Thomas Povey
Encyclopedia
Thomas Povey FRS, was a London merchant-politician who was active in colonial affairs from the 1650s, but neutral enough in his politics to be named a member from 1660 of Charles II
's Council for Foreign Plantations, making him a powerful figure in the not-yet professionalized First English Empire
, both "England's first colonial civil servant" and at the same time "a typical office holder of the Restoration". Both Samuel Pepys
and William Berkeley Governor of Virginia, railed at times against Povey's incompetence and maladministration.
He became Member of Parliament
for Liskeard
in 1646, Bossiney
in 1659 and held under Oliver Cromwell
a high post in the Office of Plantations. Following the Restoration he was appointed in July 1660 Treasurer to the king's brother James, Duke of York
, but the Duke's affairs falling into confusion, Povey was relieved of his office, 27 July 1668, for a consideration of £2000
. He was First Treasurer to the Lords Commissioner for Tangier
, a lucrative post in which he was followed by the conscientious Samuel Pepys, organizer of the English navy.
Povey made an agreement with Pepys in 1665, touching the profits expected from that office by 17th-century convention.
Years later, in 1691, Povey brought suit against Pepys and William Hewer at the Court of Chancery
with reference to a breach of the agreement; it seems to have been settled out of court.
Povey family interests in the English Caribbean were extensive: Thomas's brother Richard Povey looked after the family interests in Jamaica
, where he was officially Commissioner General for Provisions,while another brother, William, attended to affairs in Barbados, where he was officially Provost-General.
Povey was one of the original members of the Royal Society
in May, 1663 and had acted in the interests of its less formalized predecessor at Gresham College
. Povey proposed Samuel Pepys
for membership, 8 February 1665.
John Evelyn
, a fellow member of the Royal Society
, found Povey "a nice contriver of all elegancies and exceedingly formal". As a Fellow, Povey offered the Royal Society a dissertation in 1693 on the manufacture of brass. Povey presented a report on Louis XIV
's Hôtel des Invalides, which Charles II emulated in the Royal Hospital Chelsea
, under a Royal Warrant of 22 December 1681.
Povey had apartments in Whitehall Palace by virtue of his Crown posts. Robert Streater
painted a ceiling in Povey's London house, on the west side of Lincoln's Inn Fields
; there John Evelyn
visited him in July 1664:
s. Povey also inherited from his father Hounslow Priory
, situated in a suburban village west of London; it was sold in 1671, and by the end of the 18th century only the chapel remained. He donated to the Royal Society the portrait that he asserted was of the historian George Buchanan
and by Titian
. In his court appointment as Master of Requests
, 1682–85, he received petitions and presented them for consideration by the Privy Council.
Povey advanced the early career of his nephew William Blathwayt
, and it is surely due to his influence that his son-in-law Giles Bland was sent to Virginia as customs collector. Some of the paintings from Povey's collection, which hung in his London house or at Hounslow, remain in Blathwayt's house, Dyrham Park
, Gloucestershire.
He married Mary, daughter of John Adderly and widow of John Agard of King's Bromley, Staffordshire.
Povey's letter books are conserved in the British Library
.
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
's Council for Foreign Plantations, making him a powerful figure in the not-yet professionalized First English Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, both "England's first colonial civil servant" and at the same time "a typical office holder of the Restoration". Both Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
and William Berkeley Governor of Virginia, railed at times against Povey's incompetence and maladministration.
Life
Povey, son of Justinian Povey of London, was educated at Gray's Inn.He became Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Liskeard
Liskeard (UK Parliament constituency)
Liskeard was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.- History :...
in 1646, Bossiney
Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency)
Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs, and returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
in 1659 and held under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
a high post in the Office of Plantations. Following the Restoration he was appointed in July 1660 Treasurer to the king's brother James, Duke of York
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
, but the Duke's affairs falling into confusion, Povey was relieved of his office, 27 July 1668, for a consideration of £2000
Golden parachute
A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an employee specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. Sometimes, certain conditions, typically a change in company ownership, must be met, but often the cause of termination is...
. He was First Treasurer to the Lords Commissioner for Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, a lucrative post in which he was followed by the conscientious Samuel Pepys, organizer of the English navy.
Povey made an agreement with Pepys in 1665, touching the profits expected from that office by 17th-century convention.
Years later, in 1691, Povey brought suit against Pepys and William Hewer at the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
with reference to a breach of the agreement; it seems to have been settled out of court.
Povey family interests in the English Caribbean were extensive: Thomas's brother Richard Povey looked after the family interests in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, where he was officially Commissioner General for Provisions,while another brother, William, attended to affairs in Barbados, where he was officially Provost-General.
Povey was one of the original members of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in May, 1663 and had acted in the interests of its less formalized predecessor at Gresham College
Gresham College
Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...
. Povey proposed Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
for membership, 8 February 1665.
John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, a fellow member of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, found Povey "a nice contriver of all elegancies and exceedingly formal". As a Fellow, Povey offered the Royal Society a dissertation in 1693 on the manufacture of brass. Povey presented a report on Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
's Hôtel des Invalides, which Charles II emulated in the Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Hospital Chelsea
The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London, now the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a true hospital in the original sense of the word,...
, under a Royal Warrant of 22 December 1681.
Povey had apartments in Whitehall Palace by virtue of his Crown posts. Robert Streater
Robert Streater
Robert Streater , was an English landscape, history, still-life and portrait artist, architectural painter, and etcher...
painted a ceiling in Povey's London house, on the west side of Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...
; there John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
visited him in July 1664:
Went to see Mr Povey's elegant house in Lincolns-Inn-Fields , where the perspective in his court, painted by Streater, is indeed excellent, with the vases painted in imitation of porphyPepys noted with approval Povey's neatly-fitted up stables, lined with washable Delft tilePorphyry (geology)Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
and fountains...
Delftware
Delftware, or Delft pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the 16th century....
s. Povey also inherited from his father Hounslow Priory
Hounslow
Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...
, situated in a suburban village west of London; it was sold in 1671, and by the end of the 18th century only the chapel remained. He donated to the Royal Society the portrait that he asserted was of the historian George Buchanan
George Buchanan
George Buchanan may refer to:*George Buchanan , Scottish humanist*Sir George Buchanan , Scottish soldier during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms*Sir George Buchanan , Chief Medical Officer...
and by Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
. In his court appointment as Master of Requests
Master of Requests
The Master of Requests was a Great Officer of State in Scotland.The office first appeared in the reign of James V. Its functions in Scotland included that of receiving petitions from subjects and presenting them for consideration by the Privy Council...
, 1682–85, he received petitions and presented them for consideration by the Privy Council.
Povey advanced the early career of his nephew William Blathwayt
William Blathwayt
William Blathwayt was a civil servant and politician who established the War Office as a department of the British Government and played an important part in administering the Thirteen Colonies of North America....
, and it is surely due to his influence that his son-in-law Giles Bland was sent to Virginia as customs collector. Some of the paintings from Povey's collection, which hung in his London house or at Hounslow, remain in Blathwayt's house, Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park is a baroque mansion in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, England. For the history of the manor of Dyrham, see main article Dyrham.-Description:...
, Gloucestershire.
He married Mary, daughter of John Adderly and widow of John Agard of King's Bromley, Staffordshire.
Povey's letter books are conserved in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
.
External links
- "The hostel of the Invalides by Thomas Povey", (1682) (Lambeth Palace Library MS.745). I. Med Hist. 1966 January; 10(1): 1–22.