Jermyn Wyche (MP)

Family and Education b. c.1670, ?2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Cyril Wych(e)* by 1st w. educ. Harrow; Caius, Camb. matric. 1 May 1688, aged 17. m. 27 Aug. 1699, Mary da. and h. of John Hungerford of the Temple, London, 1s. 2da. suc. fa. 1707.1

Offices Held

Lt. of ordnance [I] 1698.2

Biography Wych’s father built a successful career as an administrator in the late 17th century, but the family links with Tory cousins, most notably Hon. John Granville* and the Earl of Bath, may, from the little evidence that is available, have had a more concrete effect upon Wych’s political allegiances than they did upon his father. Jermyn entered Cambridge in 1688, probably the second but first surviving son of his father’s first marriage given that a Jermyn Wych had also been baptized at Hockwold in 1664. In 1698 he was appointed lieutenant of the ordnance in Ireland in 1698, a post possibly obtained through the influence of his father during the latter’s time in the Irish administration. He succeeded his father in 1707 to an estate reputedly worth £100,000, but quickly found himself involved in a protracted dispute with Sir John Pakington, 4th Bt.*, over property that had belonged to his father’s second wife, which Pakington claimed, having married Wych’s stepsister. Despite unfavourable court judgments in 1708 and 1711, Wych petitioned the Lords for redress in 1712, only for the peers to support Pakington’s claims. Wych was returned at Fowey in the 1713 election on the interest of his distant kinsman Lord Lansdown (George Granville*), but was an inactive Member. In March 1714 his dispute with Pakington intruded on Commons business when Pakington complained that Wych’s status as executor of his father’s will made his claim of parliamentary privilege in the case erroneous. After a debate on the matter on the 19th Wych agreed to waive his privilege, provided Pakington did the same. The only available indication of his political affiliation is to be found in the Worsley list where he appears as a Tory. Wych did not stand in 1715, and died at Hockwold on 7 Jan. 1720. He was succeeded by his only son, Cyril.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Author: Richard Harrison Notes 1. Hoare, Wilts. Frustfield, 35. 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. xiii. 409. 3. IGI, Norf.; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 51; HMC Lords, n.s. ix. 192–3; Bull. IHR, xxxiv. 212; Hoare, 35.