Abram (Abraham) Robarts

London MP and banker, partner in Robarts, Curtis, a predecessor firm of RBS through its amalgamation with Coutts in 1914. Son of Capt. Abraham Robarts of Stepney, Middlesex and Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Samuel Wildey of Stepney. Married (16 June 1774) Sabine Tierney. Father of Abraham Wildey Robarts (q.v.)

West India factor and East India Company director (1786-1815), he became in 1792 a partner with William Curtis in the London bank of Robarts, Curtis, Were, Hornyold and Berwick of Cornhill, later of Lombard Street. He was also a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance in 1781.

Despite being a West India factor he was listed among the ‘staunch friends’ of the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.

Judd lists him as a "West Indian' MP.

He is reckoned to have been worth 'half a million' at death.

Entry by Lawrence Taylor in History of Parliament online; Gerrit P. Judd IV, Members of Parliament 1734-1832 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1955). The family's banking history is set out in Claus, Peter M. "Robarts family (per. c. 1780–1914), bankers." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 13 Apr. 2020. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48044.

Note the History of Parliament Online gives him as Abraham but he referred to himself as Abram, including in his published preparatory address to the Worcester electors in 1811 and in his signature on his own will (PROB 11/1587/160).

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his assistance with this entry.