Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton

Robert Sutton

Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexington PC (6 January 1662 – 19 September 1723) was an English diplomat.

Family

He was the son of Robert Sutton, 1st Baron Lexington and his third wife Mary St. Leger.

On 14 September 1691, he married Margaret, (d. April 1703), the daughter of Sir Giles Hungerford of Coulston Wiltshire, by whom he had three children:

Career

He served as a captain of a troop of horse resigning his commission in 1686. He was appointed a gentleman of horse to the Prince and Princess of Denmark, (Princess Anne, later Queen Anne), in 1690; a position he resigned in February 1692/3. Lord Lexington supported in the House of Lords the elevation of William of Orange to the throne, and was employed by that king at court and on diplomatic business,[1] being sent as envoy extraordinary to the Elector of Brandenburg in 1689.

He was appointed a Privy Counsellor on 17 March 1692, and was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King William from 1692 until 1702. Lexington was again sent abroad in 1694 as envoy extraordinary to the Court in Vienna, and served until the Treaty of Ryswick was concluded in 1697. He was a Lord of Trade from 1699 to 1702, and ambassador to the Court of Madrid from 1712 until 1713, during negotiations for the Treaty of Utrecht.

His appointment to the Privy Council was not renewed upon the accession of George I in 1714. He was sent abroad for the last time in 1718, as minister at Vienna. He died on 10 September 1723.

His letters from Vienna, selected and edited by the Hon. H. M. Sutton, were published as the Lexington Papers (1851). Lexington's barony became extinct on his death, but his estates descended to Lord Robert and Lord George Manners-Sutton, the younger sons of his daughter Bridget and her husband John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland.[1]

Memorial

A memorial to him and his wife is in St. Wilfrid's Church, Kelham.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lexington, Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 526.
Diplomatic posts
Vacant
Last known title holder:
Sir Robert Southwell
English envoy-extraordinary to Brandenburg
1689
Succeeded by
James Johnson
Preceded by
George Stepney
as Agent
English envoy in Vienna
1694–1697
Succeeded by
Robert Sutton
as Secretary
Preceded by
The Duke of Argyll
British ambassador to Spain
1712–1713
Vacant
Title next held by
George Bubb
as Envoy extraordinary
and plenipotentiary
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Robert Sutton
Baron Lexinton
1668–1723
Extinct