Robert Fellowes (politician)

Robert Fellowes (1742–1829) was an English politician, Member of Parliament for Norwich from 1802 to 1807.

Robert Fellowes

M.P.
Seated engraved portrait on a chair of Robert Fellowes, holding a letter, wearing a high-collared jacket
Portrait of Robert Fellowes, after Joseph Clover
Born1742
Died1829
Occupation(s)charity treasurer, politician
Parent
  • William Fellowes, the "Man of Shotesham" (father)

Life

He was the second son of William Fellowes of Shotesham Park, Norfolk and his wife Elizabeth.[1] He was educated in Acton, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1759, graduating B.A. in 1764.[2] William Fellowes (1740–1778) was his elder brother, and his son Robert Fellowes (1770–1847) his nephew.[3]

In 1769 Fellowes was travelling in Italy. He arrived at Venice in September of that year with Thomas Durrant, of Scottow, Member of Parliament for St Ives.[4][5]

The Hall, Shotesham Park, 1789 drawing from the office of John Soane, close to final design for the entrance elevation

Fellowes succeeded to the position of treasurer to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on his father's death in 1775, and held it to 1803.[1] Shotesham was enclosed in 1781. The Fellowes family grew the estate over the years, using non-agricultural income to purchase land. In 1872 it was 7,758 acres (3,140 ha)[6] as originally purchased in 1721 the land had been 871 acres (352 ha)[7]

Fellowes had the Hall at Shotesham Park rebuilt by John Soane, in the period from 1785.[8] It was on a new site, about a mile from the old house.[9]

In 1816 Fellowes was one of the founders of the Norwich Savings Bank, with the former Norwich mayor John Hammond Cole, becoming the Bank's President.[10]

In politics

In 1799 Henry Hobart, one of the Members of Parliament for Norwich, died. At the by-election that followed, Fellowes stood as a candidate opposed to the Pitt administration, but lost to John Frere, backed by William Windham, despite support from the Gurney family in the person of Bartlett Gurney. In the 1802 general election, he stood again and topped the poll in the two-member constituency, with the radical William Smith coming second, and Windham and Frere kept out. He was elected again in 1806, coming second to the Tory John Patteson, but was defeated in 1807, coming third to Patteson and Smith.[11]

In parliament Fellowes took an independent line, earning the nickname "Bob-of-both-sides". He voted sometimes with the Foxites, but was unpopular with the liberal Whigs as lacking consistency.[1]

Family

Fellowes married in 1776 Ann Berney, daughter of John Berney of Bracon Hall. They had six sons and six daughters.[1]

The sons included:

  • Robert Fellowes (died 1869).[12] He married, firstly in 1812, Sarah Williams (died 1814), daughter of the Rev. John Henry Williams.[13][14] They had a daughter, Marianne, married in 1839 George Acklom, son of the cavalry officer Robert Evatt Acklom, who became a cleric.[13][15][16] His second wife was Jane Louisa Sheldon, daughter of Ralph Sheldon, Member of Parliament for Wilton.[13] Their daughter Louisa married in 1835 Thomas Gladstone;[17] their daughter Fanny married in 1851 Edward Howes as his second wife;[18][19] and their daughter Margaret married in 1854 William Mansfield.[20]
  • Henry Fellowes (1783–1862).[21] He was grandfather of the musical scholar Edmund Fellowes.[22]
  • Rev. John Fellowes (1785–1838).[23]

Of the daughters:

  • Elizabeth (died 1817, aged 29), fourth daughter, [24] married the Rev. George Howes, and was mother of Edward Howes who married, as his second wife, Fanny Fellowes above.[25] There were three sons and a daughter of the marriage. George Howes married, secondly, Maria Margaret Blake (died 1820), daughter of the barrister Thomas Blake (1755–1813), and they had a son Frederick.[26][27]

Notes
  1. "Fellowes, Robert (1742-1829), of Shotesham Park, Norf., History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  2. "Fellowes, Robert (FLWS759R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. Clement, Mark. "Fellowes, Robert (1770–1847)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9266. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. Ingamells, John (1997). A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800. Yale University Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-300-07165-8.
  5. "Durrant, Thomas (?1733-90), of Scottow, Norf. History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  6. Wilson, Richard; Mackley, Alan (1 January 2000). Creating Paradise: The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880. A&C Black. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-85285-252-8.
  7. Wilson, Richard; Mackley, Alan (1 January 2000). Creating Paradise: The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880. A&C Black. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-85285-252-8.
  8. Howard Colvin (1978). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840. John Murray. p. 768. ISBN 0-7195-3328-7.
  9. Wilson, Richard; Mackley, Alan (1 January 2000). Creating Paradise: The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880. A&C Black. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-85285-252-8.
  10. Eade, Sir Peter (1886). Some Account of the Parish of St. Giles, Norwich. Jarrold & sons. p. 353.
  11. "Norwich 1790-1820, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  12. Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Fellowes, Robert (2)" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  13. Howard, Joseph Jackson; Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1900). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 8. London: Priv. printed. p. 97.
  14. Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Williams, John Henry" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  15. The Gentleman's Magazine. W. Pickering. 1839. p. 308.
  16. "Acklom, George (AKLN837G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  17. Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Bosworth & Harrison. 1864. p. 357.
  18. Mair, Robert Henry (1869). Debrett's Illustrated House of Commons and the Judicial Bench. Dean & Son. p. 148.
  19. Burke, Bernard (1875). Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. I. H. Colburn. p. 428.
  20. Moreman, T. R. "Mansfield, William Rose, first Baron Sandhurst (1819–1876)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17996. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  21. Howard, Joseph Jackson; Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1900). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 8. London: Priv. printed. p. 100.
  22. Howard, Joseph Jackson; Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1900). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 8. London: Priv. printed. p. 104.
  23. "Fellowes, John (FLWS803J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  24. Cave, Edward (1817). The Gentleman's Magazine: Or, Monthly Intelligencer: Volume the first [-fifth], for the year 1731 [-1735] ... Printed and sold at St John's Gate [by Edward Cave]; by F. Jefferies in Ludgate-Street. p. 189.
  25. Walford, Edward (1871). The County Families of the United Kingdom: Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland : Containing a Brief Notice of the Descent, Birth, Marriage, Education, and Appointments of Each Person, His Heir Apparent Or Presumptive, as Also a Record of the Offices which He Has Hitherto Held, Together with His Town Address and Country Residence. Robert Hardwicke. p. 522.
  26. Burke, John (1977). A genealogical and heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank, but uninvested with heritable honours. Рипол Классик. p. 412. ISBN 978-5-88515-310-2.
  27. Burke, Bernard (1868). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Harrison. p. 109.
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