Family and Education

b. c.1690, o. s. of Henry Ferne of Snitterton Hall and Butterwick House, Hammersmith, Mdx., receiver-gen. of customs 1700–16, by Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Nicholas Dayrell of Kingsclere, Hants.  educ. Balliol, Oxf. matric. 1 Feb. 1706, aged 16; M. Temple 1706.  m. 24 May 1717, Diana, da. of John Turner of Stoke Rochford, Lincs., s.p.  suc. fa. 1723.1

Offices Held

Biography

Ferne’s grandfather, a Derbyshire gentleman, had been prepared to consent to the repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Act in 1688, while his son, the Member’s father, had drawn the line at the loss of the Test, ‘for by that means perhaps we may give up our lives and religion too all at once’. Though probably Tory in sympathy, Henry Ferne avoided making a clear commitment to either party, presumably for fear of putting his customs place at risk. Robert Ferne was, however, returned as a Tory on the Webb interest at Ludgershall in 1713, and was classed as such in the Worsley list. He was not put up again in 1715, the Webbs needing both Ludgershall seats themselves, and the following year Henry was removed from office.2

Ferne died less than three months after his father, on 6 Oct. 1723, at his house in Bow Street, Covent Garden, where he had recently removed from Derbyshire. His will, written in 1719, had mentioned only some South Sea stock worth about £9,000, the bulk of which was to go to his wife.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

• 1. Add. 6668, f. 236; 6669, f. 116; 6673, f. 191; PCC 207 Richmond; Cal. Treas. Bks. xv. 290; xxvi. 281; xxx. 250; Lysons, Environs (1792–6), ii. 405.
• 2. William Woolley’s Hist. Derbys. ed. Glover and Riden (Derbys. Rec. Soc. vi), 204; Add. 6672, ff. 250, 253; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 211–12.
• 3. Add. 6668, f. 236; Hist. Reg. Chron. 1723, p. 42; PCC 207 Richmond.