Henry Savile

Henry Savile (1642 – 6 October 1687) was an English courtier, diplomat and Member of Parliament.

Savile was born at Rufford in Nottinghamshire, the third son of Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet and his wife Anne Coventry. His elder brother was George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax.

He served as Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of York from 1665 to 1672 and to King Charles II from 1673 to 1678. During this time, he was also made envoy-extraordinary to France between 1672 and 1673 and between 1678 and 1682.

In 1673, he was elected Member of Parliament in an irregular election for Newark, which was eventually declared void in 1677. In the subsequent by-election Savile was properly re-elected, sitting until 1679. He was elected again in 1685, sitting until 1687.

In 1680, he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household. In 1687 he went to Paris for a surgical operation, but died there.

He was a close friend of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

Savile was part of the Merry Gang (as Andrew Marvell described them). The Merry Gang flourished for about 15 years after 1665 and included John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Henry Jermyn; Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset; John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave; Henry Killigrew; Sir Charles Sedley; the playwrights William Wycherley and George Etherege; and George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The Merry Gang were advocates of libertinism. Rochester claimed his aim was to halt "the strange decay of manly parts since the days of dear Harry the Second ". The gang engaged in acts that were loud, outraged public decency and often included violence against women.

In 1671, a Thomas Muddyman reported to Rochester that Savile had broken into the bedroom of "Lady Northumberland" (presumably Elizabeth Percy, Countess of Northumberland whose husband Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland had died in 1670) with the intention of raping her.