LLOYD, Robert II (c.1688-1734), of Aston Hall, nr. Oswestry, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1710 - 1713
1722 - 1727

Family and Education

b. c.1688, 1st surv. s. of Robert Lloyd I*.  educ. Rugby sch. 1698; Magdalen Coll. Oxf. matric. 5 Apr. 1707, aged 18; I. Temple 1708. unmsuc. fa. 1709.1

Offices Held

Mayor, Oswestry 1717.2

Biography

Lloyd first came to prominence in 1709 when Edward Holdsworth, his friend and fellow commoner at Magdalen, dedicated to him the poem Muscipula, a satire on the Welsh, which Holdsworth had written apparently at the instigation of Dr Sacheverell. In a poem written in reply by a Welshman, it was alleged that Sacheverell had in fact been responsible for the dedication and that, rather than have the poem dedicated to himself, the doctor had ‘assign’d the patronage . . . to a hopeful pig of the sounder’. Lloyd had been a pupil of Sacheverell, to whom he gave the rectory of Selattyn, which was in his gift, as soon as Sacheverell’s trial ended, and the new incumbent made his triumphal progress to Shropshire in order to be installed there.3

As an intimate of Sacheverell, and the son of a former knight of the shire, Lloyd was an obvious choice as a Tory candidate for the county at the 1710 election, and he agreed to stand with John Kynaston* on the Tory interest. But his estates, although considerable, were burdened with debts as a result of his father’s election exploits, and he allowed himself to be persuaded by his uncle John Bridgeman, a Whig, that any further election expenses would be ‘injurious to his circumstances’. By July 1710 he had resolved to withdraw. This put the Shropshire Tories into a panic, and pressure was brought to bear on the young man, who eventually agreed to remain a candidate. Although in going against his uncle’s advice he forfeited the latter’s support, Lloyd was returned with Kynaston after a close contest.4

Classed as a Tory in the ‘Hanover list’ of this Parliament, Lloyd was one of the ‘worthy patriots’ who in the first session detected the mismanagements of the previous ministry. Lloyd did not make any speech of which there is a record, and until 17 Mar. 1711 was joined in the House by Richard Lloyd, making their parliamentary activity difficult to distinguish. On 18 Apr. 1711 Lloyd was a teller against a clause in the general Post Office bill applying the surplus of the duties to public use. In December 1712, after having first agreed to join with a High Tory, Sir John Astley, 2nd Bt.†, as a candidate for the county at the next election, he changed his mind and said he would not stand, whereupon the Shropshire Whigs approached his uncle Bridgeman to persuade Lloyd to reconsider and join instead with their prospective candidate, Lord Newport (Hon. Henry*). But Bridgeman felt himself unable to advise Lloyd to put up again, having always opposed his standing for Parliament, and by the following January it was settled that he would not seek re-election. Having been a teller on 2 May 1713 against a proposed bill to suspend the duties on imported French wines, he was one of the ‘whimsicals’ who voted against the French commerce bill on 18 June, being also listed as speaking in the debate.5

After Queen Anne’s death Lloyd was again approached, via Bridgeman, to stand with Lord Newport for the county. On this occasion Bridgeman favoured the proposal, thinking that it would be a means of ‘compromising’ political differences in Shropshire, and that it would also enable Lloyd to rid himself of his connexion with John Kynaston, who, Bridgeman said, ‘has all along endeavoured to make him his tool’. After consulting Bridgeman’s brother Orlando*, a High Tory, Lloyd decided not to join with either Newport or Kynaston but to stand on his own. He withdrew, however, before the election, and in 1722 stood as Kynaston’s partner, previous differences seemingly having been forgotten.6

Lloyd died at Bristol on 6 June 1734, and was buried in the family chapel at Aston. His estates, upon which the burden of debt, resulting mainly from election contests, was now £10,000, were inherited by a cousin, John Lloyd of Foxhall.7

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. Rugby Sch. Reg. revised G. A. Solly, i. 26.
  • 2. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. ser. 1, vii. 64.
  • 3. E. Holdsworth, Muscipula (1709), 5–6; Bodl. Ballard 20, f. 54; [T. Richards], The (Latin) Description of Hogland, ii. 2; Salop Par. Reg. Soc. St. Asaph dioc. i. 234; G. Holmes, Trial of Sacheverell, 239.
  • 4. Staffs. RO, Bradford mss, letter of Roger Owen, 4 July 1710; Bradford mss at Weston Park, Sir John Bridgeman to (Sir) Arthur Owen II (3rd Bt.)*, 1 Nov. 1710.
  • 5. Staffs. RO, Bradford mss, Ld. Newport to Sir John Bridgeman, 3, 7 Dec. 1712; Bradford mss at Weston Park, Sir John Bridgeman to Thomas Jones, 27 Dec. 1712, same to Orlando Bridgeman, 3 Jan. 1713.
  • 6. Bradford mss at Weston Park, Sir John to Orlando Bridgeman, 18 Aug. 1714, same to Ld. Newport, 22 Aug. 1714, Sir Robert Corbet, 4th Bt.*, to Sir John Bridgeman, 10 Sept. 1714.
  • 7. Salop Par. Reg. Soc. St. Asaph dioc. ii. 306–7; i. 241; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. ser. 1, vii. 64; ser. 2, iii. 308.