Sir Robert Throckmorton, 8th Baronet

Throckmorton was born on 5 December 1800 at Queen Street, Mayfair, London. Throckmorton was the eldest son of William Throckmorton and his wife Frances Gifford, daughter of Thomas Gifford, 22nd of Chillington. The Throckmortons were a prominent Roman Catholic family, who continued to hear mass at the family home Coughton Court, Alcester, Warwickshire. In 1826 the family estate at Molland in Devon devolved to Throckmorton when his uncle succeeded to the baronetcy.[1]

The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 allowed Catholics to hold national office for the first time in almost three hundred years.[2] Throckmorton took advantage of the change in the law to become one of the first Catholic MPs after Daniel O'Connell achieved the feat in 1828 and eventually had Catholic Emancipation signed into law.[2] At the 1831 general election he was elected MP for Berkshire,[3] the location of his third country estate, Buckland Park (though it is now in Oxfordshire). He held the seat until 1835.[4]

He also became a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Berkshire. He was High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1843.[1]

Throckmorton inherited the baronetcy in 1840 on the death of his uncle Sir Charles Throckmorton, 7th Baronet.[3] He built a new Catholic church at the end of the south drive of Coughton Court, next to the ruins of the church built by an earlier Throckmorton in the 15th century which was confiscated from the family during the Reformation.[2]

Lady Throckmorton with Two of Her Children, by John Partridge, c. 1833

On 16 July 1829, Throckmorton was married to Elizabeth Acton, daughter of Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet of Aldenham and Mary Anne Acton. Together, they were the parents of five sons and four daughters, including:[3]

• Elizabeth Laura Caroline Throckmorton (d. 1927), who married Hon. Albert Joseph Stourton, son of Charles Stourton, 19th Baron Stourton and Hon. Mary Lucy Clifford (a daughter of the 6th Baron Clifford and granddaughter of the 8th Baron Arundell), in 1866.[5]
• Emily Throckmorton (d. 1929), who married Col. Sir Gerald Richard Dease, son of Gerald Dease and Elizabeth (née O'Callaghan) Dease, in 1863.[6]
• Courtenay Throckmorton (1831–1854), who died unmarried.[5]
• Mary Elizabeth Throckmorton (1832–1919), a Lady-in-Waiting to Empress Elisabeth of Austria.[5]
• Sir Nicholas William George Throckmorton, 9th Baronet (1838–1919), who died unmarried.[7]
• Sir Richard Charles Acton Throckmorton, 10th Baronet (1839–1927), who married Frances Stewart Moore, daughter of Maj. John Arthur Moore (a director of the East India Company) and Sophia Stewart (née Yates) Moore, in 1866. After her death, he married Florence Helen Brigg, daughter of John Fligg Brigg and Martha Ann Adelaide Lockwood, in 1921.[5]

Throckmorton died on 28 June 1862, at the age of 61, at Hereford Street in Park Lane, London.[5]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Throckmorton