Robert Heath (1575 - 1649)

Born 20 May 1575 in Edenbridge, Kent, England

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret (Miller) Heath — married 10 Dec 1600 in England

Descendants

Died 30 Aug 1649 at age 74 in Calais, France

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Chief Justices of the Common Pleas

Biography

Robert Heath is Notable.

1575 Birth and Parents

Sir Robert Heath (1575–1649) was the son of Robert Heath of Brasted, Kent, who was a member of the Inner Temple, and Anne, daughter of Nicholas Posyer. Robert was born at Brasted, Kent, England, 20 May 1575.^[1]

Early Life

He attended Tunbridge grammar school and St. John's College, Cambridge, 1589-1591, but didn't get a degree. In 1591, he entered Clifford's Inn and then in 1593, he entered the The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar in 1603.^[1]

Career

His career is treated in detail in an article in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900^[1] Highlights are mentioned briefly here.

Heath's career over the next 17 years rose steadily higher, highlighted by his appointment as solicitor-general on 22 Jan. 1620/1, followed quickly by being knighted at Whitehall on 28 Jan. He was a member of parliament for East Grinstead, Sussex, in 1623/4 and 1625. He continued his rise in the field of law and was elected treasurer of the Inner Temple in 1625, and on 31 Oct. 1625 was appointed attorney-general. He also conducted the main Star-chamber prosecutions of the time.^[1]

In 1631 he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law and was raised to the bench as lord chief justice of the common pleas. He was suspected of a sympathy with puritanism and the popular party, and was removed from office without cause. His further career had ups and downs, but eventually the House of Commons impeached Heath. He was placed on the list of those to be condemned before the passing of the Act of Oblivion. His place in parliament was declared vacant, as if by death, 22 Nov. 1645, and his estates were subsequently sequestered. He fled to France in 1646.^[1]

1600 Marriage to Margaret

Heath married, on 10 Dec 1600, Margaret, daughter of John Miller. They had five sons and one daughter, who survived him.^[1]

1649 Death

Robert Heath died at Calais on 30 Aug. 1649. He was buried in Brasted Church, beneath a fitting monument.^[1]

Children

1. Edward Heath, eldest son, Knight of the Bath at the Restoration; "recovered his father's estates, and also the fees which he ought to have received as chief justice of the king's bench, but which had been appropriated by the prothonotary of that court. He married a daughter of Ambrose, brother of Sir George Croke [q. v.], through whom he acquired the manor of Cottesmore in Rutlandshire."^[1]
2. John Heath, second son "was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1634, and became attorney-general of the duchy of Lancaster on the Restoration, was knighted at Whitehall 27 May 1664, and sat in parliament for Clitheroe from 1661 to 1679. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Mennes, by whom he had an only daughter, Margaret, who married George Verney, fourth lord Willoughby de Broke"^[1]
3. George Heath
4. Mary Heath; married Sir William Morley of Halnaker, Sussex^[1]
5. William Heath
6. Thomas Heath

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Rigg, James McMullen. ‎"Heath, Robert (1575-1649)." Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 Volume 25.

See also:

• Benolte, Thomas; Philipot, John; & Owen, George. The Visitations of the County of Sussex: 1530 and 1633-4. London: The Harleian Society, 1905. Vol LIII, p 134, Heath.
• "HEATH, Robert (1575-1649), of the Inner Temple, London and Mitcham, Surr.; later of Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street and Brasted Place, Kent." in Thrush, Andrew , Ferris, John P. (editors) The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010.) Available online at https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/heath-robert-1575-1649 (accessed 2 September 2023)
• "Robert HEATH" entry in A Cambridge Alumni Database (online, accessed 2 September 2023)