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Henry Jermyn, Earl of Dover

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans

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EARL OF (c. 1636-1708), was the second son of Sir Thomas Jermyn, of Rushbroke, Suffolk, elder brother of Henry Jermyn, earl of St Albans (q.v.). Jermyn surpassed his uncle, St Albans, in reputation for profligacy, figuring frequently as "the little Jermyn" in the Grammont Memoirs, as the lover of Lady Castlemaine, Lady Shrewsbury, Miss Jennings and other beauties of the court of Charles II. He was also a noted duellist and a lifelong gambler. While the court was in exile, he obtained a post in the household of the duke of York, to whom he became master of the horse at the Restoration. Being a Roman Catholic he enjoyed a position of influence with James II., who on his accession raised Jermyn to the peerage as Baron Dover in 1685, and appointed him lieutenant-general of the royal guard in 1686. At the Revolution, Dover adhered to James, whom he followed abroad, and in July 1689 the deposed sovereign created him Baron Jermyn of Royston, Baron Ipswich, Viscount Cheveley and earl of Dover; these honours being among the "Jacobite peerages" which were not recognized by the English government, though Jermyn became generally known as the earl of Dover. He commanded a troop at the battle of the Boyne; but shortly afterwards made his submission to William III. He succeeded his brother Thomas as 3rd Baron Jermyn of St Edmundsbury in 1703, and died in 1708. As he left no children by his wife, Judith, daughter of Sir Edmund Poley, of Badley, Suffolk, his titles became extinct at his death.

See Samuel Pepys, Diary, edited by H. B. Wheatley, 9 vols. (London, 1893); Anthony Hamilton, Memoirs of Grammont (Bohn edition, London, 1846); J. S. Clarke, Life of James II., 2 vols. (London, 1816); Narcissus Luttrell, Brief Relation of State Affairs 1678-1714,6 vols. (Oxford, 1857).