Sir Robert Davers, 2nd Baronet
Sir Robert Davers, 2nd Baronet (c. 1653–1722) of Rougham and Rushbrooke Hall was an English politician and landowner.
Davers was the son of Sir Robert Davers, 1st Baronet, a Royalist who had made his fortune exploiting enslaved Africans on his plantation in Barbados.[1] He owned 300 acres worked by 200 "negroes".[2] Davers was born in Barbados before coming to England between 1680 and 1682. He then returned to Barbados and took his seat in the Council there on 13 June 1682. On 30 November 1683 he was one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer and of Pleas of Barbados. He inherited his father's baronetcy in 1684 and was picked to serve as High Sheriff of Suffolk for 1685, but did not take up the role.
He moved back permanently to England in 1687 and became the Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds in 1689. He sat in the Commons for the seat for a second term from 1703 to 1705, after which he was elected MP for Suffolk, holding that seat until his death in 1722.[3]
He married Hon. Mary Jermyn, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Jermyn, 2nd Baron Jermyn.[1] They had five sons and five daughters. By this marriage he acquired in 1703 one-fifth of the Rushbrooke Hall estate, of which he purchased the other parts from his sister-in-law, the wife of Sir Thomas Spring, 3rd Baronet.[1] He sold the estate of Rougham between 1705 and 1710 to his son in law, Clement Corrance and made Rushbrooke the family's principle seat. Davers was succeeded by his son, Robert.
References
- ^ a b c William Betham, The Baronetage of England (1803), p.58.
- ^ "Suffolk and the slave trade". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
- ^ "DAVERS, Sir Robert, 2nd Bt. (c.1653-1722), of Rougham, nr. Bury St. Edmunds, Suff". historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- 1653 births
- 1722 deaths
- Baronets in the Baronetage of England
- English MPs 1689–1690
- English MPs 1690–1695
- English MPs 1695–1698
- English MPs 1698–1700
- English MPs 1702–1705
- English MPs 1705–1707
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
- British MPs 1707–1708
- British MPs 1708–1710
- British MPs 1710–1713
- British MPs 1713–1715
- British MPs 1715–1722
- Politicians from Bury St Edmunds
- Barbados planters