Abraham Robarts (MP for Worcester)

English banker and politician

Abraham Robarts

Member of Parliament for Worcester
In office 1796–1816Serving with Edmund Wigley, Joseph Scott, Henry Bromley, William Gordon
Preceded by	Edmund Lechmere Edmund Wigley
Succeeded by	William Gordon Viscount Deehurst

Personal details
Born	(1745-09-27)27 September 1745
Died	26 November 1816(1816-11-26) (aged 71)
Spouse	Sabine Tierney (m. 1774; died 1816)
Children	9, including Abraham, James, William, George
Parent(s)	Abraham Robarts Elizabeth Wildey

Abraham Robarts (27 September 1745 – 26 November 1816) was an English banker and politician. He was a factor in the West Indies trade, and a director of the East India Company.

Early life

Robarts was born on 27 September 1745, a son of Capt. Abraham Robarts of Stepney, Middlesex, by the former Elizabeth Wildey (daughter and heiress of Samuel Wildey of Stepney).

Career

Early in his career he was a partner with James Tierney in the firm of Tierney, Lilly and Robarts, Spanish merchants.

He became a Director of the Royal Exchange Insurance Company from 1781 to 1786 and then served as a director of the East India Company six times between 1786 and 1815, normally for three years each time.

In 1792, he became a city banker in partnership with Sir William Curtis in the firm of Robarts, Curtis, Were, Hornyold and Berwick, of Cornhill.

Robarts went into politics first in 1784, as an unsuccessful candidate in Wootton Bassett. He established himself as Member of Parliament at Worcester in 1796, when his local banking associate Edmund Lechmere MP (1747–1798) got into financial difficulties and had to give up the seat. Robarts was an uncontested candidate, and won successive terms, sitting until his death in 1816.

Personal life

On 16 June 1774, Robarts was married to Sabine Tierney (1752–1833), a daughter of Thomas Tierney and sister of George Tierney. Together, they had four sons and five daughters, including:

Sabine Robarts (1775–1814), who married Charles Thellusson, MP for Worcester and son of merchant Peter Thellusson, in 1795.
Abraham Wildey Robarts (1779–1858), MP for Maidstone who married Charlotte Anne Wilkinson in 1808.
Sophia Charlotte Robarts (1781–1855), who died unmarried.
George James Robarts (1782–1829), MP for Wallingford.
Sidney Robarts (1788-1852), who married John Edward Madocks, MP for Denbigh Boroughs and nephew of William Madocks, in 1817.
James Thomas Robarts (1784–1825), of the East India Company who married Charlotte Llyod in 1825. After his death she married Robert Dent Esq. in 1826.
William Tierney Robarts (1786–1820), MP for St. Albans who died unmarried.
Marianne Jane Roberts (1787–1842).

Robarts died a wealthy man upon his death on 26 November 1816.

Descendants

Through his son Abraham, he was a grandfather of banker Abraham George Robarts, who married Elizabeth Sarah Smyth (daughter of John Henry Smyth and Lady Elizabeth FitzRoy of Heath Hall). Their son, Abraham John Robarts of Robarts, Lubbock & Co., married Hon. Edith Barrington (a daughter of the 8th Viscount Barrington) and were the parents of banker Gerald Robarts.

Through his daughter Sidney, he was a grandfather of Henry Robarts Madocks (c. 1825–1902), who married Hon. Amelia Napier (daughter of Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier). Among their children were Ermine Mary Katherine Murray (née Madocks), Viscountess Elibank (wife of the 2nd Viscount Elibank).

References

^ Taylor, Lawrence. "ROBARTS, Abraham (1745-1816), of Finsbury Square, Moorfields, London and North End, Hampstead, Mdx". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
"The Directors of the East India Company, 1754-1790" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
"Mrs Charles Thellusson, née Sabine Robarts (1775–1814), and Her Son, Charles Thellusson (1797–1856)". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Fisher, David R. "THELLUSSON, Charles (1770-1815), of Finsbury Square, London and Brodsworth, Yorks". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Farrell, Stephen. "ROBARTS, Abraham Wildey (1779-1858), of 15 Lombard Street, London; 26 Hill Street, Berkeley Square, Mdx., and Roehampton, Surr". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
^ "Summary of Individual Abraham Wildey Robarts, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 15 November 2017.
Fisher, David R. "ROBARTS, George James (?1782-1829), of Grosvenor Street, Mdx". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Sir Bernard Burke (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison. p. 870.
Thorne, R. G. "ROBARTS, William Tierney (c.1786-1820), of 49 Lower Grosvenor Street, Mdx". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Michael Kassler (2011). The Music Trade in Georgian England. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 469, 499. ISBN 978-0-7546-6065-1.
Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison. p. 1171. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Burke, Bernard (1900). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Harrison & Sons. p. 1348. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 175; volume 2, page 2856.
"Ermine Mary Katherine Murray (née Madocks), Viscountess Elibank". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 22 November 2023.

External links

Abraham Robarts at the British Museum

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded byEdmund Lechmere Edmund Wigley	Member of Parliament for Worcester 1796–1816 With: Edmund Wigley (1796–1802) Joseph Scott (1802–1806) Henry Bromley (1806–1807) William Gordon (1807–1816)	Succeeded byWilliam Gordon Viscount Deehurst

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