{{Short description|British politician and banker (1779–1858)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Use British English|date=February 2018}} {{infobox officeholder | name = | image = | caption = | office = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)|Maidstone]] | term_start = 1818 | term_end = 1837 | predecessor = [[George Simson]]<br>[[Egerton Brydges]] | alongside = [[George Longman (MP)|George Longman]], [[John Wells (British politician, born 1761)|John Wells]], [[Henry Winchester]], [[Charles James Barnett]], [[Wyndham Lewis (politician)|Wyndham Lewis]] | successor = [[Benjamin Disraeli]]<br>[[Wyndham Lewis (politician)|Wyndham Lewis]] | birth_date = {{birthdate|1779|08|01|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{dda|1858|04|02|1779|08|01|df=yes}} | death_place = | party = [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] | parents = [[Abraham Robarts (MP for Worcester)|Abraham Roberts]]<br>Sabine Tierney | spouse = {{marriage|Charlotte Anne Wilkinson<br>|20 January 1808|1858|reason=died}} | children = | relations = }} '''Abraham Wildey Robarts''' (1 August 1779 – 2 April 1858), of Hill Street, [[Berkeley Square]], [[Middlesex]], was an English politician and banker.
==Early life== Robarts was born on 1 August 1779 into a well known political family. He was the eldest son of [[Abraham Robarts (MP for Worcester)|Abraham Roberts]] and his wife Sabine Tierney (sister of [[George Tierney]]). Among his brothers were [[George James Robarts]], [[William Tierney Robarts]], and James Thomas Robarts of the [[East India Company]].<ref name="ARHoP">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Lawrence |title=ROBARTS, Abraham (1745-1816), of Finsbury Square, Moorfields, London and North End, Hampstead, Mdx. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/robarts-abraham-1745-1816 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |publisher=[[History of Parliament Online]] |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref>
In early life he was a writer for the [[East India Company]] in [[Guangzhou|Canton]].<ref name="HoP">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/robarts-abraham-wildey-1779-1858|title=''Robarts, Abraham Wildey'' (1779–1858), of Hill Street, Berkeley Square, Mdx., History of Parliament Online|accessdate=6 June 2016}}</ref>
==Career== [[File:The Trojan Women Set Fire to their Flee.jpg|thumb|right|"The Trojan Women Set Fire to their Fleet" by [[Claude Lorrain]], {{circa|1643}}]] He became a director of the East India Company, also a partner in the bank Robarts & Curtis, and worked as a West Indies [[factor (agent)|factor]].<ref name="UCL">{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/10067|title=''Abraham Wildey Robarts'', Summary of Individual, Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=6 June 2016}}</ref>
Robarts was a [[Member of Parliament|Member]] (MP) of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] for [[Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)|Maidstone]] from 1818 to 1837.<ref name="HoP"/> He was succeeded by [[Benjamin Disraeli]], who later went on to become [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]].
In 1825 he was a director of the [[New Zealand Company]], a venture chaired by the wealthy [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|John George Lambton]], [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] MP (and later 1st [[Earl of Durham]]), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand.<ref name=adams>{{cite book | last=Adams | first=Peter | title=Fatal Necessity: British Intervention in New Zealand, 1830–1847 | publisher=Bridget Williams Books | series=BWB e-Book | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-927277-19-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoRhAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 | access-date=9 December 2020 | page=197|quote=...first published in 1977.}}</ref><ref name="rosanna">{{cite book |last=McDonnell |first=Hilda |url=https://www.wcl.govt.nz/heritage/rosannaintro.html |title=The Rosanna Settlers: with Captain Herd on the coast of New Zealand 1826-7 |date=2002 |website=Wellington City Libraries |chapter=Chapter 3: The New Zealand Company of 1825 |quote=including Thomas Shepherd's Journal and his coastal views, The NZ Company of 1825. |access-date=9 December 2020 |chapter-url=https://www.wcl.govt.nz/heritage/rosannachap3.html}}</ref><ref name=wakefield>{{cite book | last=Wakefield | first=Edward Jerningham |author-link=Edward Jerningham Wakefield | title=Adventure in New Zealand, from 1839 to 1844: With Some Account of the Beginning of the British Colonization of the Islands | publisher=John Murray | issue=v. 1 | year=1845 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PltFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4 | access-date=9 December 2020 | page=4|quote=Digitised 22 July 2009}}</ref>
