Family and Education

b. 1751, 1st s. of John Corbet of Sundorne by Barbara Letitia, da. of John Mytton of Halston, nr. Shrewsbury. educ. Pembroke, Oxf. 7 Jan. 1770 aged 18. m. (1) 15 Sept. 1774, his 2nd cos. Emma Elizabeth, da. of Sir Charlton Leighton, 3rd Bt., and sis. of Sir Charlton Leighton, 4th Bt., 1s. 1da.; (2) 19 Feb. 1806, Anne, da. of Rev. William Pigott of Edgmond, Newport, Salop, 4s. 1da.

Offices Held

Biography

Corbet came of a old Shropshire family with several branches in the county. His estate, within three miles of Shrewsbury, gave him a natural interest there, and in 1775, on the death of Lord Clive, he was returned unopposed. In Parliament he voted with the Opposition on America, 2 Feb. 1778, and was classed as ‘contra, present’ on the contractors bill, 12 Feb. 1779. His only other recorded votes were with the Opposition on Dunning’s motion, 6 Apr. 1780, and the motion against prorogation, 24 Apr., and he appears as ‘contra’ in Robinson’s survey of 1780. There is no record of his having spoken in the House. He did not stand again for Parliament in 1780.

Corbet died 19 May 1817. The Gentleman’s Magazine (1817, i. 636-7) wrote that he was ‘well known beyond the precincts of his own county, particularly in Warwickshire, where at his own expense, he kept a pack of fox hounds for nearly 30 years ... [He] kept up the character of the independent country gentleman firmly attached to our glorious constitution ... and always anxiously wishing his powerful interest in the borough of Shrewsbury to tend to its support.’

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes