Robert Trelawney

Robert Trelawney (25 March 1598 – 1643) was an English merchant and colonist who settled lands in Maine USA and a politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1640 to 1642.

Trelawney was the son of Robert Trelawney who was three times mayor of Plymouth. He was a merchant at Plymouth and a colonist. On 1 December 1631 Trelawney and his partner Moses Goodyeare were granted a patent by the Plymouth Company for a tract of land between Spurwink River and Presumpscot River and for Richmond's Island at Cape Elizabeth, Maine.^[1] In 1633 Trelawney was Mayor of Plymouth.^[2] He built Ham House near Plymouth in 1639.^[3]

In April 1640, Trelawney was elected Member of Parliament for Plymouth for the Short Parliament. He was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament^[4] but was expelled from the House of Commons in March 1642, and committed to prison for publicly stating that the Commons had no power to appoint a guard for themselves without the King's consent.

Trelawney married Elizabeth Mayne daughter of Alexander Mayne in 1620. He was the father of Samuel Trelawney who was also MP for Plymouth.^[5]

References

1. William Durkee Williamson The history of the state of Maine: from its first discovery, Volume 1
2. Plymouth Council - List of Mayors
3. This is Plymouth Ham House
4. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
5. Robert Burke A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Volume 4