Sir Robert Cann, MP, 1st Baronet of Compton Greenfield

Sir Robert Cann Bt (1624-85)

Robert Cann was a leading Bristol merchant and staunch royalist. He was twice Mayor of Bristol and a Member of Parliament. He owned property in Jamaica, Barbados and North America, a manor house in Compton Greenfield, and a town house on the river at 8 Broad Quay, Bristol.

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Family and Education
b. c.1621, 1st s. of William Cann, merchant, of Bristol and Compton Greenfield by Margaret, sis. of Robert Yeamans, merchant, of Wine Street, Bristol. m. (1) lic. 17 July 1642, Cicely, da. of Humphrey Hooke, merchant, of Bristol, 1s. 1da.; (2) 10 Feb. 1647, Anne, da. of Derrick Popley, merchant, of the Red Lodge, Bristol, 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1658; kntd. 22 Apr. 1662; cr. Bt. 13 Sept. 1662.1

Offices Held

Member of merchant venturers, Bristol 1646, treas. 1653-4, master 1658-9; freeman, Bristol 1646, common councilman 1649-63, sheriff 1651-2, mayor 1662-3, 1675-6, alderman 1663-d.; commr. for militia, Bristol Mar. 1660, assessment, Bristol Aug. 1660-4, 1679-80, Glos. 1673-80; sheriff, Glos. 1670-1, j.p. 1679-d.; dep. lt. Bristol June 1685-d.2

Biography Cann was alleged to have persuaded his father not to jeopardize his estate by joining in his uncle’s plot to betray Bristol to Prince Rupert in 1643. His father continued to hold municipal office till his death; as mayor he proclaimed the Commonwealth in 1649 and served on the assessment commission during the Interregnum. Cann inherited or acquired land both in the Bristol area and in the West Indies, where he owned a sugar plantation. He welcomed the Restoration, urging the corporation to offer the King £1,000, twice what the majority considered adequate, and was created a baronet as one ‘ready to express his loyalty and good affection’. The distinction was perhaps felt too keenly, since it led to ‘furious animosities’ about precedence. Clarendon wrote to Ormonde of a ‘ridiculous contention between women for place’, but Cann’s delight in parading the streets with six footmen in rich liveries suggests that, although Bristol husbands at this time were notoriously hen-pecked, he was not far behind his wife in the desire to ‘shine’. On a complaint from John Knight I that Cann had not only neglected his civic duties, but countenanced and cherished the Quakers and sectaries, he was severely reprimanded by the King. On the death of his first wife’s nephew, Sir Humphrey Hooke, he was elected to the Cavalier Parliament with the support of the dissenters, and marked ‘worthy’ on Shaftesbury’s list. A moderately active Member, he was appointed to 20 committees, the majority of which were for private bills or commercial matters, including five intended to assist the cloth industry. On 12 Nov. 1678 he was added to the committee to inquire into the mistranslation in the French edition of the London Gazette.3

Cann was re-elected, probably unopposed, to the first Exclusion Parliament, and again marked ‘worthy’ by Shaftesbury. He was appointed to no committees and on 1 May 1679 was given leave to go into the country for a week; but he was still absent for the division on the exclusion bill, and had probably already gone over to the Court. He was appointed a county magistrate, and at the next general election he was opposed by a Whig, Robert Henley, who petitioned. Before the case could be heard or Cann appointed to any committees, he was denounced to the House for declaring that there was no Popish Plot, only a Presbyterian Plot. It was alleged that he ‘took his measure from the Marquess of Worcester’ (Henry Somerset). The charge was attested by his colleague Knight, who had also changed front, and was now an exclusionist. Defending himself in the House, Cann exclaimed: ‘As for the credit of Sir John Knight in Bristol, it is such that a jury of twelve men, his neighbours, will not believe his testimony’, adding in a too audible aside: ‘God damme, ’tis true’. Despite his humble apologies for his rash words, the House decided that he had added impiety to incredulity and voted unanimously to expel him and send him to the Tower. He now told the Speaker: ‘I ever did, and ever shall believe this to be a Popish Plot, as sure as you are in the chair’, and was released after a few days, but never stood again. His position in municipal life was unaffected, and his assistance was sought for electing a Tory mayor in 1682. His failure to oppose the election of a new alderman conducted by (Sir) Robert Atkyns in the mayor’s absence earned him inclusion in the court list of the ill-disposed on the bench, but he voted for the surrender of the charter, and was nominated to the new corporation. According to Roger North, however, whose brother had married Cann’s daughter, his life was shortened by a brush with Jeffreys during the Bloody Assizes. The lord chief justice’s humanity was outraged by the activities of the ‘spirits’, who provided the West Indian Plantations with labour by kidnapping; Cann was implicated, but the crown intervened to save him from prosecution in consideration of his loyalty and good service. Shaken by ‘journeys, troubles and perplexities’, Cann unwisely switched from Bristol milk, ‘morning, noon and night’, to small beer; ‘but nature would not long bear so great a change’. He was buried at St. Werburgh’s in November 1685, the only member of the family to sit in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: John. P. Ferris Notes 1. Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. xlix. 204; Deposition Bks. (Bristol Rec. Soc. vi) 65; (xiii), 202; Merchants and Merchandise (Bristol Rec. Soc. xix), 125; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii) 338; Rudder, Glos. 801; Glos. N. and Q. ii. 594; Wards 7/85/74. 2. Merchant Venturers (Bristol Rec. Soc. xvii), 29; A. B. Beavan, Bristol Lists, 281; Deposition Bks. (Bristol Rec. Soc. xiii), 202; CSP Dom. 1685, p. 189. 3. SP29/92/91, 110; 397/86; J. Latimer, Bristol in the 17th Century, 225, 315; CSP Dom. 1651-2, p. 324; CSP Col. vii. 32; Bristol RO, common council proceedings 1659-75, f. 20; Pepys Diary, 11 June 1668; North, Lives, ii. 186. 4. Grey, vii. 380-5; CJ, ix. 642, 648; CSP Dom. 1682, p. 382; SP29/422/218; Bath mss, Thynne pprs. 22, f. 8; Bristol Charters (Bristol Rec. Soc. xii), 194; SP44/71/186, 336/265-6; North, op. cit. ii. 196-7.

