Lord Robert Raymond 1st Baron of Abbots Langley Kt. MP

Robert Raymond (1673-1733), who became 1st Baron Raymond and Lord Chief Justice. He was the son of Judge Sir Thomas Raymond (died 1683).

Robert was allegedly admitted to Gray's Inn to study law in 1682, at the tender age of nine, but was not actually called to the Bar until 1697. In the meantime he attended Eton College and Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1704 he appeared against Sir Edward Northey as defence counsel in the treason trial of David Lindsay.

One of his star cases as a prosecuting barrister was the trial of Robert 'Beau' Fielding, who had bigamously married Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, former mistress of King Charles II (by whom she had five - possibly six - children; she also happened to be the owner of Nonsuch Palace). Fielding was a notorious rake and fortune hunter and was convicted, but managed to engineer a royal warrant suspending his sentence.

In 1710 Robert was appointed solicitor-general and in that same year became Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. Soon afterwards he was knighted. On the accession of George I in 1714 he was replaced as solicitor-general. He then became, successively, MP for Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, Ludlow and Helston, whilst continuing his legal career. He became a judge in 1724 and flourished when Sir Robert Walpole became Britain's first Prime Minister, being appointed Lord Chief Justice in 1725, a position he held for eight years - and, by all accounts, he was very good at the job. Anne died in 1720 and Robert was elevated to the peerage in 1731. He died at his home in Red Lion Square, London on 18 March 1733, leaving his estate of Langleybury, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire to his and Anne's only surviving son, also Robert. Three other boys died within a few weeks of birth and were buried with their paternal grandmother.

Robert Junior was born in 1717 and became the 2nd Baron Raymond on the death of his father in 1733. In 1741 he married Mary, daughter of Irish peer Montague, Viscount Blundell. He died in 1756, leaving no children, and Mary then married Lieutenant-General Lord Robert Bertie, Governor of Cork.

The Raymonds have monuments in Abbots Langley Church, described as follows: - 'The monument of the first Lord Raymond, 1732 (sic), has a life-size figure of Lord Raymond reclining on one arm; on his right is a seated female figure holding a medallion portrait of a young man, and on the left a cherub offering a coronet in an absurdly respectful manner. The monument of the second Lord Raymond, 1756, at the west end of the north aisle, is less pretentious, and has no figures. On the north wall of the chapel is a white marble monument to Dame Anne Raymond, having a seated figure under a pediment, and below, three children in cradles in low relief. [Source: British History Online]

Reference http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/Northeys2.html

• Birth: 20 Dec. 1673
• Parents: Sir Thomas Raymond of Tremnals, Essex, j. Kb, by Anne, da. of Sir Edward Fish, 2nd Bt., of Southill, Beds. Education:. Eton c.1687–9; G. Inn 1682, called 1697, bencher 1709; transferred to L. Inn 1710, bencher 1710, treasurer 1712; Christ’s, Camb. 1689.
• Wife: Anne (d. 1721), da. of Sir Edward Northey
• Title: 20 Oct. 1710; cr. Baron Raymond of Abbots Langley 15 Jan. 1731.

Ref: Parliament Online

Raymond died ‘of the stone’ at his house in Red Lion Square, London, on 18 Mar. 1733 and was buried at Abbots Langley, his estates and title passing to his only surviving son.