Family and Education

bap. 15 Feb, 1687, 1st s. of Henry Trelawny* by 1st w. educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1703.  m. 17 July 1716, Laetitia (d. 1775), da. and event. h. of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Bt., bp. of Winchester, 1s. d.v.p. 3da.  suc. fa. 1702; cos. John Trelawny II* as 5th Bt. 2 Feb. 1756.1

Offices Held

A.d.c. to Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†) in 1706.2

Biography

Trelawny initially saw service on Marlborough’s staff, his cousin and future wife offering thanks in May 1706 that he had escaped unwounded at Ramillies. No doubt with the encouragement of his influential uncles (Bishop Trelawny and Major-General Charles Trelawny*), he was returned for East Looe on the family interest. His only political vote of note was to oppose the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. This was certainly at variance with the ministerial line, but not contrary to Bishop Trelawny’s views. However, Trelawny had fallen foul of the bishop closer to home and was dropped at the next election. His fault was to court his cousin Laetitia, the bishop’s daughter. Bishop Trelawny was violently opposed to the match, writing to his nephew (whom he addressed as ‘Captain’ Harry) on 29 Mar. 1711:

If henceforward you directly or indirectly see, write or send any letter or message to her, you shall surely find, I shall look upon [you] as one pretending boldly, and wickedly too, to rob me of my daughter, so dear as she has been to me, and must expect to be treated as such with the deepest and justest resentments.

Trelawny and Laetitia continued to correspond, their poetical letters interspersed with practical details about a lawsuit Trelawny had with his stepmother, which, he wrote on 14 Jan. 1714: if it succeeds I shall not more complain of my poverty, it is selling my estate’. The lawsuit was resolved successfully at the end of the year, possibly relieving him of financial difficulty, and eventually, in May 1716, the bishop consented to the marriage. Through his wife, Trelawny inherited Trelawne on the death of his cousin John, the 4th baronet, and on his own death on 7 Apr. 1762 he left it to his nephew William Trelawny†, who had married his daughter Laetitia.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 477–8; IGI, Cornw.
• 2. Trelawny Corresp.: Letters between Myrtilla and Philander ed. Sterling 1.
• 3. HMC Portland, iv. 531; Trelawny Corresp. 1, 6–7, 26–27, 34, 65–72; Gent. Mag. 1762, p. 194.