ROUS, Richard (c.1621-c.72), of Halton, St. Dominick, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

16 May 1661 - 6 Feb. 1673

Family and Education

b. c.1621, 2nd s. of William Rous of Halton by Mary, da. of Richard, 1st Baron Robartes of Truro. educ. Gloucester Hall, Oxf., matric. 16 Nov. 1638, aged 17. m. lic. Jan. 1668, Mary, da. of John Clarke of Landulph, Cornw., steward of the Lower estate, s.p. suc. bro. aft. 1651.2

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Cornw. 1661-9.

Biography

Rous’s family claimed descent from one of the companions of the Conqueror, and his ancestors were seated in the Devonshire manor of Little Modbury under Henry III. His great-grandfather, Sir Anthony Rous, who acquired Halton, was one of the leading Cornish Puritans, sitting for East Looe in 1584 and for the county under James I. Rous’s elder brother, Anthony, fought for the King in the Civil War, and compounded in 1647 on a fine of £641. Rous stood for Bossiney at the general election of 1661 on the interest of his uncle, the 2nd Lord Robartes, and was involved in a double return. He was allowed to sit in the Cavalier Parliament on the merits of the return, but he was not an active Member. He twice defaulted on calls of the House and was appointed to only thirteen committees. He was added to the committee of elections and privileges in two sessions. In 1666 he was named to the committee to invalidate the will of John Bodvile to the great benefit of his cousin and colleague Robert Robartes, and in 1668 to that for the improvement of navigation. After purging his default in 1671 he was appointed to the committees for the encouragement of fishing and the transfer of the Cornish assizes to the Robartes stronghold, Bodmin. The last of his family, he died in debt sometime between April 1671, when Parliament was prorogued, and February 1673, when a new writ for Bossiney was ordered. His widow sold Halton to her brother, Henry Clarke.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. New writ.
  • 2. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 412-13; Parochial Hist. Cornw. i. 296-7; Soc. of Genealogists, Exeter mar. lic.
  • 3. Parochial Hist. Cornw. i. 296-7, 300; Lysons, Devon, 344; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1772-3; Cal. Comm. Adv. Mon. 1374; Gilbert, Hist. Cornw. ii. 313.