Their family was related to the Herbert Earls of Pembroke, prominent figures in English government and society throughout the Jacobean and Caroline era.
Edward Herbert was ambassador in Paris, and Henry joined him in 1619 and became involved in the case of Piero Hugon and the jewels of Anne of Denmark.
[3] Herbert's role as Master of the Revels involved reading and licensing plays and supervising all kinds of public entertainment.
Sir John Astley, the official Master from 1622 to his death in January 1640, had appointed Herbert his deputy the year that he was knighted in 1623.
[5] Since Herbert was responsible for licensing and also censoring plays, he had a powerful influence on English drama for two decades, 1623–1642.
Herbert had barely gained the official position of Master in 1641 when the theatres were closed at the start of the English Civil War in August 1642.
Charles I gave the manor of Ribbesford (in whose parish the Borough of Bewdley lies) to his brothers in 1627 and they passed it to Herbert.
[2] Herbert married secondly, in 1650/51, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Offley of London and Oadby, Leicestershire.
This nobleman was a great-grandson of the 2nd Lord Herbert of Cherbury of the first creation, and since his time the barony has been held by the Earls of Powis.
[10] When Herbert died in 1673, his papers, including the office-book, were stored at his home, the manor-house of Ribbesford, Worcestershire.
However, the office-book and other documents related to it were overlooked, remaining at Ribbesford in an old wooden chest where they were partially damaged by water leakage.
At some point, the scholar Craven Ord studied the office-book and transcribed a large number of entries from it but did not publish them.
[11] When Craven Ord died, his transcripts of the office-book were auctioned and ultimately ended up in the hands of Jacob Henry Burn, who was compiling notes toward a history of the Office of the Revels.