Sir Robert Wroth

Sir Robert Wroth (1540?–1606) was an English politician.

Robert, born in Middlesex about 1540, was eldest son of Sir Thomas Wroth (died 1573) by his wife Mary, daughter of Richard, Lord Rich. He was admitted a pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 21 April 1553, but, owing to the religious changes consequent on the accession of Mary I, he left the university without a degree soon after his admission. Accompanying his father in his exile, he returned to England soon after the accession of Elizabeth I. He afterwards entered public life, and the rest of his career was devoted to politics and the administration of a large estate.

He was elected for the first time to parliament for St Albans on 11 January 1563; he was returned for Bossiney on 2 April 1571; he took his seat as member for the important constituency of Middlesex on 8 May 1572, and was re-elected to seven later parliaments (1584, 1586, 1589, 1593, 1597, 1601, and 1604).

Meanwhile, his father's death on 9 October 1573 had placed him in possession of large estates in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Somerset; but he lived chiefly at Loughton Hall, Essex, which he acquired through his wife, and devoted much time to the affairs of the county of Essex. He was High Sheriff of Essex in 1587. He was appointed to the command of two hundred untrained men, forty harquebusiers, and forty musketeers of Essex in the army which was raised in 1588 to resist the Spanish Armada. He was knighted in 1597. During the closing years of Queen Elizabeth's reign he, as a staunch protestant and loyal supporter of the queen's government, was nominated to serve on many special commissions for the trial of persons charged with high treason, including Dr. William Parry (20 February 1584–5), Anthony Babington (5 September 1586), Patrick O'Cullen (21 February 1593), many Jesuits and suspected coiners (26 March 1593), and Valentine Thomas (22 July 1598).

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