The Honourable Mervyn Robert Howard Molyneux Herbert (27 December 1882 – 26 May 1929) of Tetton, Kingston St Mary[1] in Somerset, was a career diplomat and a first-class cricket player.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mervyn Robert Howard Molyneux Herbert | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 December 1882 Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 May 1929 (aged 46) Rome, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Henry Howard (grandfather) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1901–1902 | Nottinghamshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1902–1904 | Oxford University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1903–1924 | Somerset | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First-class debut | 1 May 1901 Nottinghamshire v Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last First-class | 30 May 1924 Somerset v Cambridge University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 19 June 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Origins
editHerbert was born at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the third son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a wealthy landowner, British cabinet minister, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His mother (his father's second wife and cousin) was Elizabeth Catherine Howard (1856-1929[2]) ("Elsie"), a daughter of Henry Howard of Greystoke Castle, near Penrith, Cumberland, a son of Lord Henry Howard-Molyneux-Howard, younger brother of Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk. Elizabeth Howard's brother was Esmé Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith.
Herbert was a younger full brother of the writer and politician Aubrey Herbert and was a younger half-brother of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, the noted Egyptologist who, together with Howard Carter, discovered Tutankhamen's tomb.[3] Mervyn travelled to Egypt for the official opening of Tutankhamen's tomb in November 1922.[4]
Personal life
editHe was educated at Eton College and at Balliol College, Oxford.[3]
In 1921 he married Mary Elizabeth Willard, a daughter of Joseph E. Willard, the US ambassador to Spain, and younger sister of Belle Willard, the wife of Kermit Roosevelt, son of the former US president Theodore.[5][6] He had three children.
Cricket career
editHerbert was a right-handed middle-order batsman. He played for Eton in the 1901 Eton v Harrow cricket match at Lord's, and in a house match at Eton that season he and George Lyttelton put on 476 for the second wicket, both scoring double centuries.[7] In the same year, he made the first of six appearances in first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, starting off with an innings of 65 in a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's.[8]
Though Herbert played occasional matches for Oxford University he was not selected as a blue, and from 1903 most of his first-class cricket was for Somerset. Only in 1909 was he able to play at all regularly and in that season he made his highest first-class score, 78, in the match against Middlesex at Lord's.[9] He also played an innings of 55 in 1909, batting at No 9 and sharing an eighth wicket partnership of 125 with Talbot Lewis that enabled Somerset to save the match against Kent, the 1909 County Champions, after following on.[10] He did not play at all after 1912 until he reappeared in one match in each of the 1922, 1923 and 1924 seasons.[11]
Diplomatic career
editHerbert was appointed as an attache in the Foreign Office in 1907.[12] He became a third secretary in the Diplomatic Service in 1910.[13] In 1916 he was further promoted to become a second secretary.[14] And then in 1919 he became a first secretary.[15] He served in embassies and delegations in Rome, Lisbon, Madrid and Cairo, and was first secretary in Madrid up to 1922, returning to a Whitehall job in the Foreign Office between 1924 and 1926.[16]
Death
editHe was reported in the New York Times as having died at the British Embassy in Rome of "malarial pneumonia".[17] The Times of London reported that he was passing through Rome on his way home from Albania, where his family had extensive interests, and caught malaria that turned to pneumonia.[18]
References
edit- ^ Mervyn Herbert grave in St Mary's Church churchyard, Kingston St Mary, Somerset. Gravestonephotos.com
- ^ Per inscribed brass tablet in Brushford Church
- ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition. Vol. 1. p. 699.
- ^ Winstone, H.V.F. (2006). Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (Rev edn). Barzan, Manchester. p. 335. ISBN 1-905521-04-9. OCLC 828501310.
- ^ "Ancestry and Descendants of Major Simon Willard". My Genealogy – Personal Ancestry site. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ Elizabeth Herbert is cited as Belle Roosevelt's sister in "Kermit and Belle Roosevelt Papers". Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Deaths in 1929". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1930 ed.). Wisden. p. 253.
- ^ "Scorecard: Marylebone Cricket Club v Nottinghamshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 1 May 1901. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Scorecard: Middlesex v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 22 July 1909. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Scorecard: Somerset v Kent". www.cricketarchive.com. 12 August 1909. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "First-class Matches played by Mervyn Herbert". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "No. 28065". The London Gazette. 1 October 1907. p. 6588.
- ^ "No. 28356". The London Gazette. 12 April 1910. p. 2489.
- ^ "No. 29822". The London Gazette. 14 November 1916. p. 10965.
- ^ "No. 31646". The London Gazette. 18 November 1919. p. 13909.
- ^ "Mervyn Herbert deposition at St Antony's College, Oxford" (PDF). www.sant.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ Abstract only referenced: full text available for a fee. "Mervyn Herbert, Diplomat, is Dead". New York Times. 28 May 1929. p. 25. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Obituaries: Mr Mervyn Herbert". The Times. No. 45213. London. 27 May 1929. p. 16.