SPENCER, Lord Robert (1747-1831).

Spencer, returned on the Marlborough interest at Woodstock, entered the House as a member of the Bedford connexion and a supporter of the ministry. Appointed a lord of Trade in April 1770 he was not a very regular attender either at the Board or in the House, and is only known to have spoken twice in debate; even in his private circle he had a reputation for silence. In January 1781 he suddenly decided to join the Opposition, perhaps as a consequence of his friendship with Fox, though Fox denied having made any attempt to persuade him. His brother, Marlborough, not consulted beforehand, wrote to William Eden: ‘This is a very unpleasant business of Bob’s going so decidedly into Opposition ... As the case stands at present, it is actually my bringing in a member for Opposition.’ Spencer, having lost his official salary, and in financial difficulties which Selwyn described as bankruptcy, was admitted to a twelfth share in Fox’s faro bank at Brooks’s, with a fee of five or six guineas an hour for dealing.2HMC Carlisle, 461, 463, 488, 490, 495, 497, 499, 501, 552; Add. 34417, ff. 295, 312-13.

He remained firmly attached to Fox. In May 1782 Fox made a special point of his appointment as vice-treasurer of Ireland, scouting the idea that he should share it with his brother, Lord Charles Spencer, who was Shelburne’s candidate: ‘Besides Lord Robert’s own claims, which are surely strong upon us, it is only reasonable and perhaps politic that it should appear to the world that I should have some weight in the disposition of appointments.’3To Rockingham, 22 May 1782, Rockingham mss. In July Spencer followed Fox into opposition to Shelburne. On 18 Feb. 1783 he voted against the peace preliminaries; but no place was found for him under the Coalition. He voted for Fox’s East India bill, and in the Parliament of 1784-90 he appears in all known lists as a member of the Fox-Portland party.

Spencer died 23 June 1831.