Robert Raymond, 1st Baron Raymond, (20 December 167318 March 1733) was a British judge and politician who sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
between 1710 and 1724.
Life
Raymond was the son of the judge
Sir Thomas Raymond. He was educated at
Eton and
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
. Said to have been admitted to
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
aged nine, he became a barrister in 1697 and was admitted at
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...
in 1710. He succeeded his father in 1683 and was knighted on 20 Oct. 1710.
At the
1710 general election, Raymond was returned as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Bishop's Castle
Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893.
Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of Sh ...
and retained the seat in the
1713 general election
Events
January–March
* January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take re ...
.
He was returned as MP for
Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) in the
1715 general election
Events
For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...
but was unseated on petition in 1717. He re-entered parliament at a by-election at
Ludlow
Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...
on 26 March 1719. At the
1722 general election he was returned unopposed at
Helston
Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map ...
but he resigned the seat in 1724. In 1725 he was invested as
Privy Counsellor
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...
.
Raymond, a
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
, was appointed as
Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
on 2 March 1725, a post he held until his death. In the trial of
Deist
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...
Thomas Woolston in 1729 Raymond said:
Christianity in general is Parcel of the Common Law of England, and therefore to be protected by it; now whatever strikes at the Root of Christianity, tends manifestly to a Dissolution of the Civil Government...so that to say, an Attempt to subvert the establish'd Religion is not punishable by those Laws upon which it is establish'd, is an Absurdity.
In 1731 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Raymond, Baron of
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and w ...
in the County of Hertford. In the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
he tried to stop the House of Commons abandoning
Law French
Law French ( nrf, Louai Français, enm, Lawe Frensch) is an archaic language originally based on Old Norman and Anglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced by Parisian French and, later, English. It was used in the law courts of England, be ...
and replacing it with
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
. To Raymond, ending the traditional language might lead to other 'modernisations' such as
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
for courts in Wales. However his opposition failed and in 1733 the courts were anglicised. His tomb in
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and w ...
was sculpted by
Peter Scheemakers
Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influenc ...
.
[ictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis]
Family
He married Anne, the daughter of Sir
Edward Northey of Woodcote Green, Epsom, Surrey, attorney-general and had one son. In 1720 he built for himself a country house and estate at
Langleybury
Langleybury is a country house and estate in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of the centre of the town of Watford. The house stands on a low hill above the valley of the River Gade.
Owners
Raymond 1711–1756
The estate ...
north of
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
in Hertfordshire. His monogram and his cipher, a griffin in a crown, can still be seen on the exterior of the building.
Arms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Robert
1673 births
1733 deaths
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Members of Gray's Inn
Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain
Peers of Great Britain created by George II
Tory MPs (pre-1834)
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1710–1713
British MPs 1713–1715
British MPs 1715–1722
British MPs 1722–1727
Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
Lord chief justices of England and Wales
Attorneys General for England and Wales
Solicitors General for England and Wales
Justices of the King's Bench
Knights Bachelor
Members of Lincoln's Inn
People educated at Eton College