Gabriel Roberts (c. 1665–c.1744) of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, was an official of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
and politician who sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
between 1713 and 1734.
Roberts was the second son of William Roberts, vintner, of St. Katherine Cree, London, and his wife Martha Dashwood, daughter of Francis Dashwood, merchant and alderman of London.
In 1678, he inherited a third part of his father's estate, and in 1683 he joined the East India Company as a writer. He spent six years at
Fort St. George, India
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further s ...
, where he married Elizabeth Proby, daughter of Charles Proby on 25 August 1687. He was Receiver of sea customs at Fort St. George from 1688 to 1689. He returned to London and became a member of the
Levant Company
The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired, ...
in 1691 and was assistant at the
Royal African Company from 1695 to 1701. In 1696 he was a commissioner taking subscriptions to land bank. He served with his uncles, Sir
Samuel Dashwood
Sir Samuel Dashwood JP ( – 12 August 1705) was an English merchant and Tory politician. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1702.
Early life
The son of Francis Dashwood, a London merchant, by his wife Alice Sleigh, he was a brother of Sir Francis ...
and
Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Baronet
Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Baronet ( – 4 November 1724), of St. Botolph without Bishopsgate, London, and West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was a British merchant, landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1713.
Ea ...
on the committee of the Old East India Company from 1698 to 1701. In 1701, he was sent back to India and in 1702 took became second of council at Fort St George under
Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt (5 July 1653 – 28 April 1726) of Blandford St Mary in Dorset, later of Stratford in Wiltshire and of Boconnoc in Cornwall, known during life commonly as ''Governor Pitt'', as ''Captain Pitt'', or posthumously, as ''"Diamond" ...
. He was deputy-governor of
Fort St. David
Fort St David, now in ruins, was a British fort near the town of Cuddalore, a hundred miles south of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast of India. It is located near silver beach without any maintenance. It was named for the patron saint of Wales b ...
, Madras from 1702 to 1703 and from 1704 to 1709. He resigned his place when Pitt left in 1709, but remained in India until 1711.
On his return to England, Roberts acquired a property at Ampthill, Bedfordshire from the Bruce family. He was returned unopposed as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
, on the Bruce interest at the
1713 general election. He was inactive in Parliament and was classed as a Tory, although he had many dissenting connections.
[
Roberts lost his seat at the 1715 general election but was seated on petition on 13 May 1717. He supported the Government, voting for the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts and the ]Peerage Bill
{{short description, Proposed British law of 1719
The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland which would have largely halted the ...
. He was re-elected in a contest at Marlborough at the 1722 general election. In 1724, he became a director of the South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
. He changed seats to Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...
at the 1727 general election, when he was returned unopposed. He voted with the Opposition on the arrears of the civil list in 1729, but from then on with the Government.
Roberts married as his second wife, Mary Wenman, daughter of Sir Francis Wenman, 1st Baronet
Sir Francis Wenman, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 2 September 1680) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1664 to 1679.
Background
Wenman was the second son of Sir Francis Wenman of Caswell, Oxfordshire and his wife Ann ...
of Caswell House, Curbridge, Oxfordshire on 24 February 1690.[Oxfordshire, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1538–1812, p. 10. See https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61056/images/PAR043_1_R1_2_010?pId=1890416] He ended his term as a director of the South Sea Company in 1733 and did not stand at the 1734 general election. At his death in 1744, he left an only son Philip by his second wife. This son, Major Philip Roberts, married Anne Coke, daughter of Edward Coke and took the name of Coke in place of his patronymic in 1750. He was the father of Wenman Coke, MP and ancestor of the earls of Leicester.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts Gabriel
1660s births
1730s deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1713–1715
British MPs 1715–1722
British MPs 1722–1727
British MPs 1727–1734