Sir Robert Bernard, 1st Baronet (1601–1666) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640. Bernard was born at Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, the son of Francis Bernard, whose family had held the manor of

Abington, Northamptonshire Abington is a district of the town of Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, situated about east of the town centre. The population of the ward of Northampton Borough Council at the 2011 census was 9,668. The name 'Abington' means 'Farm/settle ...

, for 200 years, and his wife Mary Woodhouse. He was admitted 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 ...

on 13 November 1615. He was

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

. In April 1640, Bernard 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

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

consulted him in 1661 about the bitter

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...

dispute over the nearby estate of

Brampton, Cambridgeshire Brampton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, about south-west of Huntingdon. It lies within Huntingdonshire, a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic counties of England, hist ...

(Bernard as Lord of the Manor of Brampton was also Steward of the Manorial Court), which Samuel's uncle Robert had bequeathed to him, but which several other heirs also laid claim to. The following year he persuaded Samuel and his father to reach a compromise settlement with Samuel's uncle Thomas, who had claimed the Brampton property as his brother Robert's heir-at-law. Samuel liked both Bernard and his second wife Elizabeth Digby, and he later became friendly with Bernard's younger son William. Samuel's cousin and patron

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, Order of the Garter, KG Privy Council of England, PC Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Justice of the Peace, JP (27 July 162528 May 1672) was an English military officer, politician and diplomat, who fought f ...

disliked Bernard: his attitude was no doubt influenced by the bitter political feud between the Montagu and Bernard families for political control of Huntingdonshire. It was Sandwich who had Bernard dismissed from his Recordership in 1663. Samuel was concerned that despite their previous friendly relations this would cause Bernard to hold a grudge against him, due to his closeness to Sandwich. Bernard was Counsel for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1646 and steward and judge of the Court of the Isle of Ely in 1649. He was a serjeant-at-law and was created a

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 ...

, of Huntingdon on 1 July 1662.Arthur Collins ''The English baronetage: containing a genealogical and historical account''
/ref> Bernard died in his 66th year and was buried in the north aisle of Abington Church, Northamptonshire where there is a monument to him. Bernard married firstly Elizabeth Tallakerne, daughter of Sir John Tallakerne of Ashen Hall,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Their children included John, William, a grocer in London, and Lucy who married Sir Nicholas Pedley, MP for Huntingdon. Bernard married secondly to Lady Elizabeth Digby, daughter of Sir

James Altham Sir James Altham (died 1617) was an English judge and briefly a member of the Parliament of England. A friend of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon, Altham opposed Edward Coke but advanced the laws of equity behind the fastness of the Exchequer court ...

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

and Mary Stapers, and widow of

Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby (died 6 June 1642), was an Anglo-Irish peer. Digby was the son of Sir Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire, and Lettice FitzGerald, of Geashill, Ireland, granddaughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare ...

. She died in 1662 and was buried at St Paul's Covent Garden.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Robert 1601 births 1666 deaths English MPs 1640 (April) Baronets in the Baronetage of England English lawyers 17th-century English lawyers Members of the Middle Temple