Robert Shafto (2 December 1690 – December 1729), of

Whitworth Hall The Whitworth Building is a grade II* listed building on Oxford Road and Burlington Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. It has been listed since 18 December 1963 and is part of the University of Manchester. It lies at the south- ...

Spennymoor Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham, England, Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, was a British Tory 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 1712 and 1729 WhitworthHallDurham

Shafto was the eldest son of Mark Shafto of Whitworth and his wife Margaret Ingleby, daughter of Sir John Ingleby, 2nd Baronet of Ripley, Yorkshire. He matriculated at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

in 1708. Shafto was returned 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 ...

(MP) for the City of Durham at a by-election on 3 March 1712. On 10 April 1713 he was appointed to help prepare a bill making Stockton, Durham, a separate parish and on 18 June 1713 he voted against the French commerce bill. He did not stand at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

. Shafto succeeded his father in 1723 and married Dorothy Dawnay, daughter of

Henry Dawnay, 2nd Viscount Downe Henry Dawnay, 2nd Viscount Downe (7 June 1664 – 21 May 1741), styled The Honourable Henry Dawnay between 1681 and 1695, was an English Tory politician who sat in the English House of Commons between 1690 and 1707 and in the British House of Com ...

on 17 October 1723. He became a Freeman of Durham in 1726. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, Shafto was returned unopposed as Tory MP for the City of Durham again. Shafto died without issue in December 1729 and was succeeded by his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Sources

1690 births 1729 deaths People from Spennymoor Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for the City of Durham British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1727–1734 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub