Sir Gilbert Dolben, 1st Baronet

Sir Gilbert Dolben, 1st Baronet (1658-1722) was an English lawyer landowner and politician who also served as a judge in Ireland for many years, while continuing to sit in the House of Commons of England. He was the grandfather of the noted anti-slavery campaigner Sir William Dolben.

He was the elder son of John Dolben, Archbishop of York, and Catherine Sheldon. His background was strongly episcopal: he was a grand-nephew of Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury and a more remote connection of John Williams, Archbishop of York. His uncle Sir William Dolben was a distinguished judge.

Samuel Pepys, who saw him as a child, described him as a very pretty boy, and very like his father in appearance. He went to Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, but did not take a degree. He entered the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in 1680.

He first entered Parliament as MP for Ripon in 1685 and remained in the Commons with short intervals until 1714, sitting in turn for Ripon, Peterborough and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Although he was a Tory in politics, he supported the Glorious Revolution, and argued with great force that James II could be deemed to have abdicated. He opposed the attainder of Sir John Fenwick for treason in 1696, not because he thought him innocent but because he thought the case should be dealt with by ordinary process of criminal law. In the debates following the celebrated judgment in Ashby v White, he argued strongly that the House of Commons had exclusive jurisdiction over all disputed elections.

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