Robert Shafto | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forCounty Durham | |
| In office 1760–1768 | |
| Preceded by | George Bowes |
| Succeeded by | Sir Thomas Clavering |
| Member of Parliament forDownton | |
| In office 1780–1790 | |
| Preceded by | Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie |
| Succeeded by | Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie |
Robert Shafto (sometimes speltShaftoe) (circa 1732 – 24 November 1797) was a British politician who sat in theHouse of Commons between 1760 and 1790. He was the likely subject of a famousNorth East English folk song andnursery rhyme, "Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea" (Roud #1359).
Robert Shafto was born around 1732[1] the son ofJohn Shafto and his wife Mary Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson of Nunnington, Yorkshire at his family seat ofWhitworth nearSpennymoor in County Durham. He was educated atWestminster School from 1740 to 1749, when he enteredBalliol College, Oxford.[2]
He succeeded to the family estates on the death of his father John in 1742.[2] Both his father and uncleRobert Shafto had beenToryMembers of Parliament.[3] He continued this tradition, becoming one of the two members forCounty Durham in 1760, using his nickname "Bonny Bobby Shafto" and the now famous song for electioneering purposes, defeating theWhigSir Thomas Clavering, with a campaign supported byThomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, who was the prime minister,Henry Vane, first earl of Darlington, and the bishop of Durham.[2] However, once in parliament he dropped this allegiance, supporting the administrations ofJohn Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute andPitt the elder. He held the County Durham seat for two parliaments until he declined to stand in the election of 1768.[2]
On 18 April 1774 Shafto married Anne Duncombe (died 1783), daughter and heir of Thomas Duncombe ofDuncombe Park, Yorkshire, by his marriage to Diana Howard, a daughter ofHenry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle. Shafto and his wife had three children, John (1775–1802), Robert (1776–1848), and Thomas (born 1777).[4] His wife, Anne, had inherited property in therotten borough ofDownton in Wiltshire and he became one of its two members in 1780.[2] He is known to have supportedWilliam Pitt the Younger during the regency crisis of 1788–9[2] and did not seek re-election in 1790. Robert Shafto died on 24 November 1797 and is buried in the Shafto familycrypt beneath the floor of Whitworth Church.[5] He was succeeded in his estates by his elder son, John Shafto.[4]
The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse ofBrancepeth Castle, County Durham, where his brother Thomas wasrector, when he married Anne Duncombe ofDuncombe Park in Yorkshire. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news,[6] although other sources claim that she died a fortnight before the wedding ofpulmonary tuberculosis.[5] Even if the song was not composed about him, his supporters almost certainly added a verse for the 1761 elections with the lyrics:
Thomas and George Allan, in theirTyneside Songs and Readings (1891), argued that the "Bobby Shafto" of the song was in fact a relative, Robert Shafto (1760–1781) of Benwell.[8] It is likely that his grandson, Robert Duncombe Shafto, also used the song for electioneering in 1861, with several of the later verses being added around this time.[5]
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCounty Durham 1760–1768 With:Raby Vane to 1761 Hon. Frederick Vane 1760–1768 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forDownton 1780–1790 With:Sir Philip Hales, Bt Hon. Henry Seymour-Conway Hon. William Seymour-Conway | Succeeded by |