Robert Shirley, 1st Earl FerrersPC (20 October 1650 – 25 December 1717)—known as Sir Robert Shirley, 7th Baronet, from 1669 to 1677 and Robert Shirley, 14th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, from 1677 to 1711—was an English peer and courtier.
On 18 February 1684, Lord Ferrers was appointed Master of the Horse to the Queen Consort, Catherine of Braganza. After Charles II's death in 1685, he became the Dowager Queen's Lord Steward and "Chief Bailiff of the Revenues", in which post he served until her death in 1705.[1] Among the Queen's property was the honour of Higham Ferrers, part of the Duchy of Lancaster, which had been granted to her for life by Charles II with reversion to the Earl of Feversham, her Lord Chamberlain. Since Feversham avoided open politics after the Glorious Revolution in 1689, the offices of the honour were in Ferrers' gift. This allowed him to choose the Member of Parliament for Higham Ferrers until 1703, when Thomas Watson-Wentworth, whose brother had married Feversham's sister-in-law, purchased from him the reversion of the honour of Higham Ferrers and took over the electoral interest.[3]
In 1692, Ferrers and Thynne (the latter now Viscount Weymouth) decided to partition the Barony of Farney in County Monaghan, both possessing an equal moiety of it as coheirs of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. The barony was surveyed and divided into lands of equal value, Weymouth taking the eastern moiety and Ferrers the western. However, the survey soon proved to be faulty, and Ferrers' share of lesser value. Weymouth generously deeded a portion of his share to Ferrers to equalize them, a process completed in 1706.[6]
Ferrers was admitted to the Privy Council on 25 May 1699. He was retained in the Privy Council of Queen Anne, and was again assistant lord cupbearer at her coronation.[1]John Macky described him during her reign:[7]
Is a very honest Man, a Lover of his Country, a great Improver of Gardening and Parking; a keen Sportsman, never was yet in Business, but is very capable; a tall, fair Man, towards sixty Years old.
After his second marriage to Selina Finch in 1699, he spent much of his time at a house he built in Twickenham, Heath Lane Lodge. On 3 September 1711, Lord Ferrers was created Earl Ferrers and Viscount Tamworth. On his death at Bath six years later, his earldom passed to his second (but eldest surviving) son Washington, whilst his barony passed to his granddaughter, Elizabeth, her father and elder brother having died in 1698 and 1714, respectively. Washington received the family's Northamptonshire estates in fee simple, while those in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire were to some extent encumbered by annuities to his four younger half-brothers and a jointure to the Dowager Countess Selina. She also received Heath Lane Lodge, which was then to go to her eldest son; he also inherited the Ettington Park estate near Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire, and he and his three full brothers were jointly left the Earl's Irish lands in County Monaghan. The estate of Garsdon in Wiltshire, inherited from the Washingtons, went to the Earl's third surviving son, Laurence.[8][9]
Family
On 28 December 1671, Shirley married the heiress, Elizabeth Washington (d. 2 October 1693) and they had ten sons and seven daughters:[10][8]
Lady Selina Shirley (2 July 1701 – 14 December 1777), married Peter Bathurst
Lady Mary Shirley (20 November 1702 – 17 May 1771), married Charles Tryon, of Bulwick, and had issue, including William Tryon
George Shirley (1704–1704)
Capt. George Shirley (23 October 1705 – 22 October 1787), married Mary Sturt, sister of Humphrey Sturt, and had issue. They are ancestors of Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.
Lady Frances Shirley (5 May 1707 – 15 July 1778), unmarried
