Life

Robert, born in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 about 1540, was eldest son of Sir Thomas Wroth (1516-1573) by his wife Mary, daughter of Richard, Lord Rich. He was admitted a pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 21 April 1553, but, owing to the religious changes consequent on the accession of Mary, Queen of Scots, he left the university without a degree soon after his admission. Accompanying his father in his exile, he returned to England soon after the accession of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

. He afterwards entered public life, and the rest of his career was devoted to politics and the administration of a large estate. He was elected for the first time to parliament for St Albans

St Albans (UK Parliament constituency)

St Albans is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Established in 1885, it is a county constituency in Hertfordshire, and elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.From 1554 to 1852 there was a...

 on 11 January 1563; he was returned for Trevena

Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency)

Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs, and returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

 on 2 April 1571; he took his seat as member for the important constituency of Middlesex

Middlesex (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesex is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885....

 on 8 May 1572, and was re-elected to four later parliaments (23 November 1585, 4 February 1589, 7 October 1601, and 9 March 1604).

Meanwhile his father's death on 9 October 1573 had placed him in possession of large estates in Middlesex, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

; but he lived chiefly at Loughton Hall, Essex, which he acquired through his wife, and devoted much time to the affairs of the county of Essex. He was High Sheriff of Essex

High Sheriff of Essex

The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years...

 in 1587. He was appointed to the command of two hundred untrained men, forty harquebusiers, and forty musketeers of Essex in the army which was raised in 1588 to resist the Spanish Armada

Spanish Armada

This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

. He was knighted in 1597. During the closing years of Queen Elizabeth's reign he, as a staunch protestant and loyal supporter of the queen's government, was nominated to serve on many special commissions for the trial of persons charged with high treason, including Dr. William Parry (20 February 1584–5), Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...

 (5 September 1586), Patrick O'Cullen (21 February 1593), many Jesuits and suspected coiners (26 March 1593), and Valentine Thomas (22 July 1598).

Wroth retained the favour of the government under James I. On 22 May 1603 the new king granted him a walkership in Waltham Forest for life, and on 19 February next year he and others were directed to see to the erection of bridges across the river Lea between Hackney

London Borough of Hackney

The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

 and Hoddesdon

Hoddesdon

Hoddesdon is a town in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated in the Lea Valley. The town grew up as a coaching stop on the route between Cambridge and London. It is located southeast of Hertford, north of Waltham Cross and southwest of Bishop's Stortford. At its height during the 18th...

 for the king's convenience when hawking

Falconry

Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...

. On 18 and 19 July 1605 he entertained James I at his residence at Loughton in Essex for two days. His estates in Essex were increased by the death of Francis Stonard, his father-in-law, on 13 September 1604. He was a juryman at the trial of Sir Walter Ralegh on 15 September 1603, when through some misunderstanding he incurred the displeasure of the attorney-general. He was in the special commission of oyer and terminer

Oyer and terminer

In English law, Oyer and terminer was the Law French name, meaning "to hear and determine", for one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat...

 for Middlesex issued 16 January 1606 for the trial of Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...

 and the Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...

 conspirators.

Wroth died on 27 January 1606, and was buried on the following day at Enfield

Enfield Town

Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...

. His obsequies were formally celebrated on 3 March.

Family

Sir Robert married Susan, daughter and heiress of John Stonard of Loughton, through whom he acquired the estate of Loughton. He seems to have had at least four surviving sons:

• Sir Robert (1576?–1614) who married Lady Mary Wroth
  Lady Mary Wroth
  Lady Mary Wroth was an English poet of the Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary English family, Wroth was among the first female British writers to have achieved an enduring reputation...
  
  ;
• John, who was admitted a student of the Inner Temple, 1596, was afterwards described as a captain, and succeeded to Durrants;
• Thomas; and
• Henry, who is styled "of Woodbury in Herefordshire".

Sir Henry Wroth (died 1671), second son of Henry, Sir Robert's youngest son, acquired some fame as a royalist during the civil wars.