Vice Admiral Augustus John Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, PC (19 May 1724 – 23 December 1779[1]) was a Royal Navy officer and politician.

[2] Hervey distinguished himself in several encounters with the French, and was of great assistance to Admiral Hawke in 1759, although he had returned to England before the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.

[2] Having served with distinction in the West Indies under Rodney, his active life at sea ceased when the Peace of Paris was concluded in February 1763.

[9] In August 1744 Hervey had been secretly married to Elizabeth Chudleigh (1720–1788), afterwards Duchess of Kingston, but this union was dissolved in 1769.

[1] In 1748 after Hervey had rejoined his ship and his marriage was foundering, he had formed a deep passion for Etheldreda Townshend, who had previously attracted the amorous attentions of both his elder brother George and his father.

He died due to gout in the stomach at St James's Square, London on 23 December 1779, aged 55, and was buried at Ickworth in Suffolk; he was succeeded by his brother Frederick.

[13] Bristol Bay, the rich salmon fishing ground in southwest Alaska, was so named in honour of Hervey by Captain James Cook, who first charted the region in July 1778.