HERVY, Richard (d.1429), of Lostwithiel, Cornw.

The Hervys of Lostwithiel perhaps traced their descent from one Thomas, son of Hervei, who was living there in the 12th century. In the 1380s members of the family held property in the town and were engaged in the local tin trade.Dictionary of Herveys, iv. 30-31; E101/263/19. The exact date of Richard Hervy’s enlistment in the service of the duchy of Cornwall is not known, but in the accounts of the havener’s deputies for the year 1403-4 he is mentioned as keeper of the goal and also pesager of the town of Lostwithiel, offices which may have been co-ordinate with that of the deputy clerk of the statute merchant. Four years later he was discharging the office of clerk itself. Hervy’s predecessors in this post included two annuitants of the Black Prince, Nicholas Pego and Lambert Fermer, both of whom had also accounted to the duchy as controllers of cockets and wrecks; and it is quite likely that Hervy held a similar position. (There are no records of the controllership in his time.) Naturally, since Lostwithiel was the regional administrative centre of the duchy, Hervy came into close contact with other duchy officials: at the local elections to the Parliament of 1411 he and his brother William both provided securities for Thomas Jayet, the controller of the stannaries, who was then returned for Lostwithiel; and three years later he began to serve, under William Alcock, as sub-bailiff of the nearby stannary of Blackmore. However, he evidently fell out with Alcock, who brought an action against him in the court of common pleas for a debt of 22 marks. In February 1420, as ‘of Lostwithiel, husbandman’, Hervy took out a royal pardon of his outlawry for failing to appear to answer the charge.SC6/819/13; Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 929; C219/10/6; CPR, 1416-22, p. 232.

Although Hervy was still active as clerk of the statute merchant of Lostwithiel in January 1429, he died before 2 Nov. that year, when the post was granted to John Peyntour.C241/222/11; CPR, 1429-36, p. 24. His son Nicholas, who lived at Eastbury in Godalming, Surr., was to sit in Parliament for Launceston in 1449 (Feb.) and for Hindon in 1459 and 1467: HP ed. Wedgwood, 1439-1509 Biogs. 448.