Greville Verney, 7th Baron Willoughby de Broke

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Greville Verney, 7th Baron Willoughby de Broke and de jure 15th Baron Latimer (1586 – 12 May 1642) of Compton Verney in Warwickshire, England, served twice as a Member of Parliament for Warwick, in 1614 and 1621.

Origins

He was the son and heir of Sir Richard Verney (1563–1630) of Compton Verney by his wife Margaret Greville (d. 1631), (from 1628 suo jure 6th Baroness Willoughby de Broke) daughter of Fulke Greville, 4th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1536–1606) of Beauchamp Court, Alcester, Warwickshire, and sister and heiress of Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1554–1628), known before 1621 as Sir Fulke Greville the poet, dramatist, and statesman.{{cite web|title=VERNEY, Greville (c.1587-1642), of Compton Verney and Kineton, Warws.|publisher=History of Parliament|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/verney-greville-1587-1642|access-date=16 January 2025}}

Career

He was admitted to Gray's Inn in 1600.{{cite book|title=Gray's Inn Admissions Register 1521-1887|date=1889|page=98}} He also studied under the Cambridge scholar Robert Naunton, although no record of his formal admission to the university is known.{{cite book|title=The manuscripts of the Earl Cowper|volume=1|publisher=Historical Manuscripts Commission|pages=38, 47}} In 1607 he was granted a 4 year passport, which was renewed for 3 years in 1612. He traveled widely on the Continent to complete his education, returning to sit as Member of Parliament for Warwick in 1614 through the patronage of his uncle.{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=166-239}}{{cite web|title=1604-1629:Constituencies:Warwick|publisher=History of Parliament|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/constituencies/warwick|access-date=16 January 2025}}

He was knighted in October 1617, presumably once more thanks to his uncle. Following his marriage the next year to the step-daughter of Lord Kinclaven he was given use of Kineton, Warwickshire, which his uncle had recently purchased.{{cite web|title=VCH Warwickshire 5:Kineton with Combrook|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol5/pp103-108|publisher=British History Online|access-date=16 January 2024}} He sat again as MP for Warwick in 1621.

He did not play an active role in Warwickshire until after the death of his father, when he became a JP. He inherited the titles Baron Willoughby de Broke and Baron Latimer on the death of his mother in 1631.

He was appointed Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1635 and had considerable trouble collecting Ship Money.{{cite book|title=Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620-1660|first=Ann|last=Hughes|date=2002|page=107}}

His death on the eve of the English Civil War, the first battle of which took place near Kineton, deprived Warwickshire of one of its political leaders.

Marriage and issue

On 13 May 1618, he married Katherine Southwell, a daughter of Sir Richard Southwell (d. 1598) by his wife Elizabeth Howard, a daughter of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham.

Children:{{cite book|title=Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire|volume=3|date=1830|page=821}}

Greville Verney, 8th Baron Willoughby de Broke
Richard Verney, 11th Baron Willoughby de Broke
Elizabeth Verney, who married William Peyto, a son of Edward Peyto

Death and succession

He died on 12 May 1642 when the title passed to his son Greville Verney, 8th Baron Willoughby de Broke. His younger son inherited the title on the death of the 8th baron's grandson.