Robert Webb ('' ca.'' 1719 – 9 September 1765) was a West Indies plantation owner and British 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 1747 and 1754. Webb was the eldest son of Nathaniel Webb, collector of customs at Montserrat, and his wife Bethiah Gerrish, daughter of William Gerrish of

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

. He entered

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 ...

in 1736 and was called to the bar in 1741. In 1741 he inherited his father's estates at Taunton. He became a member of

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1745. He was a prominent

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

merchant, owning plantations on

.''Sugar and slavery: an economic history of the British West Indies, 1623-1775'', Richard B. Sheridan. p. 65. Webb 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

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

on the dissenting interest at the 1747 general election. He was classed as a government supporter. At the 1754 general election he withdrew because he did not want the expense of a contest. Webb died on 9 September 1765. His estates were inherited by his brother

Nathaniel , nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate A ...

References

1710s births 1765 deaths Year of birth uncertain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Taunton British MPs 1747–1754 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub