Robert Travers (MP)

Sir Robert Travers (c. 1596 – 13 November 1647) was an Irish judge, soldier and politician of the early seventeenth century. Despite his unenviable reputation for corruption, he had a highly successful career until the outbreak of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when he went into opposition to King Charles I. He fought in the wars on the side of the Irish Parliament, and was killed at the Battle of Knocknanuss. He was a nephew of the poet Edmund Spenser, and himself founded a notable military dynasty.

Robert was born in County Cork about 1596, the eldest son of John Travers of Ballinamona, who was Registrar of the Consistory Court of Cork and of the Diocese of Ross, and his wife Sarah Spenser, sister of Edmund Spenser. His grandfather, Brian Travers, had come to Ireland from Lancashire about the middle of the sixteenth century. Sarah is thought to have come to Ireland in about 1588 or 1589 to keep house for her brother Edmund, who after the downfall of the Earl of Desmond was granted a part of the Desmond inheritance, including the castle of Kilcolman. Edmund granted a portion of his lands to John and Sarah as a wedding gift. Both were buried at Cork in Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, where Robert erected a memorial to them, but the building has been so much altered since then that no trace survives.

Robert was educated at the University of Oxford, and took there a degree in civil law. Since most, though not all of the commanders in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms had seen military service, it is possible that he was a soldier for a time. Unusually for the eldest son of a landowning family, he decided on a full-time legal career (this was a more common choice for a younger son at the time), practising in the ecclesiastical and Admiralty courts. He won praise for his legal ability, but also gained a reputation for corruption which stayed with him throughout his life. He became Vicar General of the Diocese of Meath, but so many accusations of extortion, of the taking of bribes and of misappropriation of funds were made against him that in 1621 he was prosecuted in the Court of Castle Chamber (the Irish parallel to Star Chamber), and was found guilty of bribery. He was fined £300 and ordered to be imprisoned at the Crown's pleasure.

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