ROBINS, John (c.1714-54), of Stafford.

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

Constituency

Dates

1747 - 1754

Family and Education

b. c.1714, 1st s. of William Robins, mayor of Stafford 1719, 1731, 1740, by Catherine, da. of William Abnett, mayor of Stafford 1706, 1720. educ. M. Temple 1731, called 1737. suc. fa. 1744.1

Offices Held

Biography

In 1747 John Robins, a lawyer, stood single for Stafford against two government candidates, one of whom withdrew, recognising that it was impossible to defeat him.2 Classed as Opposition he was regarded by the 2nd Lord Egmont as a possible supporter in the next reign.

In 1752 Robins became involved with Anne, daughter of William Northey and widow of John Whitby, a Staffordshire gentleman who died in the previous year. Finding herself with child and apparently abandoned by Robins, she privately married, 23 Sept., an elderly neighbouring admirer, Sir William Wolseley, 5th Bt. Soon afterwards she received a proposal of marriage from Robins, to whom she was married in October, the clergyman being persuaded on the ground of her condition to antedate the marriage to June in order to preserve her character. She then brought an action against Wolseley, alleging that he had forcibly married her by doping her into insensibility, while Robins swore to the marriage in June, producing the marriage register in evidence. The court decided against her; the clergyman then confessed; Robins, who fled to France, died shortly afterwards, 17 Dec. 1754; but the lady, who also absconded, lived to marry a fourth husband, Christopher Hargrave, a Chancery solicitor.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes

  • 1. Staffs. Parl. Hist. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), ii. (2), pp. 259-60.
  • 2. Anson to Bedford, 23 June 1747, Bedford mss.
  • 3. Gent. Mag. 1755, p. 191; Corresp. of Edmund Burke (1961 ed.), iii. 373 n. 5.