Sir Bevil Granville (3 May 1665 – 15 September 1706) was an English soldier and politician from Cornwall, who was MP for Fowey and Lostwithiel from 1690 to 1698. He also served as Governor of Pendennis Castle from 1693 to 1703 and Governor of Barbados from 1703 to 1706, and died at sea on his return voyage to England in September 1706.
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Personal details
Bevil Granville was born in London and baptised on 3 May 1665 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, eldest son of Bernard Granville (1631–1701) and his wife Anne Morley (died 1701). His grandfather was the Royalist hero Sir Bevil Grenville (1596–1643) who died at the Battle of Lansdowne, while his father was Groom of the Chamber to Charles II and MP for various constituencies from 1661 to 1698.
He had two brothers, George (1666–1735), Secretary at War in the 1710 to 1712 Tory government, and Bernard (1670–1723); both were suspected of Jacobitism after George I became king in 1714 and lost office as a result. Bevil never married and left his entire estate to his brother George.
Career
After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1679, he spent several years in Paris, before returning to England. In June 1685, he was commissioned as captain in a regiment raised by his uncle, the Earl of Bath, part of an expansion of the military by James II following the Monmouth Rebellion.
Knighted by James in 1686, he was promoted major in 1687 and in August 1688 his regiment was sent to garrison Plymouth, a key strategic port in the West Country. His uncle, who was Governor of the town, defected to William of Orange after his landing at Torbay during the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, while Granville was sent to secure Jersey.
