Robert Monckton (c. 1659 – 1722) was an English landowner and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1695 and 1713. He took an active part supporting William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution, and was notable for his involvement in a number of exceptionally bitter and prolonged electoral disputes.
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Background and early life
Robert Monckton's father was Sir Philip Monckton, of Cavil, near Howden, Yorkshire. His mother was Anne Eyre, daughter of Robert Eyre of Highlow Hall, Derbyshire. Robert was the eldest son and had one brother, William, a naval officer, and a sister, Margaret.
Robert Monckton's education seems to have been patchy. On 26 May 1677, aged 17, he entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, the college formerly attended by Oliver Cromwell, but by 19 Nov. 1678 he was receiving legal training at the Middle Temple. He inherited the family estates at about the age of 20.
Revolutionary career
Unlike his father, who preened himself on his apparently shaky royalist credentials, Robert had Puritan associates: he was listed as Low Church in an analysis of the 1705 Parliament. He became a committed opponent of the Duke of York, later James II. He went into exile in the Netherlands during the 1680s and was commissioned as an officer by William, Prince of Orange, on 10 November 1688. He took part in the invasion which carried through the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and was rewarded with a post as Commissioner for Trade and Plantations.
Political career
MP for Pontefract
Monckton became a client of the Whig grandee John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. With Newcastle's support, he contested the previously Tory constituency of Pontefract at the 1695 English general election. His Whig running mate was Sir William Lowther of Swillington, a Presbyterian landowner who was jeered as a "Commonwealthsman" when he plied the electorate with wine. However, Lowther and Monckton had taken the precaution of securing a number of burgage votes in the borough and there was actually a sizeable Dissenting community in the town, described by an Anglican clergyman as a "schismatic town." Lowther topped the poll with 80 votes and Monckton came a close second with 78. Sir John Bland, a defeated Tory, petitioned against the election, claiming electoral malpractice by the returning officer, but the petition failed.
The elections produced a Whig majority in the House of Commons, and William III, who had previously sought to balance Whigs and Tories, now leaned for support on the Whig Junto – a small elite grouping centred on John Somers, later Baron Somers; Charles Montagu, later Earl of Halifax; Thomas Wharton, later Marquess of Wharton and Edward Russell, later Earl of Orford. Monckton was aligned with the Country Whigs, a provincial Member backing the Whig ministry on many measures, but unwilling to countenance the more vindictive policies of the Junto. However, unlike Robert Harley, the most prominent of the Country party, he remained a committed Whig and did not drift toward the Tories.
Monckton was a reliable supporter of the King's economic demands, voting, for example, to fix the guinea at 22 shillings. However he voted against the attainder of Fenwick, the failed and pathetic Jacobite conspirator on 25 November 1696. In February 1697 he was called by the House of Lords as a witness 'to some matters which concern the Earl of Monmouth.' Monmouth had been Monckton's commanding officer in 1688 and had served as Tory First Lord of the Treasury but had since quarrelled with the king. He was accused of complicity in Fenwick's plot and imprisoned but released in March after investigation.
In February 1697 Monckton got into a financial dispute with Richard Vaughan, a blacksmith. Vaughan fetched Thomas Bailey to act as his bailiff, and together with Bailey and John Brown, broke into Monckton's London house in Vine Street. Monckton and his family suffered assault and a complaint of breach of Parliamentary privilege was entered. Bailey, Brown and Vaughan were taken into custody by the Serjeant-at-Arms. All three men petitioned the House unsuccessfully, and Vaughan was imprisoned in the Gatehouse for three days.
MP for Aldborough
Newcastle offered Monckton the borough of Aldborough, where he had recently acquired control by purchase from the Wentworth family, relatives of Lord Wentworth The borough had seen bitter contests in the past, as it was a scot and lot borough, with a wide franchise, though a small electorate. As a result of Newcastle's influence, Monckton was returned as Member of Parliament unopposed in January 1701, along with Cyril Arthington, who had contested the seat unsuccessfully in the past and had the support of another local landowner.
The parliament had a Tory majority and the Junto soon found themselves accused of treason. The first move to redefine party loyalties came in February with a motion to urge the King to recognise the Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV's grandson, as 'King of Spain'. This was a direct attack on the foreign policy of William himself and the previous administration. Monckton denounced this fiercely, saying that "if this vote was carried, he should expect that the next vote would be for owning the pretended Prince of Wales" - a reference to the James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender", the Jacobite candidate for the throne supported by Louis XIV. He demanded support for England and its allies in what would soon become the War of the Spanish Succession, saying that "he, for one, would be prepared to eat only roots for the good of his country."
In April came moves to remove the Junto members Somers, Halifax and Orford, together with Portland, from the king's council. Having rejected their extreme measures in the past, Monckton felt obliged to defend them against a pending impeachment. When the motion came up for debate, Monckton proposed an amendment that the House "would support the King in preventing the union of France and Spain and in the maintaining of the trade and commerce of this kingdom." This irrelevant and unpalatable amendment led to heated debate, with Monckton predicting dire commercial consequences for the present policies. Harley, now Speaker, rose and removed his hat, a gesture intended to silence Monckton, but he continued his diatribe, even when called to order.
Parliament was dissolved later the same year and for the second election of 1701 Monckton reassured Newcastle of his Whig loyalties by promising that he would support other Whig candidates in Yorkshire. He and Arthington were returned again, but in a contested election, with another Newcastle client, William Jessop, a close third. At the 1702 English general election, Monckton was elected unopposed alongside Jessop, as Arthington's patron sold his interest to Newcastle.
Marriage and Family
In 1692, Monckton married Theodosia Fountaine, daughter and co-heir of John Fountaine of Melton on the Hill, near Doncaster, and Hodroyd, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. They had a number of children. Robert's heir was John Monckton, later to become the 1st Viscount Galway. He was a very successful Whig politician and a more pliable client of the Pelhams than Robert had proved.
