Family and Education

b. 9 Apr. 1670, 1st surv. s. of Sir George Trevelyan, 1st Bt., of Nettlecombe by Margaret, da. and h. of John Willoughby of Ley Hill, Honiton, Devon.  educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1687.  m. (1) 1693, Urith (d. 1697), da. of Sir John Pole, 3rd Bt.*, 1da. d.v.p.; (2) 22 May 1700, Susanna (d. 1718), da. and h. of William Warren of Stallensthorn, Devon, 3s. 5da.  suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 1671.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Som. 1704–5.

Biography

Originally from Cornwall, Trevelyan’s family had acquired Nettlecombe, near Minehead, by marriage in the reign of Henry VII. His grandfather had been a colonel in the Royalist army during the Civil War, although when he compounded for his estate in 1646, he denied having taken an active part in the fighting. His father had been rewarded for the family’s loyalty with a baronetcy in 1662 but had died when Trevelyan was scarcely a year old. In May 1691, almost as soon as he came of age, Trevelyan was appointed a deputy-lieutenant. A Tory, he was returned as knight of the shire for the county without opposition in 1695. He was forecast in January 1696 as a probable opponent of the Court on the proposed council of trade, refused to sign the Association in February, voted against the Court on fixing the price of guineas at 22s. in March, and on 25 Nov. voted against the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. An analysis of the Commons compiled shortly after the 1698 election noted him retrospectively as a member of the Country party. Although he canvassed for re-election in 1698, his refusal to take the Association two years previously had forestalled any possibility of success and he withdrew before the poll. He was, however, returned again for the county without opposition in January 1701, but stood down when Parliament was dissolved at the end of the year.2

Trevelyan re-entered the House in 1708, when he was returned for Minehead on the interest of his neighbour, Alexander Luttrell* of Dunster Castle, whose son was eventually to marry one of Trevelyan’s daughters. He was classed as a Tory at the beginning of the 1708 Parliament, voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710, and was marked as a Tory in the ‘Hanover list’ of the 1710 Parliament. He soon became a member of the October Club, featuring in the course of the 1710–11 session as a ‘worthy patriot’ who supported the inquiries into the mismanagements of the Godolphin administration, and as a ‘Tory patriot’ who had voted for peace. He was accorded a fortnight’s leave of the House on 2 Apr. 1711. The only recorded instance of any form of substantive activity on his part appears on 12 Feb. 1712 when he was added to the MPs ordered to draft a bill amending an earlier Act concerning Minehead harbour. Later in this session, on 14 May, he was granted leave for reasons of health. On 18 June 1713 he voted in favour of the French commerce bill, and was classed as a Tory in the Worsley list. He continued to sit for Minehead during the 1715 Parliament, but the difficulties experienced by the Luttrells in maintaining control of the borough during this period evidently deterred him from seeking re-election in 1722. He died on 25 Sept. 1755 and was buried at Nettlecombe.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Paula Watson / Andrew A. Hanham

Notes

• 1. IGI, Som., Devon; F. Brown, Som. Wills, i. 42; Collinson, Som. iii. 539.
• 2. Collinson, 539; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1643–60, pp. 1077–8; CSP Dom. 1690–1, p. 358.
• 3. H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Hist. Dunster, 220, 222.