Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington

Who was Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington?

Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington was a British admiral and politician of the late 17th and early 18th century. Cashiered as a rear-admiral by James II of England in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Catholics from holding offices, he brought the Invitation to William to The Hague, disguised as a simple sailor. As a reward he was made commander of William's invasion fleet during the Glorious Revolution.

Arthur was the son of the Attorney General and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Edward Herbert of Aston, Montgomeryshire by his wife, Margaret, daughter of the Master of Requests, Thomas Smith of Abingdon, Berkshire & Parson's Green, Middlesex, and widow of Thomas Carey of Sunninghill Park, Berkshire. He was brother of Chief Justice Herbert, member for Dover, Master of the Robes, and rear-admiral of England. He was much loved by the sailors, and was reputed one of the best of the aristocratic class of naval officers. It had been generally supposed that he would readily comply with the royal wishes; for he was heedless of religion, he was fond of pleasure and expense, he had no private estates, his places brought him in £4,000 a year, and he had long been reckoned among the most devoted personal adherents of James. When, however, the rear-admiral was closeted, and required to promise that he would vote for the repeal of the Test Act, his answer was, that his honour and conscience would not permit him to give any such pledge. "Nobody doubts your honour", said the King; "but a man who lives as you do ought not to talk about his conscience." To this reproach—a reproach which came from a bad grace from the lover of Catharine Sedley—Herbert manfully replied:- "I have my faults, sir; but I could name people who talk much more about conscience than I am in the habit of doing, and yet lead lives as loose as mine." He was dismissed from all his places. --