Sir Robert Shirley, 4th Baronet (1629–1656),

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

conspirator, was the second son of Sir Henry Shirley, 2nd Baronet. Despite the Catholicism of his family, he was raised within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

by his mother. He was admitted to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, on 12 August 1645. The following year, on the death of his elder brother, Charles, he inherited the baronetcy and also married, against the wishes of his family, Katharine (d. 1672), daughter of Humphrey Okeover, of Okeover, Staffordshire. Following the death of his uncle the Earl of Essex Shirley inherited half the Devereux property in England and Ireland. An ardent royalist, he confronted soldiers at the parliamentary garrison at

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch (), also spelled Ashby de la Zouch, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire borders. Its population at the 2021 census was ...

in 1648. In 1650 he was imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

and his lands were sequestrated. His youth and his association with

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

led to his release and the restoration of his lands. He continued his political activity, becoming a focus of royalist opposition in the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

, while Staunton Harold became a refuge for displaced

Laudian Laudianism, also called Old High Churchmanship, or Orthodox Anglicanism as they styled themselves when debating the Tractarians, was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England that tried to avoid the extremes of Rom ...

clerics. In 1653 he began the rebuilding of Staunton Harold church as a symbol of his political and religious beliefs. He was again arrested and sent to the Tower. While there he became the royalists' financial agent and drew up proposals for royalist reorganization on the basis of complete identification of the royal cause with the Church of England. He died in the Tower, probably of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

, in November 1656 and was buried at

Breedon on the Hill Breedon on the Hill is a village and civil parish about north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in North West Leicestershire, England. The parish adjoins the Derbyshire county boundary and the village is only about south of the Derbyshire town of Melbourn ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

the following month, the

funeral sermon A Christian funeral sermon is a formal religious oration or address given at a funeral ceremony, or sometimes a short time after, which may combine elements of eulogy with biographical comments and expository preaching. To qualify as a sermon, it sh ...

being preached by

Gilbert Sheldon Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death. Early life Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 J ...

References

1629 births 1656 deaths 17th-century English nobility Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Shirley baronets Prisoners in the Tower of London English people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention Deaths from smallpox Cavaliers {{England-bio-stub