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The eldest son of Sir William, Sir Robert Cann was Lord Mayor of Bristol in 1662 and in 1675, and its representative in parliament in 1678. He received the honor of knighthood from Charles, II, and was raised to barony in 1662, and became Cann of Crompton Green.

From Samuel Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire (1779), p.801:

"There is a handsome seat, and a large estate in this tithing, formerly belonging to the Canns. William Cann, of Compton, alderman of Bristol, married Margaret, sister to sir Robert Yeomans. Robert Cann, son and heir of William and Margaret, married to his first wife, Cicely, daughter of Humphrey Hooke, alderman of Bristol. By her he had William, his son and heir, who married Elizabeth, daughter of sir Thomas Langton, of Bristol, knight"

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He was Lord Mayor from 1662 to 1675 in Bristol, England. Sir Robert had quite a difficult time during his administration as Lord Mayor, which one source shows as beginning in 1666 rather than 1662.

According to English records as reported by Roger North in his "Life of Francis North, Baron of Guilford," "the Infamous Jeffries," Chief Justice of England moved into Bristol with the expressed purpose of "cleaning out the corporation" (the Mayor and Board of Alderman) and "humbling that proud body." After lashing and reviling the city magnates, he turned to their chief, sitting in his scarlet and furs of office, stormed upon him his choicest reproches, and given all the ill epithets he could, he ordered Sir Robert to quit the bench and go down to the criminal's post at the bar, and there plead.

When the Mayor hesitated, Jeffries bawled at him, and called for the guards. All were amazed, but it did give Sir Robert the security of a trial at London. There he was acquitted. Jeffries said, "Go thy way, sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee." He also characterized Sir Robert as a "stinking, whining, presbyterian that could be smelled forty miles off."

However, he still kept his head on his shoulders. He was knighted by Charles II in 1662. He raised to a baronetcy in 1662. He then became known as Sir Robert Cann of Crompton Green. He was Representative to Parliament in 1678 in Bristol, England.

He died in 1685. He was described as "a morose old merchant".

This seems attributed to the wrong Cann:

Sir Robert Cann's second son John migrated to Delaware in 1675. Sir Robert sent financial Aid to son John in Delaware. Robert Cann & Co, was the name of a merchant of Bristol. Merchants were also interested in "privateering", which was a ship of private ownership commissioned by the Admiralty to prey on enemy shipping. There is evidence of the Canns being involved in this. Certainly, this added to the fortunes of the Cann family. Sir Robert was severly cristicized for going to jail to visit the Quakers and sectaries.

Comments

April 2014: the site from: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/a/w/James-Daniel-Hawki... appears to be in error. There was no marriage to Deliverance Cann, daughter of Rev. John Cann.

This looks to come from an outdated page of thepeerage.com

He married, firstly, Cecilia Hooke, daughter of Humphrey Hooke.1 He married, secondly, to Deliverance Cann (1630 to 1656), daughter of John Cann the Preacher and publisher of the 1611 King James Bible. Third wife was Anne Popley, daughter of W. Popley.1 He died in November 1685.1

SOURCE:

• 1. [S15] George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume III, page 260. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Baronetage.
• 2. [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 1691. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.

"The second wife of Robert Cann was Deliverance Cann (1630 to 1656), daughter of John Cann the Preacher and publisher of the1611 King James Bible. They had a son, John (1643 - 1694) and it is this John Cann who sailed aboard the Griffin in October 1675 arriving in Newcastle, Delaware, USA. Deliverance Cann died in 1656 and was buried in Hull, Yorkshire."

Links

• http://www.trinity-bris.ac.uk/cann-family-tree
• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/ca...
• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies ... By John Burke, Sir Bernard Burke. Page 99. "Cann."
• http://www.tibblestone.com/familytrees/cann/sir_robert_cann.htm