Robert Sewell (1751 – 30 April 1828) was a British politician and colonial official who sat in the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

from 1796 to 1802 and served as the

Attorney General of Jamaica Attorney General of Jamaica is the chief law officer in Jamaica. Section 79(1) of the Constitution of Jamaica states that "there shall be an Attorney General who shall be the principal legal adviser to the Government of Jamaica" and pursuant to ...

. Sewell was the son of Sir Thomas Sewell and Catherine Heath of Ottershaw Park, Surrey and christened 13 December 1751 at All Hallows,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He studied law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1770. He married Sarah Lewis in St Pancras,

on 18 November 1775. In February 1776 they set sail for Jamaica on board the ''Judith and Hilaria'' from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

with Sarah's sisters Mary, Maria and Catherine. In 1780 he was appointed as the Attorney General of Jamaica, returning in 1795 to become a

colonial agent A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication, ...

for Jamaica. In 1781 he fathered an illegitimate son with a local black woman. This son was the future-revolutionary William Davidson. He became

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

Grampound Grampound ( kw, Ponsmeur) is a village in Cornwall, England. It is at an ancient crossing point of the River Fal and today is on the A390 road west of St Austell and east of Truro.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 ''Truro & Falmouth'' ...

from 1796 to 1802 and spoke 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. ...

on behalf of the West Indian Planters interest. In May 1797, he argued that it would be economically impossible to abolish slavery. In April and May 1798 he spoke against the abolitionist William Smith's proposal to provide minimum level of space for

enslaved Africans The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

s. He rejected a minimum of , arguing that "negroes prefer being herded together".''Monk Lewis'' by David Lorne Macdonald, University of Toronto Press, 2000, p49 He was an uncle of "Monk" Lewis. He also brought up William Henry, who adopted the name William Henry Sewell and became a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Robert 1751 births 1828 deaths People from Ottershaw Members of the Middle Temple Attorneys General of the Colony of Jamaica Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall UK MPs 1801–1802