RAYMOND, Robert (1673-1733), of Lincoln’s Inn and Langleybury, Abbots Langley, Herts.

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

1710 - 1715
1715 - 12 Apr. 1717
26 Mar. 1719 - 1722
1722 - 31 Jan. 1724

Family and Education

b. 20 Dec. 1673, o. s. of Sir Thomas Raymond of Tremnals, Essex, j. Kb, by Anne, da. of Sir Edward Fish, 2nd Bt., of Southill, Beds.  educ. Eton c.1687–9; G. Inn 1682, called 1697, bencher 1709; transferred to L. Inn 1710, bencher 1710, treasurer 1712; Christ’s, Camb. 1689.  m. Anne (d. 1721), da. of Sir Edward Northey*, 4s. (3 d.v.p.).  suc. fa. 1683; kntd. 20 Oct. 1710; cr. Baron Raymond of Abbots Langley 15 Jan. 1731.1

Offices Held

Solicitor-gen. 1710–14; commr. building 50 new churches 1711; for sewers 1712; counsel for Camb. Univ. 1718; attorney-gen. 1720–Jan. 1724; j. Kb Jan. 1724–Feb. 1725; l.c.j. Feb. 1725–d.; commr. gt. seal Jan.–June 1725; PC 12 Apr. 1725; gov. Charterhouse 1730–d.2

Biography

The son of one of Charles II’s Tory judges, Raymond was admitted to Gray’s Inn when only nine years old, at his father’s special request. A keen student of the law, he began reporting cases while still a pupil, and continued almost up until his death, with his reports being published posthumously. He enjoyed a successful career as an advocate: in one of his more famous cases, in 1704, he defended a Jacobite, David Lindsay, against a charge of treason for having returned to England from France without licence, and in 1709 he appeared before the Lords as counsel for the city of London against the naturalization bill. Raymond was one of the four counsel originally retained by Dr Sacheverell in December 1709, but on 28 Jan. 1710, after a difference of opinion with the doctor and his other counsel over the answer to be made to the articles of impeachment, Raymond and John Pratt*, both of whom had urged that Sacheverell return only a short and non-committal answer, resigned the brief, as Thomas Hearne noted, ‘to the great surprise of the doctor, and it may be to his prejudice’. In May Raymond was named as solicitor-general. L’Hermitage took this to be a Whig appointment, but in the general election in October Raymond was brought in for Bishop’s Castle on the interest of Edward Harley* and at the recommendation of Edward’s brother Robert*. Soon afterwards he was knighted, on the same day that his father-in-law, Sir Edward Northey, with whom he was on excellent terms, was appointed attorney-general. The following year Raymond purchased an estate in Hertfordshire, where in due course he was to build himself a country house.3

Although reckoned as a Whig in the ‘Hanover list’ of the new Parliament, Raymond behaved in all respects as a loyal member of the administration and to all appearances as a Tory. He was listed among the ‘worthy patriots’ who in the first session of this Parliament exposed the mismanagements of the previous ministry: he belonged to the ‘Society of Brothers’ and was an intimate friend of Francis Atterbury. Not an especially active Member, Raymond was by virtue of his office included on various drafting committees, principally on supply bills. In the 1711–12 session, he spoke for the government against the Duke of Marlborough (Sir John Churchill†) on 24 Jan. 1712. In the 1712–13 session he was involved in the French commercial treaty legislation: he was among the eight Members named on 14 May 1713 to draft the bill confirming the 8th and 9th articles of the treaty, subsequently defending it in debate, and on 18 June voting in its favour.4

Returned again for Bishop’s Castle on the Harley interest in the 1713 general election, Raymond was classed as a Tory in the Worsley list, and in two other analyses of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments. In July 1714 he and Sir Edward Northey sided with Lord Chancellor Harcourt (Simon I*), against the wishes of Lord Anglesey (Hon. Arthur Annesley*) and Lord Bolingbroke (Henry St. John II*), in giving an opinion in favour of some Whig aldermen of Dublin who had petitioned the Queen concerning a dispute between themselves and the Tory-dominated Irish privy council over the city magistracy.5

Raymond was one of the signatories to the proclamation of George I, and he was appointed on 11 Aug. to the committee to bring in a bill to continue the royal revenue from the death of the Queen. Re-elected in 1715, he sat as a Tory until removed on petition in 1717, and subsequently went over to the administration.6

Raymond died ‘of the stone’ at his house in Red Lion Square, London, on 18 Mar. 1733 and was buried at Abbots Langley, his estates and title passing to his only surviving son.7

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. DNB; Eton Coll. Reg. 1441–1698, p. 276; R. S. Wilkinson, The Church and Parish of Abbots Langley, 28; The Gen. n.s. iii. 84.
  • 2. CJ, xvii. 34.
  • 3. DNB; State Trials, xiv. 987–1035; HMC Lords, n.s. viii. 285; G. Holmes, Trial of Sacheverell, 105, 106–8; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 535, 540, 579; Hearne Colls. ii. 338; Add. 17677 DDD, f. 493; 70236, Samuel Milward to [Edward] Harley, 2 Oct. 1710, Edward to Robert Harley, 3 Oct. 1710; HMC Portland, vii. 22; Boyer, Anne Annals, ix. 244; HMC Ancaster, 438–9; Wilkinson, 58–59, 70.
  • 4. Bolingbroke Corresp. i. 246; Swift Stella ed. Davis, 194; HMC Portland, vii. 360; Boyer, Pol. State, i–ii. 291–2; iii. 244; BL, Trumbull Add. mss 136, Ralph Bridges to Sir William Trumbull*, 25 Jan. 1712; Scots Courant, 30 Jan.–1 Feb. 1712; NSA, Kreienberg despatch 9 June 1712.
  • 5. Hayton thesis, 255; Swift Corresp. ed. Ball, ii. 189.
  • 6. Boyer, Pol. State, viii. 117.
  • 7. DNB; M.I. St. Lawrence’s par. church, Abbots Langley.