Sir Richard Vyvyan, 8th Baronet

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix = Sir
name = Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan
honorific-suffix = 8th Baronet


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birth_date =6 June, 1800
birth_place =Trelowarren, Cornwall, England
death_date = 15 August 1879
death_place = Trelowarren, Cornwall, England
restingplace = Mawgan-in-Meneage, Cornwall, England
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party = Tory
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children = no issue
residence = Trelowarren, Cornwall
alma_mater = Christ Church, Oxford
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Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet (6 June 1800–15 August 1879) was a British Member of Parliament representing several constituencies in his career. He is also member of a famous Cornwall family, the Vyvyans.

From 1827 to 1831, Sir Richard represented Cornwall. From 1831 he represented Okehampton, but upon the passage of the Reform Act 1832, he moved to Bristol, serving until 1837. He later served as Member for Helston from 1841 until 1857. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1840.

In 1826, Vyvyan was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his "considerable literary and scientific acquirements especially in the Philosophy of Natural Science.cite web
url= http://royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=(Surname=%27vyvyan%27)
title= Fellow: Vyvyan; Sir; Richard Rawlinson (1800 - 1879) |date= |year= 1826 |month=
format= |work= |publisher= Royal Society ] , previously having being a Fellow of theGeological Society.

The Vyvyan family have had a large estate called Trelowarren in Cornwall for over 500 years. They moved to Trelowarren in 1427 from Treviddren, St. Buryan when they acquired Trelowarren through marriage to Honora Ferrers' daughter, heir to the estate of the previous owner, Richard Ferrer. Trelowarren's first garden (at least under the Vyvyans) is recorded in 1428. In the English Civil War (1642-1651) the Vyvyans were royalist supporters. An ancestor, Sir Richard Vyvyan (1613 -1724), head of the family during the Civil War, was given a large Vandyke painting of
King Charles I (1600-1649) on horseback by King Charles II (1630-1685) in recognition of his support. That painting continues to hang in the family house in Trelowarren today.

Another member of the family, Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet (1681-1736), was imprisoned in the Tower of London by George I (1660-1727), on suspicion of favoring the "Pretender to the throne," James Francis Edward Stuart (called "James III" by his supporters).

Vyvyan’s scientific writings

* "An Essay on Arithmo-physiology", privately printed, 1825.
* "Psychology, or a Review of the Arguments in proof of the Existence and Immortality of the Animal Soul," vol. i. 1831; called in immediately after publication.

*"The Harmony of the Comprehensible World" (anon.), 1842, 2 vols.
*"The Harmony of the Comprehensible World" (anon.), 1845. He also published several letters and speeches. His letter ‘to the magistrates of Berkshire’ on their practice of ‘consigning prisoners to solitary confinement before trial, and ordering them to be disguised by masks,’ passed into a second edition in 1845. His account of the ‘fogou’ or cave at Halligey, Trelowarren, is in the "Journal" of the Royal Institute of Cornwall (1885, viii. 256-8).

References

* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~talltrees/FamilyHistories/Vivian/Vivian.htm Family genealogy]
* [http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/houses/trelowarren.htm Trelowarren web site]
* [http://www.plants.info/gardens/trelowarren.htm Trelowarren garden description]
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28362 "`Vyvyan, Sir Richard Rawlinson, eighth baronet (1800–1879)’"] , W. P. Courtney, rev. Rita M. Gibbs, 2004, Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 30 June 2007, ( [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Vyvyan,_Sir_Richard_Rawlinson_(DNB00) transcription] ).
*rayment

Persondata
NAME = Vyvyan, Richard Rawlinson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Vyvyan, Sir Richard, 8th Baronet
SHORT DESCRIPTION = politician and student of science
DATE OF BIRTH = 6 June, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH = Trelowarren, Cornwall, England
DATE OF DEATH = 15 August 1879
PLACE OF DEATH = Trelowarren, Cornwall, England