Richard Langhorne and the ‘Nevills of Nevill Holt’: A Note

In a recent article Richard Langhorne’s disclosures to the Privy Council in July of 1679 and the Government’s subsequent failure to act on this information were discussed. One person named in this testimony was a Colonel Neville, who was accused of holding some money that belonged to the Society of Jesus. According to Langhorne, the Jesuit William Gilbert had deposited £100 with the colonel. Although Langhorne did not mention it, presumably the Society either received annual rents or held a mortgage as a security for the sum. A few months after Langhorne’s discovery on 12 November 1679, the Government issued a proclamation that offered a moiety to anyone who provided information that would lead to the discovery and confiscation of hidden resources of the Jesuits. The proclamation enumerated the estates both real and personal about which the Government already had information and against which legal action had been initiated. Among the personal estates was a £2500 mortgage charged upon the estate of a Henry Neville, Esq. In the article it was wondered if Henry Neville and Colonel Neville were the same man and if the amount specified by Langhorne was but a small portion of the total amount that he owed the Society of Jesus. Shortly after completion of the article, I rediscovered Bernard Elliott’s ‘A Leicestershire Recusant Family: The Nevills of Nevili Holt,’ an important study that I had inadvertently overlooked as I researched the topic. That work renewed my interest in the subject and prompted my return to the archives.