DAVERS, Sir Robert, 2nd Bt. (1653-1722), of Rougham and Rushbrooke, Suff.

The founder of the Davers family was Robert Davers, of unknown parentage, who migrated to Barbados in 1635, made a fortune as a sugar planter, bought the Rougham estate, three miles from Bury St. Edmunds, about 1680, and was created a baronet in 1682. His son, the 2nd baronet, who was born in Barbados, and returned finally to England in 1687, acquired Rushbrooke on his father-in-law’s death in 1703, buying the shares of his sisters-in-law in the estate. After sitting for Bury St. Edmunds, he was returned both for that borough and for Suffolk in 1705, opting to serve for the county, which he represented for the rest of his life. A Tory, a member of the October Club, and a friend of Harley’s,1Rushbrook Par. Reg. 347-56 seq. voting consistently against the Government after George I’s accession, he was included in the list of leading Jacobites sent to the Pretender in 1721.2Stuart mss 65/16. Said to have grown ‘so heavy that unless you excite him he will not move’,3Rushbrook Par. Reg. 361. he died of diabetes 1 Oct. 1722.