ROBERTS, John (aft.1672-1731), of Plas Newydd and Llwyn Ynn, Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, Denb.

Two generations of marriages to local heiresses had moved Roberts a little way from his original patrimony at Hafod-y-bwch, a small estate lying in the shadow of Chirk Castle, but he remained a client of the Myddeltons, being returned on the Chirk interest for Denbigh Boroughs in 1710. He voted in the Commons with his patron: classed in the ‘Hanover list’ as a Tory, he was listed in 1711 as a ‘Tory patriot’, supporting peace, and a ‘worthy patriot’, backing the inquiries into the mismanagements of the previous ministry. In January 1712 he was included in Lord Treasurer Oxford’s (Robert Harley*) canvassing list concerning the Commons’ attack upon the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†). Otherwise he was an inconspicuous back-bencher, with no recorded speeches to his name. Roberts was again the Myddelton candidate for Denbigh Boroughs in 1713 but was defeated by John Wynne. On his election in 1715, turning the tables on Wynne, Roberts was classed as a Whig: presumably a simple error. He was one of 12 MPs approached by Robert Knight in March 1720 over the South Sea bill, being credited with £1,000 worth of stock without payment, a fact subsequently disclosed by the Commons’ South Sea committee. In 1722 he was obliged to give up his seat to a Myddelton, for whom he canvassed. Roberts died at Plas Newydd on 4 Sept. 1731, leaving an estate worth over £2,000 a year.1 Country Townships of Wrexham, 24; NLW Jnl. xi. 107; Add. 70331, canvassing list [Jan. 1712]; J. Carswell, S. Sea Bubble, 120–1; Hist. Reg. Chron. 1731, p. 42.