Robert Heath
Sir Robert Heath | |
---|---|
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.
Early life
Heath was the son of Robert Heath, attorney, and Anne Posyer. He was educated at Tunbridge grammar school (Tonbridge 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.[1]
By 1620, he was listed as one of the 40 patent holders for the Council for New England as the "Recorder of our Citie of London." In 1621 he was elected
Family
He married Margaret Miller, daughter of John Miller of
Attorney general
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.[4]
Heath brought a 1625 case in the
Heath argued for the Crown in
Heath notionally founded both
Judge
Heath became
Another theory relates to corruption. On the other hand, this is not accepted by Thomas G. Barnes, who argues that Heath with Sir Richard Shelton had displeased the King, and on an old matter: plantations in Ulster and the obligations of the City of London in an agreement made under James I, as interpreted in a lax fashion by the law officers of the Crown (Heath as Attorney General, Shelton as Solicitor General). The matter surfaced in a Star Chamber case in mid-1634. The King dismissed Heath with conditions making sure he could not join the defence team in this case.[14]
Heath returned to his practice as a barrister. His reputation as pro-Puritan, anti-Laudian did him no harm with the
One of Heath's cases as Lord Chief Justice during the
Works
- Maxims and Rules of Pleading (1694)
References
- ^ "Heath, Robert (HT587R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Wilfrid R. Prest, The Rise of the Barristers: A Social History of the English Bar, 1590–1640 (1986), pp. 109–110.
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed 5 December 2022.
- ^ a b Thomas Cogswell, ‘In the Power of the State’: Mr Anys's Project and the Tobacco Colonies, 1626–1628, The English Historical Review 2008 CXXIII (500):35–64; online text.
- ^ Jill R. Dias, Lead, Society and Politics in Derbyshire Before the Civil War, Midland History, Vol. 6 (1981); (PDF)
- ^ Glenn Burgess, The Politics of the Ancient Constitution (1992), pp. 191–4.
- ^ Mark A. Kishlansky, Tyranny denied: Charles I, Attorney General Heath, and the Five Knights' Case. Historical Journal, 42 (1999), 53–83.
- ^ "History in Focus: Elizabeth I and James VI and I - review of Politics, Law and Counsel".
- ^ Heath's patent, Yale Law dept, accessed 13 December 2008
- ^ "The History of North Carolina - the States - the History Channel". Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
- ^ Sandra Riley, Thelma Peters, Homeward Bound: A History of the Bahama Islands to 1850 With a Definitive Study of Abaco in the American Loyalist Plantation Period (2000), pp. 26–7.
- ^ John Wroughton, The Routledge Companion to the Stuart Age, 1603–1714 (2006), p. 8.
- ^ Glenn Burgess, The Politics of the Ancient Constitution (1992), p. 183.
- ^ Thomas G. Barnes, Cropping the Heath: The Fall of a Chief Justice, 1634[dead link], Historical Research Volume 64 Issue 155, pp. 331–343, 12 October 2007.
- ^ John Adamson, The Noble Revolt: The Overthrow of Charles I (2007), p. 157.
- ^ "Sir Robert Heath papers, 1614-1699 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign".
- ^ Charles Carlton, Going to the Wars: The Experience of the British Civil Wars, 1638–1651 (1994), p. 198.
Further reading
- Paul E. Kopperman (1989) Sir Robert Heath, 1575–1649: Window on an Age
External links
- Paul E. Kopperman, ‘Heath, Sir Robert (1575–1649)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, Oct 2006, accessed 4 June 2007
- St John's College Biography
- Sir Robert Heath 1574-1649, by JJ Heath-Caldwell