edmund". The present Marquess of Bristol is Frederick William Augustus Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol, and 12th Earl of Bristol (b. 19 October 1979).

The family has over the centuries produced a significant number of public figures and men of achievement and notoriety, starting from the days of Sir Nicholas Hervey (d. 1532), who was Ambassador from Henry VIII to the Holy Roman Emperor. Sir Nicholas took part in the famous jousts at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. The Herveys have been politicians, diplomats, admirals, philanthropists, art collectors, conservationists, and memoirists. The phrase "When God created the human race, he made men, women and Herveys" is attributed variously to Voltaire and to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. It has been read alternately as a reference to the 18th century Lord John Hervey's noted effeminacy and bisexuality, or to his originality and eccentricity.

The family has been throughout the centuries unconventional; the Herveys include a convicted female bigamist, a bishop who was believed to be an atheist, and a bisexual courtier. The 20th century produced two convicts: the father, Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, was jailed for jewelry robbery, and the son, John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol, was twice imprisoned for drugs offenses.

The Herveys lived at the Ickworth estate, Suffolk, from the mid 15th century to 1998, and the first Hervey to own Ickworth, Thomas Hervey (d. 1467) is buried at Ickworth Church. On the death of the 4th Marquess in 1951, the house was given to the National Trust in 1956 by the 4th Marquess' widow in lieu of death duties. The National Trust received an endowment for Ickworth of £185,000, and the family (through whoever currently held the title of the Marquess of Bristol) was given a 99 year lease to occupy the East Wing of Ickworth, upon paying certain related yearly expenses. Despite this, the 7th Marquess, sold the remaining lease to the National Trust in 1998. In 1999, he died, having spent virtually all of his inherited fortune. Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol has spoken of his anger at not being allowed by the National Trust to repurchase the lease and assume residence in the ancestral home. The National Trust converted the East Wing into a hotel for the public, thus directly going against the wishes of the benefactor of the House who stipulated that accommodation should always be made available for the head of the family by the National Trust.