RIVETT (REVETT), Francis (c.1596-1669), of Kings Somborne, Hants.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1596, 4th s. of William Rivett of Kings Newton, Derbys. educ. Emmanuel, Camb. 1612, BA 1616; M. Temple 1619, called 1626. m. 1 July 1634, Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Bewley, merchant, of London, 2da.1

Offices Held

Commr. for defence, Hants. 1643, 1645, execution of ordinances 1644, assessment 1647-52, 1657, Jan. 1660-3, 1664-d., master of St. Nicholas hospital, Harnham 1647-56; j.p. Wilts. 1647-?49, c.1651-3, Hants by 1650-?53, 1654-?d.; commr. for militia, Hants 1648, Mar. 1660, poor prisoners 1653, scandalous ministers 1654.2

Biography

The younger son of a substantial yeoman family, Rivett received an expensive education, presumably to fit him for a professional career. Although a barrister he is not known to have practised, but within four years of his call he had bought the Hampshire manor of Hannington Lancelevy. He supported Parliament in the Civil War as an active member of the county committee. In 1649 he acquired an interest at Stockbridge by the purchase of Kings Somborne, three miles south of the borough, for which he was returned to Richard Cromwell’s Parliament and the Convention, the first of his family to sit. Marked as a friend by Lord Wharton, he was named only to the committee for St. Nicholas hospital, of which he had been master during the Interregnum. An opponent of the Court and probably an Independent, he is unlikely to have stood again. He died on 6 Apr. 1669 in his 74th year. His two daughters married Oliver St. John and William Strode, both of whom sat for Stockbridge.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. St. Olave Hart Street (Harl. Soc. Reg. xlvi), 266; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 69.
  • 2. Hoare, Wilts. Salisbury, 413, 439.
  • 3. HMC Rutland, i. 339; VCH Hants, iv. 259, 471; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. iv. 218.