sporting and Rural Records of the Cheveley Estate. 



29 



created by patent, dated at Breda, April 27, 1660, Earl of 

 St. Albans, co. Hertford. This creation having been made before 

 the Restoration, was technically considered informal — the patent 

 not having passed the great seal — but it was confirmed and 

 enrolled by order of the Master of the Rolls, August 9, 1663.* 

 He was subsequently made a Knight of the Garter, and constituted 

 Lord Chamberlain of the Household. He died unmarried in 1683, 

 when the earldom of St. Albans became extinct, and the barony 

 of Jermyn devolved upon (his deceased brother Thomas's son) 

 his nephew, Thomas Jermyn, who died, without male heirs, in 

 I 703, when the barony of Jermyn of St. Edmundsbury also became 

 extinct. 



Soon after the Restoration, Lord St. Albans was appointed 

 Ambassador Extraordinary to Louis XIV., at whose Court he 

 maintained an almost regal establishment. During this mission he 

 was invested with and influenced many negotiations with Courts 

 throughout the continent, and was, to all intents and purposes, for 

 the time being, the presiding genius in the foreign affairs of this 

 country. Meanwhile he did not neglect his personal interests at 

 home. He obtained various rich sinecures, among others a grant 

 of the office of Registrar of the Court of Chancery, together with 

 all the fees, allowances, privileges, and advantages whatsoever 

 belonging to the said office and usually enjoyed therewith. He 

 had the supervision of the military establishments of the Channel 

 Islands, where his brother Thomas, Lord Jermyn, was the de 

 facto Governor, although his appointment was nominally restricted 

 to Jersey alone. For this service they drew very large sums from 

 the Treasury ; but it must be confessed, to their honour, that, by 

 their policy, they probably saved the Channel Islands from the 

 fate that befel Dunquirk. He also obtained a grant from the King 

 of " several slips of ground in St. James's Fields," a property 

 which now represents a rent roll of half a million sterling per 

 annum ! He was chief trustee of the honours, manors, and lands of 

 * Patent Roll, 12 Charles II., Part xl., No. 7. 



Cheveley. 



Henry Jermyn, 



Baron Jermyn, 



Earl of 



St. Albans. 



Ambassador to 

 Louis XIV. 



His emolu- 

 ments. 



