Abraham George Robarts

  General Notes:

The Magistracy of Buckinghamshire in 1861: Robarts, Abraham George, Esq., Saint Leonard's Hill, Windsor (?)

He lived, so I believe, at Sholebrooke Lodge, Whittlebury which is just north of Tile House, over the border in Northamptonshire but when Probate of his Will was granted he is described as "formerly of Hill Street". This is interesting as his father lived there as did his son AJR but the latter, I think, at a different number. He seems to have lived in Chesham Place when he died though his death occured at St Leonard's near Windsor.

He left under £200,000. The house in Chesham Place was left to his widow.

At the time of his marriage he was "of St George, Hanover Square".

(IGI has the following: Abraham G. Robarts Male, Event(s): Birth: About 1798 Of, Heath Hall, Yorkshire, England - this is confusing as his wife was from Heath Hall as well!). Also his son is reputed to have destroyed all the family records - why?

Shelbrook Lodge, the official residence of Abraham George Robarts, Esq., the Lieutenant or Deputy Warden, stands in Shelbrook Walk.

Also of interest is this, given that Elizabeth is of the Grafton lineage:

The grant of the honour of Grafton to Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington in 1673, with remainder to Henry FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (his son in law), included the coppices and under woods (but not the timber) in Whittlewood and Salcey. This was followed in 1681 by a grant in reversion to Arlington, with the same remainder, of the offices of master of the forest and parks of Whittlewood.

When Queen Catherine died, at the end of 1705, the honour passed to the 2nd Duke, Charles Fitzroy, who also sought the office of master forester, which, shortly after the grant of 1681 (but before Arlington's death in 1685), the queen had granted (under a power given her in 1667 to name the forest officers) to the earl of Feversham.

The attorney-general's initial advice in 1706 was that both appointments were invalid and that the office was a matter of favour vested in the Crown. Five years later, after Feversham's death in 1709, Grafton petitioned again, complaining that both during the queen's lifetime and since he had been unjustly kept out of the office to which he was entitled. Feversham's appointment should have been determined by Queen Catherine's death but he had refused to give up the office.

On this occasion the attorney-general concluded that Queen Anne had the power to supply defects in the grant of the office to the duke's father. In June 1712 the queen made an amended grant to the duke and his heirs male, under which they were to hold Wakefield Lodge and its grounds and the pasture called Wakefield Lawn.

Various clauses intended to preserve the resources of the forest were also inserted at the suggestion of the surveyor-general. The dukes were authorised to appoint the under-officers, including a lieutenant or deputy warden, who in the 18th century had the use of Sholebrooke Lodge.

The only duty required of the dukes in return appears to have been to supply deer to the royal household and public offices.

From 1712 until his death in 1757 the 2nd duke made Wakefield Lodge, rather than Grafton Manor (where his mother, Duchess Isabella, and her second husband, Sir Thomas Hanmer, lived until her death in 1723), his Northamptonshire seat, a policy which his descendants continued until 1920.

From: 'Potterspury', A History of the County of Northamptonshire: Volume 5: The Hundred of Cleley (2002), pp. 289-345. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22789. Date accessed: 13 May 2006.
Died of Gout.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Matriculated: 1 Mar 1828, Christ Church College, Oxford.

• Occupation/Address: Independent, 1841, Besborough Cottage, Roehampton, Surrey.

• Occupation/Address: Banker, 1851, 22 South Chesham Place, London.

Abraham married Elizabeth Sarah Smyth, daughter of John Henry Smyth MP and Lady Elizabeth Anne Fitzroy, on 6 Aug 1836 in St George's, Hanover Square, London. (Elizabeth Sarah Smyth was born in 1816 in London and died on 17 Jun 1864 in Chesham Place, Westminster, Middlesex ⁵⁹.)