Robert Bennie Cranston (January 14, 1791 – January 27, 1873) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, brother of Henry Young Cranston.

Biography

Born in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, Cranston attended the public schools. He was employed in the collection of internal revenue 1812–1815. Sheriff of Newport County 1818–1827. Postmaster of Newport in 1827. Cranston was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843). He served as member of the State house of representatives 1843–1847, and served one year as speaker. He served in the State senate. Cranston was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849). He was elected the first mayor of Newport on June 9, 1853. He resigned the same day. He served as presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1864. He died in

, January 27, 1873. He was interred in the

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

in Newport.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cranston, Robert Bennie 1791 births 1873 deaths Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island Members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island Rhode Island Whigs Burials in Rhode Island Speakers of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century American legislators