Sir Robert de Cornwall (1700 – 4 April 1756) was a British

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 ...

. He was born in 1700, the eldest surviving son of Vice admiral

Charles Cornewall Vice Admiral Charles Cornewall or Cornwall (1669 – 7 October 1718), of Berrington, Herefordshire, was an officer in the Royal Navy and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1709 and 1718. Origins Cornewall was born in 1669, elde ...

and Dorothy Hanmer, and was baptised at

Eye, Herefordshire Eye is a small village in the Eye, Moreton and Ashton civil parish of Herefordshire, England, and north from Leominster, north from the city and county town of Hereford, and in the catchment area of the River Lugg. Eye has a small historic ...

on 21 April 1700. He joined the

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, becoming a

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in the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several ti ...

in 1715, and being promoted to

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in 1717. He probably resigned his commission on inheriting his father's estate at Berrington, Herefordshire in 1718. From this year onwards, he styled himself "Sir Robert de Cornwall," claiming that

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had promised his father a

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. In the general election of 1734, he made the first of two unsuccessful attempts to represent

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is t ...

. He served as

High Sheriff of Radnorshire History The office of High Sheriff is over 1000 years old, with its establishment before the Norman Conquest. The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; ...

in 1738, before making his second attempt at Leominster in a

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in 1742. He was finally successful in being elected to Leominster when he topped the poll at the general election of 1747, and represented the town in the Whig interest until 1754, when he stood for

Bishops Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of ...

and was again defeated. In 1753 he was appointed

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of the

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of the Western shires by Lord Carysfort. He died suddenly, having forecast his own demise and that of his cousin General Henry Cornewall, as recorded in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'':

It is remarkable that a few days before this gentleman's illness, he foretold that he should soon be taken ill, and that his cousin, Gen. Cornwall, and another gentleman of his acquaintance, would also be taken ill at the same time, and they should all die within a short space of each other. The General was accordingly taken ill, as Sir Robert had predicted, and not knowing what he had said concerning their illness and death, told his friends to the same purport. The two cousins died within a few minutes of one another. The gentleman their friend was taken ill about the same time but is recovered.

Sir Robert died unmarried on 4 April 1756 and was buried at Eye 13 days later. His estate was inherited by his nephew

Charles Wolfran Cornwall Charles Wolfran Cornwall (15 June 1735 – 2 January 1789) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1789. He was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1780 to 1789. Origins and early life Charles Wolfran Cornwall w ...

References

1700 births 1756 deaths 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) officers High Sheriffs of Radnorshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub