SCRIVEN, Richard (1625-83), of Frodesley, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1679

Family and Education

bap. 7 June 1625, 3rd but o. surv. s. of Sir Thomas Scriven of Frodesley by his 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir Vincent Corbet of Moreton Corbet, wid. of Robert Corbet of Stanwardine, Salop. m. by 1654, Susan (d.1667), da. of Robert Needham, 2nd Visct. Kilmorey [I], of Shavington, Salop, 2s. d.v.p., 2da. suc. fa. 1644.1

Offices Held

J.p. Salop July 1660-d., commr. for sewers, Lincs. Aug. 1660, assessment, Salop. Aug. 1660, dep. lt. c. Aug. 1660-d., lt.-col. of militia ft. c. Oct. 1660-d., jt. farmer of excise by 1661-4, jt. receiver of hearth-tax 1662-7, commr. for corporations 1662-3, oyer and terminer 1662, recusants 1675.2

Gent. of the privy chamber 1664-d.3

Biography

Scriven was descended from Reginald de Scriven, a scrivener, who acquired Frodesley by marriage in the 14th century. One of his ancestors sat for Shrewsbury in 1407. Scriven’s father was a commissioner of array in 1642, raised a regiment of foot for the King, and served as a royalist governor of Whitchurch, dying of wounds after an unsuccessful attack on Wem. Scriven himself was in arms for the King in the first Civil War, presumably serving under his father. He was one of the local leaders of the Royalists in the second Civil War, and fought at Bangor in June 1648. In compounding for his estate, valued at £275 p.a., he stated that under a family settlement he could derive no benefit from it till 15 years after his mother’s death, and he was fined £117 at one-sixth. With Andrew Newport he was concerned in a royalist plot to seize Shrewsbury and Ludlow in 1654. Roger Whitley listed him among the Shopshire Cavaliers with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and it was reported that the local rendezvous for the intended rising of I659 was to be at his house.4

In March 1660 Scriven was sent a commission from Charles II in Brussels to raise militia forces, both horse and foot, in Shropshire. After the Restoration his services during the Civil Wars and those of his friend Sir Richard Ottley were rewarded with posts in the local excise and hearth-tax. But in July 1667 the latter commission was revoked, and they were ordered to pay £700 till due. In order to ease their financial difficulties, in 1669 they were granted all treasure trove found since June 1660 and a moiety of any that they could find within the next year, as well as part of the estate of an outlaw in Cheshire. In July 1670 the process against them was stopped in view of their ‘services and loyalty’ to the King, and because riots in Shropshire had defeated their efforts to collect the arrears. After Ottley’s death, £500 was remitted, but Scriven did not clear the account until August 1682. Meanwhile, to ease his plight, Scriven was given a pension of £200 p.a. on the excise, and in September 1677 received £100 in secret service money from Charles Bertie, though he seems to have had no political weight or ambition at this time. He was returned to the second Exclusion Parliament for Bishop’s Castle, presumably as a court supporter, but made no speeches and was appointed to no committees.5

Scriven died on 26 Jan. 1683 and was buried at Condover, the last of his family. He was described on his monument as ‘faithful to his sovereign, hospitable, peaceable, affable, an experienced and brave soldier and a true son of the Church of England’. His daughter and heir married Whitley’s son.6

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), 144-5; (ser. 4), ii. 222; Salop N. and Q. n.s. iv.
  • 2. C181/7/80; SP29/41/85; Bodl. Ch. Salop 146; T51/11/19.
  • 3. Carlisle, Privy Chamber, 174.
  • 4. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), x. 91; (ser. 4), ii. 222, 280-1; viii. 82-83; lii. 194-204; Cal. Cl. SP. iv. 295, 309; D. Underdown, Royalist Conspiracy, 91, 108; SP23/207/98.
  • 5. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), iv. 144-5; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 433; iii. 312, 843, 867, 1140; v. 1333; vii. 567-8.
  • 6. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 2), x. 51.