John Hervey, Baron Hervey

John Hervey, Baron Hervey (born October 15, 1696—died August 5, 1743, Ickworth, Suffolk, England) was a politician and wit whose Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second are of first importance and, along with the writings of Horace Walpole, are largely responsible for many of posterity’s impressions of 18th-century England. The eldest surviving son of John Hervey, 1st earl of Bristol, (1665–1751), he was educated at Westminster School and the University of Cambridge. He...