Hervey was born in 1625, the third son of
Sir William Hervey (1585–1660) of
Ickworth, by his marriage in 1612 to Susan Jermyn, a daughter of
Sir Robert Jermyn. On 3 April 1641, aged fifteen, Hervey was admitted to
Pembroke College, Cambridge, as a
pensioner, but did not take a degree. He became a
Justice of the Peace for Suffolk, an
Alderman of the corporation of
Bury St Edmunds, and from 1664 to 1668 was a
Commissioner of the Royal Navy. By 1665, Hervey had been
knighted. In his diary for 7 June 1665, Pepys recorded a merry dinner at the Dolphin Tavern with Hervey,
Sir John Mennes, and
Lord Brouncker, saying of it "very merry we were, Sir Thomas Harvy being a very drolle." On 10 February 1666, as the
Great Plague of London was abating, Pepys noted "This day comes first Sir Thomas Harvy after the plague, having been out of towne all this while. He was coldly received by us..." On 7 November, Pepys wrote dismissively of Hervey "... but a coxcombe he is and will never be better in the business of the Navy". When Hervey resigned his commission,
Charles II gave him a generous
royal bounty. On 18 January 1679, with the death of his childless elder brother
John Hervey (born 1616), Hervey inherited the Ickworth estate, and the same year became one of the two members of parliament for Bury. With the accession of
James II, he was part of the opposition to the new king in parliament. ==Personal life==