James Vernon (politician, born 1646)

[1] Vernon was employed by Sir Joseph Williamson to collect news in Holland in March 1672, and in the following June attended Lord Halifax on his mission to Louis XIV.

Shrewsbury's ill-health, however, and the course of events soon thrust Vernon into prominence, and during the king's absences on the continent he acted as secretary to the lords justices.

On him fell the main burden of investigating the assassination plot, and of hushing up the charges brought by Sir John Fenwick (1645–1697) against Godolphin, Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Russell.

The dexterity which he displayed in this affair, and Shrewsbury's virtual retirement, enhanced his consequence, and at Sunderland's suggestion he received the seals on the resignation of Sir William Trumbull, and was sworn of the privy council (5 December 1697).

He went down to Tunbridge Wells with a mind made up against the treaty, and, though he drafted the blank commission and transmitted it to Holland, he fully approved, if he did not inspire, the letter with which Somers accompanied it (28 August 1698).

When the treaty came before the notice of parliament, Portland, who bore the first brunt of the attack, sought to share his responsibility with Vernon, whom he represented as cognisant of and concurring in the negotiation from the outset.

Vernon cleared himself from this charge by producing with the king's leave the relevant correspondence, and, though no less responsible than Somers for the course taken at Tunbridge Wells, he was omitted from the articles of impeachment and was continued in office.

A staunch Whig, Vernon viewed with undisguised alarm the death of the Duke of Gloucester on 30 July 1700, and proposed that the king should again marry and the succession be settled, in default of issue, in the Hanoverian line, thus passing over Anne.

[4] He was one of the commissioners to whom, on 28 August 1716, the Privy Seal was entrusted during Sunderland's absence on the continent, but held no other office during the reign of George I. Vernon's wife Mary died on 12 October 1715.