Sir Robert Chaplin, 1st Baronet (c. 1670 – 1 July 1726) of Louth, Lincolnshire was a British lawyer, businessman 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. ...

from 1715 until 1721, when he was expelled for being 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 ...

Early life

Chaplin was the third son of Sir Francis Chaplin,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

in 1677, and his wife Anne Huett, daughter of Daniel Huett of Essex. He was admitted to

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 1685 and to

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 1688. He was called to the bar in 1692. In 1696 he married Anne Harrington.Peerage.com
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Career

At the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

Chaplin was elected

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

Great Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, a constituency represented by businessmen of doubtful character, in particularly those associated with the

. He was created

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 19 September 1715. In 1717 he became a bencher of Inner Temple. His friend Sir James Bateman persuaded him in 1718 to become a Director of the South Sea Company. The Company used dubious practices to inflate the value of its stock, and when the Bubble burst in 1720 thousands of investors lost their investments. The Government intervened and sequestered part of the estates of the main participants in the company for paying compensation. The Directors were barred from sitting in Parliament or holding public office. Chaplin was therefore expelled on 28 January 1721. Chaplin was examined by an investigation committee, and argued that he had not been party to any fraud and had not taken any stock. However it was discovered that he had accepted stock as a loan. His own estate was valued at £45,000 of which he was only allowed to keep £10,000. He died on 1 July 1726, leaving a daughter Anne who married James, son of the banker Sir James Bateman who had initially led him astray.

References

External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaplin, Sir Robert, 1st Baronet 1670s births 1726 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Great Grimsby British MPs 1715–1722 Expelled members of the Parliament of Great Britain Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain