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James Modyford Heywood
Portrait of Heywood, by Thomas Gainsborough, 18th century
Member of Parliament for Fowey
In office 1768–1774Serving with Philip Rashleigh
Preceded by	Philip Rashleigh Hon. Robert Boyle-Walsingham
Succeeded by	Philip Rashleigh The Lord Shuldham
High Sheriff of Devon
In office 1759–1760
Preceded by	Peter Comyns
Succeeded by	Arscott Bickford
Personal details
Born	1732
Died	22 April 1798(1798-04-22) (aged 65–66)
Spouse	Catherine Hartopp
Relations	Sir Abraham Elton, 2nd Baronet (grandfather)
Children	6
Parent(s)	James Heywood Mary Elton
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

James Modyford Heywood (c1729 – 22 March 1798) was an English Member of Parliament for Fowey, plantation owner in Jamaica, and Lord of the Admiralty.

Early life

Heywood was the only son of James Heywood (c1684–1738), of Maristow (near Roborough in Devon) and Jamaica, and the former Mary Elton (1706–1755), daughter of Sir Abraham Elton, 2nd Baronet of Clevedon Court, MP for Bristol and Taunton. His paternal grandparents were Col. Peter Heywood and Grace (née Modyford) Heywood (daughter of Elizabeth (née Stanning) Modyford and Sir James Modyford, 1st Baronet, Deputy-governor of Jamaica). His sister, Lucy Heywood, married Sir Robert Throckmorton, 4th Baronet.

Heywood succeeded to his father's estates in 1738, including Heywood Hall in St. Mary, Jamaica. He was educated at Eton between 1742 and 1747 and entered Trinity College, Cambridge on 8 June 1747, aged 17.

Career

Heywood served as High Sheriff of Devon in 1759. After a contest, Heywood was returned for Fowey on the Edgcumbe interest in 1768, although no vote by him is recorded before February 1774. In 1770 Thomas Davenport wrote to the Duke of Portland, that "Heywood would have Administration support at the next election." There is no record of his having spoken in the House and he did not stand again for Parliament.

Heywood served as Lord of the Admiralty from December 1783 to March 1784,. under his brother-in-law, Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (who became First Lord of the Admiralty in January 1783 during the Earl of Shelburne's ministry, resigning in April 1783 when the Duke of Portland came to power and being re-appointed in December 1783 under the Younger Pitt's first ministry.

Before his death, Heywood sold his Jamaican estate, Heywood Hall (and the enslaved people on it), to Donald Campbell for £18,000.

Personal life

In 1755 Heywood married Catherine Hartopp, daughter and co-heiress of Gen. Chiverton Hartopp of Welby, Nottinghamshire, the Lt. Governor of Plymouth. Her sister, Mary Hartopp, was the wife of Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe. Together, Catherine and James were the parents of one son and five daughters, including:

• Sophia Heywood (1758–1819), who married John Musters of Colwick Hall, in 1776.
• Emma Heywood (c. 1760–1805), who married Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, the natural son of Lord Albemarle Bertie, the brother of Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven and Brownlow Bertie, 5th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, in 1783.
• Maria Henrietta Heywood (c. 1763–1817), who married Lewis Montolieu, a director of Hammersley's Bank who was a son of Lt.-Col. Louis Charles Montolieu, Baron de St. Hypolite, in 1786. Lewis' sister, Anne, was the wife of Sir James Lamb, 1st Baronet.
• Frances "Fanny" Heywood (1765–1834), who married Thomas Orby Hunter, a grandson of Thomas Orby Hunter, MP for Winchelsea, in 1796.

Heywood died on 22 March 1798 and was buried at St Botolph's, Shenleybury, Shenley. After his death, he instructed that his English estates be sold to fund the trusts under his will. Accordingly, Maristow House was sold to Manasseh Masseh Lopes (the son of a rich plantation owner, whose family later gained the title of Baron Roborough), reputedly for £100,000.

References

1. ^ Drummond, Mary M. "HEYWOOD, James Modyford (?1729-98), of Marystow, nr. Tavistock, Devon". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
2. Matthews, Shirley. "ELTON, Abraham (1679-1742), of Bristol and Clevedon Court, Som". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
3. Worthy, Charles (1887). Devonshire parishes, or The antiquities, heraldry and family history of twenty-eight parishes in the archdeaconry of Totnes. p. 15. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
4. England), St George's Church (Westminster, London; Society, Harleian (1886). The Register Book of Marriages Belonging to the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex. Harleian Society. p. 129. Retrieved 9 October 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. ^ "James Modyford Heywood". wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk. Legacies of British Slavery. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
6. Heathcote, Tony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 – 1995. Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-835-6.
7. ^ "HOWE, Richard, 4th Visct. Howe [I] (1726-99), of Langar, nr. Nottingham". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
8. "Mrs Catherine Heywood". www.liverpoolmuseums.org. National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
9. "Sophia Musters (née Heywood)". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
10. Alexander, Caroline (25 May 2004). The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Penguin. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-14-200469-2. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
11. "House of Bertie". European Heraldry. 2015. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
12. "Bertie, Admiral Sir Albemarle". The annual biography and obituary for the year 1825. Vol. 9. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. 1825. p. 396.
13. Hiscocks, Richard (17 January 2016). "Cape Commander-in-Chief 1795-1852". morethannelson.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
14. "RICHARD COSWAY, R.A. | PORTRAIT OF MARIE HENRIETTA DE MONTOLIEU DE SAINT-HIPPOLITE, NÉE MODYRODE HEYWOOD". www.sothebys.com. Sotheby's. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
15. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, page 2002.
16. History of Hertfordshire, by John Edwin Cussans (London: 1881), vol 3, page 317
17. "Pictures: Savour the country house lifestyle in Devon for £795,000". Western Morning News. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2016.

External links

• Lease 1 James Modyford Heywood of Maristow, Devon, esq 2 John Moore Knighton of... at The National Archives

• 1720s births
• 1798 deaths
• People educated at Eton College
• Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
• High sheriffs of Devon
• Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Fowey
• British MPs 1768–1774
• Lords of the Admiralty