John Hearle Tremayne was born on 17th March 1780, the eldest son of Revd. Henry Hawkins Tremayne of Heligan. On 11th January 1813 he married Caroline Matilda Lemon (the youngest daughter of Sir William Lemon.) He died, suddenly, on Sunday 14th September, 1851 whilst he and his wife were on a visit to Dawlish.
M P for Truro
John Hearle Tremayne was elected to parliament, representing Truro, at the early age of 26, when he was returned with his father-in-law. According to a fellow MP, Joseph Phillimore in 1818 “He is a thoroughly independent person, and wholly unconnected with any party” (“The House of Commons 1790-1820” ed. R.G. Thomas History of Parliament ---- 1986). He refused to pledge himself to reform of Parliament to meet the request of Cornish reformers (Tremayne mss. Tremayne to his father 2nd June 1818).
On the day he died his good works were remembered …
He left written instructions that his funeral should be private, but in a sermon preached in the churches of Marystow and Thrushelton “To improve the Decease of John Hearle Tremayne, Esq” by Edgcombe Rimell, B.A., on the day of his death, we learn that “It was of course, however, to the labourers, who resided on his own property, or worked under his immediate employment, that his generosity was most freely manifested.” When they were sick they were still paid, and provided with food and medical care. He regularly visited his employees in their homes and even paid off their debts. He maintained several schools and considered the education of the poorer children important. He encouraged others to follow his lead. Like other landowners of the time he supported the various institutions, hospitals and dispensaries of Cornwall and Devon. Even the churches benefited from his generosity.
It is not only the church and parliament who bothered to record the life of this gentleman. An extract from “Sir C.R.s” probably Sir Colman Rashleigh’s speech at thr first Session after “dear, dear Mr.Tremayne’s death” , reads
“I am sure I need not remind any one in this Court that since our last meeting, it has pleased God, in his infinite wisdom, to remove from among us our kind and much valued friend (I had almost said father) – Mr Tremayne.
I need not remind you of this melancholy event; for no one can enter this Hall without missing the well-known and well-beloved form of him who, for a series of years, devoted the best energies of his life to the service of the public and the good of his fellow men, - of one, I may say, beloved, respected and deplored by all. He needs no eulogium from me; he needs no monument to record his virtues; his memory will long live in the hearts of all Cornishmen and in the grateful prayers and blessings of his poorer neighbours -.
I trust I may be permitted to express my personal gratitude to the memory of one who first kindly introduced and instructed me in the duties of a magistrate and who was always my kind and ready adviser.
That kindness he extended to me, he, on all occasions, extended to all, and therefore I may truly say, that the loss of no individual has been so universally felt, in the memory of the oldest among us –“. (Cornwall Record Office T 3075)
Mourned by the County
The West Briton devoted nearly two columns to his obituary, telling its readers that “a sudden and unexpected death has deprived one of the principal county families of its head, and the county itself of one of its most distinguished and most useful men.” (Cornish Studies Library). The description of his death is so well drawn one has the sense of reading of a contemporary tragedy.
Everything that was said and written about J H Tremayne is reflected in his own letter to John Allen of Liskeard in June 1834, reproduced in full on the Members' page.
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