Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724) was the Whig MP for Tregony from 1689 to 1690 and from Radnor from 1690 to 1711, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1710 to 1711 and Lord High Treasurer from 1711 to 1714.
Biography[]
Robert Harley was born in London, England in 1661, the son of Parliamentarian leader Edward Harley. Raised a Presbyterian and a Whig, he and his father aided the accession of Prince William of Orange to the throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He became MP for Tregony from 1689 to 1690 and for Radnor from 1690 to 1711, and he supported the inclusion of Presbyterians in the Church of England while opposing a Tory effort to enable James Francis Edward Stuart to inherit the British throne if he converted to Protestantism. During the 1690s, he became a leader of the "Country Whigs" who were willing to cooperate with the Tories against the corrupt "Court Whigs." Harley served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1701 to 1705, as Northern Secretary from 1704 to 1708, as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1710 to 1711, and Lord High Treasurer from 1711 to 1714. He fell from grace on Queen Anne's death and was imprisoned from 1715 to 1717 after being suspected of participating in Jacobite conspiracies. Upon his release, he continued to lead opposition Whigs in opposing the Whig establishment in alliacne with the Tories, and he died in London in 1724.
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