BROWN, Sir Robert, 1st Bt. (d.1760), of Wiggenhall St. Mary, Norf.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1734 - 1747

Family and Education

1st s. of William Brown of London, merchant, by Grisel Brice, of Kilroot, nr. Belfast. m. Margaret, da. of Robert Cecil, M.P., 2nd s. of James, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, 2da. d.v.p. cr. Bt. 11 Mar. 1732.

Offices Held

Paymaster of works 1741-14 July 1742.

Biography

Sir Robert Brown, a rich merchant of Venice,1 noted for his avarice,2 wrote from Venice to Lord Essex, the British ambassador at Turin, in May 1734:

My pursuit relating to the next election will be attended with little trouble and no expense to myself; which are circumstances I like very much, though it may perhaps make the event in my behalf less certain. I do not so much as know yet for what place I am to be put up, but I have had repeated assurances in many letters, to give me an entire confidence relating to what was intended of this kind in my favour.3

Elected in his absence for Ilchester, he returned to England, voting consistently with the Administration. The 1st Lord Egmont, who leased a house in Pall Mall to him, described him as ‘a very devoted man to Sir Robert Walpole, and every day with him (for I’m told he manages money for him in the public funds)’.4 After Walpole’s fall he continued to support the Government. Classed as an Old Whig in 1746, he did not stand again. He died 5 Oct. 1760.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Shirley Matthews

Notes

PCC 379 Lynch.

  • 1. HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 139.
  • 2. Walpole to Montagu, 25 Oct. 1760.
  • 3. Add. 27733, f. 65.
  • 4. HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 286.