Sir Robert Sutton (167113 August 1746) was an English diplomat 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 1722 to 1741.

Early life

Sutton was the elder son of Robert Sutton of

Averham Averham is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 187, increasing to 294 at the 2011 census (which included Staythorpe), however Averham ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, and his wife, Katherine, the daughter of the Revd William Sherborne of

Pembridge Pembridge is a village and civil parish in the Arrow valley in Herefordshire, England. The village is on the A44 road about east of Kington and west of Leominster. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bearwood, Lower Bearwood, Lower Bro ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. He was great-nephew of the 1st Baron Lexinton. He was admitted to

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

in 1688 and went on to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1691.

Diplomat

Sutton was ordained a deacon and became chaplain to his cousin

Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexington PC (6 January 166219 September 1723) was an English diplomat. Family He was the son of Robert Sutton, 1st Baron Lexington and his third wife Mary St. Leger. On 14 September 1691, he married Margaret, (d. Apr ...

, English Envoy in Vienna in 1694. In 1697, he was appointed as secretary to the British legation there, and upon the departure of his cousin, became the English resident there. Lexinton then secured for him the nomination for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

on 5 December 1700, and he arrived in

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

on 7 January 1702. Sutton asked to be recalled on 6 May 1715. He remained there until the summer of 1717, when he travelled to Vienna, arriving on 17 September. Afterwards, he served with

Abraham Stanyan Abraham Stanyan (c. 1669–1732) was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1717. He was ambassador to Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Stanyan was the eldest son of Lawrence Stanyan of Monken Hadley, Midd ...

as joint mediator at the Austro-Turkish peace congress at Passarowitz in 1718. His final diplomatic posting was as ambassador to France in 1720, but was superseded the following year. Following his return to England, he bought estates in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

and

, worth nearly £5,000 a year, with a house at

Broughton, Lincolnshire Broughton is a town and civil parish situated on the Roman Ermine Street, in the North Lincolnshire Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,726. In 2021, the pop ...

. In Constantinople in 1704, Sutton acquired the

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

horse

Alcock's Arabian Alcock's Arabian (foaled about 1700, died about 1733), also known as Pelham Grey Arabian and less certainly as Bloody Buttocks and Ancaster Turk, among other names, is the ancestor of all grey-coloured Thoroughbred horses,Lady Wentworth, ''The S ...

with some other Arabians, and had him shipped to England. The horse is considered to be the ancestor of all grey

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

Politician and financier

Having become rich in diplomatic service, Sutton was elected Whig MP

in 1722. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council on 9 May 1722. He became a member of the committee of

Charitable Corporation The Charitable Corporation was an institution in Britain intended to provide loans at low interest to the deserving poor, including through large-scale pawnbroking. It was established by charter in 1707. Its full title was "Charitable Corporation ...

in 1725, and made money by insider trading in its shares.Jeremy Black, ‘Sutton, Sir Robert (1671/2–1746)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200

accessed 20 June 2009 He was expelled from the House of Commons 4 May 1732 for a false statement that the company's authorized capital had been exhausted, allowing it to issue more (and so finance the corrupt speculation of other directors). He was also sub-governor of the

Royal Africa Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Engl ...

from 1726. However, he was elected unopposed in 1734 for Great Grimsby. Sutton married Judith Tichborne, daughter of Sir Benjamin Tichborne of Beaulieu,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the north-east, ...

and Elizabeth Gibbs, and widow of

Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC (23 April 167519 April 1722), known as Lord Spencer from 1688 to 1702, was a British statesman from the Spencer family. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1714–1717), Lord Privy Seal ( ...

. Their children included

Sir Richard Sutton, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Sutton, 1st Baronet MP (31 July 1733 – 10 January 1802), of Norwood Park in Nottinghamshire, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1796. Family background and education Sutton was the younger son o ...

, and an older brother, Robert Sutton, who predeceased his father in November 1743.Buried at St James, Westminster, on 27 November 1743. Source: ''The Register of Burials in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754''. 27 November 1743. He was also patron of the cleric

William Warburton William Warburton (24 December 16987 June 1779) was an English writer, literary critic and churchman, Bishop of Gloucester from 1759 until his death. He edited editions of the works of his friend Alexander Pope, and of William Shakespeare. Lif ...

References

* The despatches of Sir Robert Sutton, ambassador in Constantinople, 1710–1714, ed. Akdes Minet Kurat (1953) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Robert 1671 births 1746 deaths Ambassadors of England to the Ottoman Empire Ambassadors of Great Britain to the Ottoman Empire Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Whig (British political party) MPs Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Ambassadors of Great Britain to France 17th-century English diplomats Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Great Grimsby Expelled members of the Parliament of Great Britain

Early life

Diplomat

Politician and financier

See also

References