The Earl of Castlehaven | |
|---|---|
 The 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, from a contemporary print published in the wake of his notorious trial. | |
| Member of Parliament Dorset | |
| In office 5 April 1614 – 7 June 1625 | |
| Justice of the Peace Dorset | |
| In office 1614–1625 | |
| Justice of the Peace Somerset | |
| In office 1614–1626 | |
| Justice of the Peace Wiltshire | |
| In office 1614–1626 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mervyn Tuchet 1593 |
| Died | 14 May 1631 Tower Hill, London |
| Cause of death | Beheaded |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
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| Parent |
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Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (1593 – 14 May 1631; also spelled Mervin, Touchet), was an English nobleman who was convicted of rape and sodomy and subsequently executed.
A son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and 11th Baron Audley, by his wife, Lucy Mervyn, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Audley during his father's lifetime, so is sometimes referred to as Mervyn Audley.[1]
He was knighted by James I in 1608, before he studied law at the Middle Temple. He served as Member of the Parliament of England for Dorset in the Addled Parliament of 1614 and was a Justice of the Peace for the counties of Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire.[1] He succeeded his father on 20 February 1616 or 1617 as Earl of Castlehaven and Baron Audley. He left six children upon his death.[2]
Sometime before 1608[1] (records of the marriage are lacking), Lord Audley married Elizabeth Barnham, a sister-in-law of the philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon, and with her, he had six children. By all accounts the marriage was a loving and successful one, ending with her death in 1622.[3] His second marriage, on 22 July 1624, at Harefield, Middlesex, was to the former Lady Anne Stanley (1580–1647), elder daughter and co-heiress of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (by his wife, Alice Spencer), and widow of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos. They had a daughter, Anne Touchet, who died young.[4] Lady Anne was significantly older than Castlehaven,[5] and the marriage was not a success, but in 1628 Lord Castlehaven's son was married to her thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth;[5] a marriage of step-children.
- ^ a b c Ferris, John P.; Hunneyball, Paul (2010). "Audley, alias Tuchet, Sir Mervyn (c.1588-1631), of Stalbridge, Dorset; later of Fonthill Gifford, Wilts". The History of Parliament.
- ^ Herrup 1999, p. ix.
- ^ Herrup 1999, p. 12.
- ^ William Addams Reitwiesner. "The descendants of Anne, Countess of Castlehaven".
- ^ a b Herrup, Cynthia B. (January 2008) [2004]. "Touchet, Mervin, second earl of Castlehaven (1593–1631)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66794. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)