Robert Trelawney

Robert Trelawney (25 March 1598 – 1643) was an English merchant and colonist who settled lands in what became Maine, United States. He was also a politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1640 to 1642.

The son of Robert Trelawney, who was three times mayor of Plymouth,[clarification needed] Trelawney was a merchant and colonist at the settlement. On 1 December 1631, the Plymouth Company granted he and his partner, Moses Goodyeare, a patent for a tract of land between Spurwink River and Presumpscot River, and for Richmond's Island at Cape Elizabeth, Maine,[1] on which they created the Trelawney Plantation.[2] In 1633, Trelawney was elected mayor of Plymouth.[3] He built Ham House, near Plymouth, in 1639.[4]

In April 1640, Trelawney was elected Member of Parliament for Plymouth for the Short Parliament. He was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament,[5] but was expelled from the House of Commons in March 1642 and committed to prison for publicly stating that the Commons had no power to appoint a guard for themselves without the King's consent.

Trelawney married Elizabeth Mayne, daughter of Alexander Mayne, in 1620. He was the father of Samuel Trelawney, who was also MP for Plymouth.[6]

References

  1. ^ William Durkee Williamson The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, Volume 1
  2. ^ Captain Walter Gendall: A Biographical Sketch - Doctor Charles E. Banks (1880), p. 2
  3. ^ Plymouth Council - List of Mayors Archived 30 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ This is Plymouth Ham House
  5. ^ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
  6. ^ Robert Burke A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Volume 4
Parliament of England
Vacant Member of Parliament for Plymouth
1640–1642
With: John Waddon 		Succeeded by