THE MAYORS OF NORWICH

1733 Jeremiah Ives
Jeremiah Ives was sheriff in 1726 and mayor in 1733. He was born at Bourne in Lincolnshire on 26th March 1692. In 1734 he was residing in St. Saviour's. He supported the Whig interest. He bore arg: a chevron sab: between three moors' heads couped and proper. He died 20th March 1741. His mural tablet is on the north wall of St. Clement's church and contains a remarkable reference to his last illness. He was the first of four Jeremiah Ives to serve the mayoralty.

1748 Thomas Harvey
Thomas Harvey was sheriff in 1740, being chosen in April on the death of Charles Lay, and mayor in 1748. He was sworn alderman of North Conisford ward on 13th October 1742. He was born in 1710, being the son of John Harvey (mayor 1727) and was a merchant. He married Lydia, daughter of Jeremiah Ives, and was father of Jeremiah Ives Harvey (mayor 1783). A portrait of him in his robes of office by Heins was presented by a Society of Gentlemen in 1748 and hangs in Blackfriars' Hall. Another portrait was in the possession of the Harvey family of Thorpe. He died in 1772 and was buried in the family vault in St. Clement's church, where a neat mural monument remains to his memory. He is believed to have lived in No 18 Colegate, as a cartouche over the door in the rear contains the Harvey arms impaling those of Ives.

1756 Jeremiah Ives (the Elder of St. Saviour's)
Jeremiah Ives was sheriff in 1748 and mayor in 1756. He was elected alderman of Fyebridge ward in 1752. He was nephew [son] of Jeremiah Ives (mayor 1733) and cousin of Jeremiah Ives, mayor in 1769 and 1795. The two cousins were in partnership as merchants, and he resided at 24, St. Saviour's Lane. To distinguish him from his cousin he was known as Justice Ives or Jeremiah Ives the elder. His first wife was Sarah Aldred [Green] of St. Faith's, and his second Elizabeth Little. A son Jeremiah, of the first marriage, died in infancy. A son Jeremiah, of the second marriage, became mayor in 1786. He died in 1787, aged 63 [65], and was buried in the family vault in St. Clement's church, where is a mural monument with arms to his memory. In his will proved in the P.C.C. he mentions his house at Thorpe and an estate at Hoomington (Honingham), Norfolk. His daughters married into the families of Day and Harvey, and he was allied by marriage to the Baseleys. His portrait by Stoppelaer was presented by the Society of Gregorians in 1757 and is hung in the Blackfriars' Hall. The Gregorians were a social club that met every Monday evening at the White Swan in St. Peter's Street.

1769 & 1795 Jeremiah Ives (the Younger of St. Clement's)
Jeremiah Ives, a merchant, was sheriff in 1763, being chosen on the death of J. Allcocks, and mayor in 1769 and 1795. His portrait by Catton was presented by the yarn-makers of Norwich and hangs in Blackfriars' Hall. The tablet records that in 1781 he was chairman of a meeting of deputies from the different manufacturing counties and towns in the kingdom and that the portrait was presented in gratitude for his successful opposition to the designs of some misguided men, who attempted to procure an Act of the Legislature to permit the exportation of British wool.
He was a native of Bourne in Lincolnshire and in early life resided at 1 Colegate, opposite to St. Clement's church, a house afterwards occupied by Mrs. Opie, and much later used as St. Clement's Rectory. He was the son of [Robert Ives] Jeremiah Ives, who was mayor in 1733. His wife was Susanna Haycock, who died in 1805. He was called Alderman Ives to distinguish him from his cousin, Justice Ives, mayor in 1756. He died at Town Close House on 19th February 1805, aged seventy-six years. When he was sworn in 1795, he was senior alderman or Father of the City, and it happened for the first time that all the twenty-four aldermen had passed the chair. He was twice invited to contest the city for Parliament in the Whig interest. "Intrinsic worth, general utility, active benevolence were qualities which formed the basis of his public and private character. His unbounded, though undivulged benevolence and his exclusive charities were the more convincing proofs of an humane disposition and Christian philanthropy." There is a memorial to him in St. Clement's church, where he was buried.

1780 Benjamin Day
Benjamin Day was sheriff in 1773, being elected on the death of R. Matthews, and mayor in 1780. His mace irons are in St. Gregory's church. He was the son of John Day, who was mayor in 1768. He married Mary, daughter of Jeremiah Ives (mayor 1756). In 1783 he was living at Yarmouth. He died in March 1798.

1781 John Morse
John Morse was sheriff in 1779 and mayor in 1781 and 1803 and alderman for North Conisford. He was born on 13th December 1745 and died in 1837 in the ninety-second year of his age at his house in St. Catherine's Close. The late Sir George Morse had a painting [by Philip Reinagle] representing the members of the Carrow Abbey Hunt in 1780, in which are depicted John Morse, South Morse, Timothy Tompson, Robert Harvey, Jeremiah Ives, Jeremiah Tompson and James Mead.

1783 Jeremiah Ives Harvey
Jeremiah Ives Harvey was sheriff in 1779 and mayor in 1783. He was alderman for Conisford ward. He was son of Thomas Harvey, mayor 1748, and Lydia, daughter of Jeremiah Ives (mayor 1733). At the time of his mayoralty he was living at 18, Colegate. He died at his house at Catton on 6th January 1814, aged sixty-eight, and was interred in St. Clement's church, where is a mural monument to his memory.

1786 & 1801 Jeremiah Ives (of St. George's Tombland & Catton)
Jeremiah Ives, junior, was sheriff in 1782 and mayor in 1786 and 1801. He was a son of Jeremiah Ives, who was mayor in 1756. He was alderman for Great Wymer ward and a deputy-lieutenant for Norfolk. In January 1802 he and Mrs. Ives gave an elegant ball to three hundred ladies and gentlemen in honour of the short-lived peace. It is thus described in the Jerningham Letters: "The Mayor's ball was very splendid as to numbers, the dancing very much crowded in the Tea Room and a cold supper with hot soups in the Great Room, three tables from top to bottom and above 50 people not sitting....Mrs. Ives' dame d'honneur sat by her at supper, on the other side Miss Drake and by her that Handsome Fair Quaker Gurney from Earlham." Later in the year he presented to the King the city's address on Peace. He was a prominent Whig. At the time of his first mayoralty he lived at 26, Tombland. He built Catton Hall and died there on 24th March 1820, aged sixty-six. There is a memorial to him in St. Margaret's Church, Old Catton. On the death of his widow, Frances, the daughter of Charles Buckle, steward of Norwich, Catton Hall was sold to Captain George Morse. He left a son, Jeremiah Ives, D.L., of Colton. [It is possible that Jeremiah Ives of Catton Hall died without issue and that Jeremiah Ives, of Colton was the grandson of Jeremiah Ives, mayor in 1769 and 1795.]
At the beginning of his first mayoralty there were two ex-mayors of the name of Jeremiah Ives then living, and in documents they and he were distinguished thus: Jeremiah Ives, the elder (1756), Jeremiah Ives, of St. Clement's (1769), and Jeremiah Ives of St. George's Tombland (1786).

1787 Robert Harvey
Robert Harvey, junior, was sheriff in 1784 and mayor in 1787. He was a son of Robert Harvey, who was mayor in 1770 and 1800. He was a manufacturer and was alderman for Great Wymer ward and a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for the county of Norfolk. He married Anne, daughter of Jeremiah Ives, who was mayor in 1756. He died without issue at Catton.

NOTE: Information courtesy Carla Woodworth-Lynas whose husband's
sixth great-grandfather was Jeremiah Ives (1721-1787).