===Slave ownership=== According to the ''[[Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership|Legacies of British Slave-Ownership]]'' at the [[University College London]], Roberts was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]] with the [[Slave Compensation Act 1837]]. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £{{formatprice|{{inflation|UK|15,000,000|1833}}}} in {{inflation/year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}) with interest from [[Nathan Mayer Rothschild]] and [[Moses Montefiore]] which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Robarts was associated with four different claims, he owned 566 slaves in [[Jamaica]] and [[Dominica]] and received a £11,023 payment at the time (worth £{{formatprice|{{inflation|UK|11,023|1833}}}} in {{inflation/year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Abraham Wildey Robarts|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/10067|publisher=[[University College London]]}} Retrieved on 20 March 2019.</ref>
==Personal life== On 20 January 1808, Robarts was married to Charlotte Anne Wilkinson (1788–1865), daughter of Edmund Wilkinson of Potterton Lodge, [[Tadcaster]], [[Yorkshire]]. From 1827 to 1857 he resided at [[Parkstead House]].<ref name="UCL"/> Together, they were the parents of one son and several daughters, including:
* Abraham George Robarts (1810–1860), who married Elizabeth Sarah Smyth, a daughter of [[John Henry Smyth]] of [[Heath Hall, Heath, West Yorkshire|Heath Hall]], and the former Lady Elizabeth FitzRoy (a daughter of the [[George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton|4th Duke of Grafton]]).<ref name="Burke1871">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland |date=1871 |publisher=Harrison |page=1171 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Genealogical_and_Heraldic_History_of_t/H65CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1171 |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1823, Robarts acquired the {{circa|1643}} painting, "The Trojan Women Set Fire to their Fleet" by [[Claude Lorrain]], from [[William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock|Lord Radstock]].<ref name="metmuseum">{{cite web |title=Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) {{!}} The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435908 |website=www.metmuseum.org |publisher=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
Robarts died on 2 April 1858.<ref name="HoP"/>
===Descendants=== Through his son Abraham, he was a grandfather of Abraham John Robarts (1838–1926) of Robarts, Lubbock & Co., who married Hon. Edith Barrington (a daughter of the [[Percy Barrington, 8th Viscount Barrington|8th Viscount Barrington]]); parents of John Robarts (married Margaret Cholmeley, daughter of [[Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 3rd Baronet]]), banker [[Gerald Robarts]].<ref name="Burke1900">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain |date=1900 |publisher=Harrison & Sons |page=1348 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Genealogical_and_Heraldic_History_of_t/mIRLct95aMEC&pg=PA1348 |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef | before = [[George Simson]] | before2 = [[Egerton Brydges]] }} {{s-ttl | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)|Maidstone]] | years = [[1818 United Kingdom general election|1818]] – [[1837 United Kingdom general election|1837]] | with = [[George Longman (MP)|George Longman]] (1818–1820) | with2 = [[John Wells (British politician, born 1761)|John Wells]] (1820–1830) | with3 = [[Henry Winchester]] (1830–1831) | with4 = [[Charles James Barnett]] (1831–1835) | with5 = [[Wyndham Lewis (politician)|Wyndham Lewis]] (1835–1837) }} {{s-aft | after = [[Benjamin Disraeli]] | after2 = [[Wyndham Lewis (politician)|Wyndham Lewis]] }} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robarts, Abraham Wildey}} [[Category:1779 births]] [[Category:1858 deaths]] [[Category:Robarts family|Abraham Wildey]] [[Category:Politicians from the City of Westminster]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]] [[Category:UK MPs 1818–1820]] [[Category:UK MPs 1820–1826]] [[Category:UK MPs 1826–1830]] [[Category:UK MPs 1830–1831]] [[Category:UK MPs 1831–1832]] [[Category:UK MPs 1832–1835]] [[Category:UK MPs 1835–1837]] [[Category:English slave owners]] [[Category:Recipients of payments from the Slavery Abolition Act 1833]]