Abraham Wildey Robarts

Abraham Wildey Robarts (1779–1858), of Hill Street, Berkeley Square, Middlesex, was an English politician and banker.

Life

From a political family, he was the son of Abraham Roberts and his wife Sabine Tierney, sister of George Tierney; and brother of George James Robarts and William Tierney Robarts. In early life he was a writer for the East India Company in Canton.^[1] He became a director of the East India Company, also a partner in the bank Robarts & Curtis, and worked as a West Indies factor.^[2]

Robarts was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Maidstone from 1818 to 1837.^[1]

In 1825 he was a director of the New Zealand Company, a venture chaired by the wealthy John George Lambton, Whig MP (and later 1st Earl of Durham), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand.^[3][4][5]

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Roberts was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.51 billion in 2023^[6]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Robarts was associated with four different claims, he owned 566 slaves in Jamaica and Dominica and received a £11,023 payment at the time (worth £1.11 million in 2023^[6]).^[7]

Family

Robarts married Charlotte Anne Wilkinson in 1808. From 1827 to 1857 he resided at Parkstead House.^[2]

References

1. "Robarts, Abraham Wildey (1779–1858), of Hill Street, Berkeley Square, Mdx., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 6 June 2016.
2. "Abraham Wildey Robarts, Summary of Individual, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 6 June 2016.
3. Adams, Peter (2013). Fatal Necessity: British Intervention in New Zealand, 1830–1847. BWB e-Book. Bridget Williams Books. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-927277-19-5. Retrieved 9 December 2020. ...first published in 1977.
4. McDonnell, Hilda (2002). "Chapter 3: The New Zealand Company of 1825". The Rosanna Settlers: with Captain Herd on the coast of New Zealand 1826-7. Wellington City Libraries. Retrieved 9 December 2020. including Thomas Shepherd's Journal and his coastal views, The NZ Company of 1825.
5. Wakefield, Edward Jerningham (1845). Adventure in New Zealand, from 1839 to 1844: With Some Account of the Beginning of the British Colonization of the Islands. Adventure in New Zealand. John Murray. p. 4. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Digitised 22 July 2009
6. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
7. "Abraham Wildey Robarts". University College London. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.