FAGG, Robert II (1673-1736), of Wiston, nr. Steyning, Suss.

Fagg successfully contested Steyning in 1708 on the family interest. His grandfather, father and uncle were all Members in this period and all were Whigs, and it is thus not surprising that the analysis by the Earl of Sunderland (Charles, Lord Spencer*) of the 1708 returns listed Fagg as of the same party. However, Fagg’s political inclinations are indeterminate: he was not listed as voting for the naturalization of the Palatines, and neither is his vote recorded on the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. Defeated at Steyning in 1710, he did not stand again until the reign of George I, when he unsuccessfully contested the borough in 1722 and 1727, apparently standing as a Tory, on the latter occasion managing to collect only two votes.

Fagg died at Horley, near Reigate in Surrey, on 22 June 1736 and was buried at Albourne, Sussex, his son Robert† inheriting the estate.2 Ibid. xvi. 245.