VIVIAN, Francis (1649-90), of Cosworth, Cornw.

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

bap. 6 Oct. 1649, 3rd s. of John Vivian of Trewan, St. Columb Major by Mary, da. of Sir John Glanville of Kilsworthy, Devon; bro. of John Vivian and Thomas Vivian. educ. Exeter, Oxf. 1667. m. lic. 25 July 1677, Anne, da. and h. of Henry Mynors of Cosworth, 1da.1 Freeman, West Looe 1676, Mitchell 1685-Oct. 1688; capt. militia ft. Cornw. by 1685, commr. for assessment 1689-90.2

Offices Held

Capt. Ld. Bath’s Regt. (later 10 Ft.) 1685-6.3

Biography

Vivian owed his commission to his cousin William Blathwayt, but he soon resigned it, probably under pressure from his mother-in-law, and from Lord Arundell of Trerice (Richard Arundell) ‘to whom I am in particular obliged’. He succeeded his brother John in 1689 as Member for Mitchell, where he was one of the deputy lords in the right of his wife. A Tory, he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. He was appointed to no committees in the Convention, and was twice granted leave of absence, on the second occasion owing to ill-health. He was buried at Little Colan on 2 Aug. 1690, the last of the Trewan branch to sit in Parliament. His daughter Mary married Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Bt.’, the nephew and heir of Sir Vyell Vyvyan, to whom she brought the Cosworth estate.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 535-6; Vis. Devon, 756; Gilbert, Paroch. Hist. Cornw. i. 228.
  • 2. Cornw. RO, AD107/22; A. L. Browne, Corp. Chrons. 191; Glos. RO, Dl799/C5, Vivian to Blathwayt, 2 July 1685.
  • 3. CSP Dom. 1686-7, p. 47.
  • 4. Vivian to Blathwayt, 2 July 1685; Gilbert, i. 211.