ROUS, Robert (b.1617), of Wotton, Landrake, Cornw.

The identity of Robert Rous is not entirely certain, as there were a number of gentlemen of that name in seventeenth century Cornwall and Devon. The ‘Robert Rous Esquire’ elected at Helston on 12 January 1659 was almost certainly a kinsman of Colonel Anthony Rous*, who had purchased the manor of Helston in 1649, and in 1652 acquired the fee-farm rents of the borough. The MP might have been the eldest son of Anthony Rous, but given his apparent age and experience, it is more likely that he was Rous’s younger brother.6Oxford DNB; Cornw. RO, BW/22/5/1; X881/D/43-4; Parochial Hist. Cornw. ii. 181; Coate, Cornw. 300; Cornw. RO, Landrake par. regs. This Robert Rous first comes to notice in February 1650, when he was commissioned as captain of foot in the Cornish militia.7CSP Dom. 1649-50, p. 521. In December 1651 he was supporting his brother in a local turf war with Colonel Robert Bennett*, whose agent, John Wait, complained that he had been obstructed by ‘Captain Rous’.8FSL, X.d.483 (103-4). By November 1652 Rous had become a major in the American plantations, and was recommended for any suitable governorship by the committee for foreign affairs.9CSP Col. 1574-1660, p. 394. In the same month he also received a testimonial from his uncle Francis Rous*, who said that he had known him since childhood, and stated that he had earlier served as a sailor, a soldier and a preacher in Providence Island.10CSP Dom. 1651-2, p. 494. This promotion does not appear to have happened, and in 1654 Robert Rous was serving as lieutenant-colonel in the Barbados regiment of Colonel Lewis Morris on the ill-fated expedition to Hispaniola, commanded by Robert Venables*.11CSP Dom. 1654, p. 411; Narrative of Gen. Venables ed. Firth, 121. On 16 December the protectoral council ordered that Rous should have contingency pay, and that the money should be paid to Anthony Rous.12CSP Dom. 1654, p. 411. Nothing is known of Rous’s activities in the next few years, until his election for Helston in January 1659. He played no known part in the Parliament that followed. In July 1659 he was appointed as a militia commissioner in Cornwall, and in August he was among those recommended for a militia captaincy by Richard Lobb*.13A. and O.; FSL, X.d.483 (127). On 27 December he joined his brother in signing the declaration of the Cornish gentry in favour of a ‘free Parliament’, and he was appointed to the Cornish assessment commission on 26 January 1660.14Publick Intelligencer no. 210 (2-9 Jan. 1660), 998-9 (E.773.41); A. and O. Nothing more is known of his career.