Robert Heath
| Sir Robert Heath | |
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| Born | 20 May 1575 Edenbridge, Kent |
| Died | 30 August 1649 Calais, France |
| Resting place | Brasted Church, Kent |
Sir Robert Heath (20 May 1575 – 30 August 1649) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625.
Heath was educated at Tunbridge Wells grammar school, St John's College, Cambridge from age 14 and Clifford's Inn from age 17. He became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1603. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for the City of London. He became solicitor-general in 1621, when he was knighted. In 1624 he was elected MP for East Grinstead and was re-elected in 1625.
Heath served King Charles I of England as Attorney General, from 1625. He owed his appointment to the influence of the Duke of Buckingham. Despite a reputation as a shadowy, opaque figure, records show him able to argue shrewdly and independently in order to reduce problems for the Crown.
Heath brought a 1625 case in the Exchequer Court for the High Peak lead miners against Francis Leke who claimed a tithe from them. Through the offices of Heath the tithe right was eventually transferred, in a possibly corrupt way, to Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire. From 1629 he was taking an entrepreneurial interest in the lead mines of Derbyshire, engaging Sir Cornelius Vermuyden as partner in a major drainage operation at Wirksworth, at the ore-rich Dovegang Rake.
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