CORBET, Sir Robert, 4th Bt. (c.1670-1740), of Adderley and Stoke, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1705 - 1710
1715 - 1722

Family and Education

b. c.1670, o. surv. s. of Sir John Corbet, 3rd Bt., of Stoke by his 1st w. Theophilia, da. and h. of John Campbell of Woodford, Essex and gdda. of John Mohun†, 1st Baron Mohun of Okehampton.  educ. Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 6 July 1687, aged 17; I. Temple 1688.  m. lic. 21 June 1693, Jane, da. of William Hooker of St. Clement Danes, Mdx., 3s. 4da.  suc. fa. as 4th Bt. 1695.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Salop 1700–1; freeman, Shrewsbury 1721–d.2

Clerk of Green Cloth 1720–1727; commr. customs 1735–d.3

Biography

Corbet belonged to a cadet branch of a prominent Shropshire family, and his mother was a wealthy heiress. Like his grandfather, who had sat for Shrewsbury in Charles II’s reign, he was a Whig in politics. Returned unopposed for the county in 1705, in place of his kinsman Richard Corbet*, who was in poor health, he was classified as a ‘Churchman’ in a list of the new Parliament, but on 25 Oct. 1705 voted for the Court candidate for Speaker and in 1708 was twice listed as a Whig. At the election of that year he was again returned without opposition, having previously made sure of the interest of Richard Corbet and of other leading Whigs in the county, in case of a contest, and in 1709 voted for the naturalization of the Palatines. Although given leave of absence for a month on 18 Feb. 1710, he was included in a published list of those who had voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. In April 1710 he joined some other Whig gentlemen of Shropshire in signing an open letter to the lord lieutenant of the county, complaining against the way in which Shrewsbury’s Tories had gone about drawing up an address to the Queen in Sacheverell’s favour. He did not stand in the 1710 general election, Richard Corbet resuming his place as one of the Whig candidates for the shire; nor did he stand in 1713.4

Corbet died on 3 Oct. 1740.

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. A. E. C[orbet], Fam. Corbet, ii. 357; Mar. Lic. Fac. Off. 208; Adderley Reg.: Lichfield Dioc. iv (Salop Par. Reg. Soc.) 8, 9, 14–15, 17, 19, 22.
  • 2. Shrewsbury Burgess Roll ed. Forrest, 65.
  • 3. Cal. Treas. Pprs. 1735–8, p. 149; 1739–41, p. 624.
  • 4. HMC 5th Rep. 152; Staffs. RO, Bradford mss at Weston Park, Corbet to Richard Corbet, 29 Jan. 1708, John Bridgeman to Corbet, 10 Feb. 1708; Boyer, Anne Annals, ix. 185–9.