Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre (1689 – 22 March 1713) was aBritishpeer, the son ofThomas Petre, 6th Baron Petre (1633–1706) and his wife Mary Clifton, daughter of Sir Thomas Clifton. He succeeded to his title, at the age of 17, upon the death of his father.[1]
Robert is said to have spurned wearing a wig in the conventional way, spending instead six hours every day dressing his own hair. He caused an uproar of indignation and outrage in the family when, in 1711, out of reckless mischief, the twenty-year-old cut off a lock of hair from the head of a celebrated beauty, his distant cousin, the sixteen-year-oldArabella Fermor, daughter of Henry Fermor ofTusmore, Oxfordshire.
Alexander Pope, a friend of the family, was prevailed upon to write one of his humorous heroic verses about the incident in the hope that laughter would defuse the situation. The result wasThe Rape of the Lock (first published inLintot's Miscellany in May 1712), which was an enormous public success, selling 3,000 copies in four days. The first version of the poem, however, so lampooned all those involved that it upset the Petres even more and Arabella, flattered to be cast as a heroine by the distinguished Mr. Pope, is said to have become "very troublesome and conceited". She became the wife ofFrancis Perkins ofUfton Court, nearReading, Berkshire in about 1716 and died in 1738.
It is known that Petre lived atIngatestone Hall, but on the strength of his marriage on 1 March 1712, toCatherine Walmesley (1697 – 31 January 1785),[2] an extremely rich Lancastrian heiress. Not long after, they acquired the manor ofDunkenhalgh.
Lord Petre intended to move back toThorndon Hall, the family seat, but died ofsmallpox, at the age of 23, before doing so. His 16-year-old bride was 6 months pregnant. His son,Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre, was born three months after his death.
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| Preceded by | Baron Petre 1706–1713 | Succeeded by |
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