Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth

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For the Australian Judge see Robert Molesworth (jurist)

Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth of Swords, PC (7 September 1656 – 22 May 1725), came of an old Northamptonshire family. He married Letitia Coote, daughter of Richard Coote, 1st Lord Coote of Coloony and Mary St. George.

His father Robert (d. 1656) was a Cromwellian who made a fortune in Dublin; Robert Molesworth the younger supported William of Orange and was made William's ambassador to Denmark. In 1695 he became a prominent member of the Privy Council of Ireland.

Molesworth's An Account of Denmark, as it was in the Year 1692 (published 1694) was somewhat influential the burgeoning field of political science in the period. He made a case for comparative political analysis, comparing the political situation of a country to the health of an individual; a disease, he reasoned, can only be diagnosed by comparing it to its instantiation in other people (Thompson, 495).

In 1716 he was made a viscount.

[edit] References

• Thompson, Martyn P. "A Note on "Reason" and "History" in Late Seventeenth Century Political Thought." Political Theory, Vol. 4, No. 4. (1976), 491-504.

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by New Creation	Viscount Molesworth 1716–1725	Succeeded by John Molesworth