NEGUS, Francis (1670-1732), of Dillinghoo, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

13 Nov. 1717 - 9 Sept. 1732

Family and Education

bap. 3 May 1670, 1st s. of Francis Negus of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, sec. to Henry, Duke of Norfolk, and surveyor of the mews, by his w. Elianore Boone. m. (lic. 14 Feb. 1704) Elizabeth, da. and h. of William Churchill,1 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1712.

Offices Held

Ensign 3 Ft. 1687, capt. 1691, maj. 1694; commn. renewed 1702; brevet lt.-col. 1703; ranger of Bagshot Rails and Sandhurst Walks, Windsor forest; jt. cmmr. for executing the office of master of the horse 1715-17, sole 1717-27; avener and clerk marshal 1717-d.; master of the buckhounds, ranger of Swinley Chase, lt. and dep. ranger of Windsor forest 1727-d.; assistant, R. African Co. 1728-d.; gov. Chelsea waterworks.

Biography

Negus, an army officer, served under Marlborough in the war of the Spanish succession. Succeeding his father-in-law, William Churchill, at Ipswich in 1717, he voted regularly with the Government. He is described by the first Lord Egmont as knowing ‘many modern anecdotes’ and as having ‘a good interest at court’, though he complained that the ministry ‘gave him no assistance at Ipswich’.2 He died 9 Sept. 1732, commemorated in the Ipswich Gazette by a poem beginning: ‘Is Negus gone? ah! Ipswich weep and mourn’.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. PCC 126 Price.
  • 2. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 90, 292; iii. 334.
  • 3. Copinger, Suff. Manors, iv. 248.