Family and Education

bap. 7 Dec. 1675, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Henry Heron of Cressy Hall by Dorothy, da. of Sir James Long, 2nd Bt.*  m. 12 Feb. 1696, Abigail (d. 1735), da. and h. of Sir William Heveningham of Kettering, Norf., 1s. d.v.p. 2da.  suc. fa. 1695.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Boston 1686–8, 1713–d., recorder 1723–d.; sheriff, Norf. 1708–9.2

Biography

Heron’s ancestors bought Cressy Hall, near Surfleet, their principal seat, in about 1600, and the family came to uphold the Tory interest in the district. Heron’s father was installed by James II as mayor of Boston in 1685, and was recommended as a j.p. in 1688. Aside from the revocation of Heron’s freedom in 1688 (on James II’s restoration of the ancient corporation charters) and his marriage to an heiress on the death of her guardian in 1696, by which he came into possession of an estate in Norfolk, few details of Heron’s early life are known. Successful for Boston in 1713, he was described in a Tory newspaper as ‘of a very ancient and loyal family, son to Sir Henry Heron . . . who attended and served King Charles I in all his troubles, is worthy of such a father, continuing steadfast to all his loyal and generous principles’.3

In the short time that he sat during Anne’s reign, Heron’s only significant action was as a teller on 22 June 1714 in favour of raising supply by means of a duty on soap. He was noted as a Tory in the Worsley list and several other analyses of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments. Dismissed as a j.p. in 1720, he remained true to his Tory principles until his death on 10 Sept. 1730. His property was held in trust for his nephew, Francis Fane of Fulbeck, who was directed to live at Cressy Hall for four to five months of every year in order that ‘the same hospitality . . . may be kept up as has hitherto been’. Heron’s monument, erected by his wife, testified to his pride in his descent from the Herons of Ford Castle, Northumberland, and claimed that

as a Member of Parliament he always preferred the interest of his country to his own . . . in the administration of justice he acted without partiality and in the distribution of hospitality without an equal, following the example of his ancestors.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Paula Watson / Sonya Wynne

Notes

• 1. Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. li), 487–9; Top. and Gen. iii. 502; Norf. and Norwich Arch. Soc. iii. 287, 293.
• 2. Boston Corp. Mins. ed. Bailey, iv. 291, 329, 757; P. Thompson, Boston, 458.
• 3. Boston Corp. Mins. 263–4, 267, 329; Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1882), 150, 155; Norf. and Norwich Arch. Soc. iii. 287; Post Boy, 1–3 Sept. 1713.
• 4. L. K. J. Glassey, Appt. JPs, 260; PCC 36 Isham; Monson’s Church Notes (Lincs. Rec. Soc. xxxi), 351.