Sir Robert Heath (20 May 1575 – 30 August 1649) was an English judge and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

from age 14 and Clifford's Inn from age 17. He became a barrister of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1603. 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 Member of Parliament for the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. He became solicitor-general in 1621, when he was knighted. In 1624 he was elected MP for

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

and was re-elected in 1625.'' Concise Dictionary of National Biography''. Accessed 5 December 2022.

Family

He married Margaret Miller, daughter of John Miller of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and had six children, including Robert, John and Mary, who married the Royalist politician Sir William Morley of Halnaker.

Attorney general

Heath served King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, 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.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
Heath brought a 1625 case in the Exchequer Court for the High Peak lead miners against Francis Leke who claimed a

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

from them. Through the offices of Heath, the tithe right was eventually transferred, in a possibly corrupt way, to Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire. From 1629 he was taking an entrepreneurial interest in the lead mines of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, engaging Sir Cornelius Vermuyden as a partner in a major drainage operation at

Wirksworth Wirksworth is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. Its population was 4,902 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census.Area E04002820 (Wirksworth parish) in Table PP002 - Sex, from Wirkswor ...

, at the ore-rich Dovegang Rake. Heath argued for the Crown in Darnel's Case (the Five Knights' Case) of 1627. The judges rejected his argument on absolute prerogative; and a scandal blighted his reputation the following year, when it was revealed, or alleged, by

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...

that he had interfered with the King's Bench records (a felony), in order to promote the decision in the case to a binding precedent (an interpretation that has recently been disputed by Mark Kishlansky). The agitation caused by the business was of major importance for the formulation of the Petition of Right. Heath notionally founded both

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. He was on a commission to consider the

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

trade with

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in 1627–8. In 1629 he was awarded a patent for the Province of Carolina; but in fact he made no settlements there. The grant also mentioned the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, the beginning of their colonial history.

Judge

Heath became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1631. He lost this position, however, in September 1634. One theory why is that his religious stance had led him to oppose

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...

. In religion he was a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

and anti-

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

; he had shown some leniency in the

Star Chamber The court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...

case against the iconoclast and extremist Henry Sherfield. 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 Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and the obligations of the

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. Heath returned to his practice as a barrister. His reputation as pro-Puritan, anti-Laudian did him no harm with the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

when Charles brought him back as a judge, making him Lord Chief Justice. One of Heath's cases as Lord Chief Justice during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

led to his downfall. In 1642 he tried Captain Turpin, a blockade runner, at

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. A year later, Sir John Berkeley, the royalist Governor of Exeter, carried out the death sentence on Turpin, as retaliation for the hanging of a Parliamentary commander who had defected to the King. Heath was impeached by Parliament for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

in 1644. He fled England, and died on 30 August 1649 in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

, France.Charles Carlton, ''Going to the Wars: The Experience of the British Civil Wars, 1638–1651'' (1994), p. 198.

Works

*''Maxims and Rules of Pleading'' (1694)

References

External links

*Paul E. Kopperman
‘Heath, Sir Robert (1575–1649)’
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, September 2004; online edn, Oct 2006, accessed 4 June 2007
St John's College Biography

Sir Robert Heath 1574-1649
by JJ Heath-Caldwell {{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Robert 1575 births 1649 deaths People from Edenbridge, Kent Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Chief justices of the common pleas Lord chief justices of England and Wales Attorneys general for England and Wales 17th-century English knights Justices of the King's Bench Recorders of London 17th-century English judges Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626