Robert Sewell

MP for Grampound 1796-1802. Husband of Sarah Lewis, the daughter of William Lewis of Jamaica and Chertsey Abbey, and brother-in-law of Matthew Lewis through his own marriage as well as the latter's marriage to Robert's sister Frances (Fanny) Sewell. Attorney-General for Jamaica 1780-1795 and Agent for Jamaica 1795-1806, in which capacity he opposed both abolition and amelioration of the slave-trade. To date, no evidence has been found of direct slave-owning by Sewell himself.

1. Will of Robert Sewell of Iver Buckinghamshire proved 14/05/1828. In the will he left his estate in 1/6th shares between several individuals, including his children Fanny Sewell spinster and Caroline Fonnereau and William Henry Sewell and Anna Blake, the widow of Nicholas Allen Blake of Jamaica. The will makes no mention of 'property in people.'

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/sewell-robert-1751-1828 [accessed 03/05/2017]

1. PROB 11/1741/117.