| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| Viscount Molesworth | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | PC (Ire) |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1656 |
| Birth Place: | Brackenstown, Swords, Ireland |
| Death Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Constituency Mp: | County Dublin with Edward Deane |
| Term Start: | 1695 |
| Term End: | 1703 |
| Predecessor: | John Allen Chambre Brabazon |
| Successor: | John Allen Joseph Deane |
| Constituency Mp1: | Swords with James Peppard (1703–1713) Plunket Plunket (1713–1715) |
| Term Start1: | 1703 |
| Term End1: | 1715 |
| Predecessor1: | Thomas Ashe John Reading |
| Successor1: | Richard Molesworth Plunket Plunket |
| Constituency Mp2: | Camelford with Ambrose Manaton (1695–1696) Sidney Wortley Montagu (1696–1698) |
| Term Start2: | 1695 |
| Term End2: | 1698 |
| Predecessor2: | Ambrose Manaton Henry Manaton |
| Successor2: | Henry Manaton Dennys Glynn |
| Constituency Mp3: | Lostwithiel with Russell Robartes |
| Term Start3: | 1705 |
| Term End3: | 1706 |
| Predecessor3: | Sir John Molesworth Russell Robartes |
| Successor3: | Russell Robartes James Kendall |
| Constituency Mp4: | East Retford with Sir Hardolph Wastneys |
| Term Start4: | 1706 |
| Term End4: | 1707 |
| Predecessor4: | Sir Willoughby Hickman William Levinz |
| Successor4: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Constituency Mp5: | East Retford with Sir Hardolph Wastneys |
| Term Start5: | 1707 |
| Term End5: | 1708 |
| Predecessor5: | Parliament of England |
| Successor5: | William Levinz Thomas White |
| Constituency Mp6: | Mitchell with Nathaniel Blakiston |
| Term Start6: | 1715 |
| Term End6: | 1722 |
| Predecessor6: | Sir Henry Belasyse John Statham |
| Successor6: | Charles Selwyn John Hedges |
| Alma Mater: | Trinity College Dublin (1675, B.A.) |
| Spouse: | Hon. Letitia Coote |
| Children: | John Molesworth, 2nd Viscount Molesworth Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth Hon. Robert Molesworth (I) Hon. William Molesworth Hon. Edward Molesworth Hon. Coote Molesworth (I) Hon. Robert Molesworth (II) Hon. Hamilton Walter Molesworth Hon. Coote Molesworth (II) Hon. Bysse Molesworth Hon. Robert Molesworth (III) Hon. Margaret Molesworth Hon. Mary Molesworth Hon. Letitia Molesworth (I) Hon. Charlotte Molesworth Hon. Letitia Molesworth (II) |
| Parents: | Robert Molesworth Judith Bysse |
Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth, PC (Ire) (7 September 1656 – 22 May 1725) was an Anglo-Irish politician, peer and writer.
Molesworth came from an old Northamptonshire family. He married Hon. Letitia Coote, daughter of Richard Coote, 1st Baron Coote, and Mary St. George. His father Robert (d. 1656) was a Cromwellian who made a fortune in Dublin, largely by provisioning Cromwell's army; Robert Molesworth the younger supported William of Orange and was made William's ambassador to Denmark. In 1695 he became a prominent member of the Privy Council of Ireland. The same year he stood for County Dublin in the Irish House of Commons, a seat he held until 1703. Subsequently, he represented Swords until 1715. In the following year, he was created Viscount Molesworth, of Swords, in the Peerage of Ireland.
Molesworth's An Account of Denmark, as it was in the Year 1692 (1694) was somewhat influential in the burgeoning field of political science in the period. He made a case for comparative political analysis, comparing the political situation of a country to the health of an individual; a disease, he reasoned, can only be diagnosed by comparing it to its instantiation in other people (Thompson, 495).
Robert Molesworth was born on 7 September 1656, four days after the death of his father;[1] his mother Judith Bysse later remarried Sir William Tichborne of Beaulieu. He was probably raised by his mother's family, the Bysses, at Brackenstown, near Swords, County Dublin.
In 1720, Molesworth and his grandson lost a significant investment in the South Sea Bubble. In Parliament, since his colleagues suggested there was no law under which to punish the perpetrators, he called for the Commons to "upon this occasion follow the example of the ancient Romans, who, having no law against parricide, because their legislators supposed no son could be so unnaturally wicked as to embrue his hands in his father's blood, made one to punish so heinous a crime as soon as it was committed; and adjudged the guilty wretch to be thrown alive, sewn up in a sack, into the Tiber". He concluded that he would see the same punishment applied to the directors of the South Sea Company, calling them the parricides of their country.[2]
With his wife Letitia, Molesworth had eleven sons and six daughters:[3] [4]
He married firstly Jane Lucas and had three daughters:
Richard married secondly Mary, daughter of Rev. William Usher, Archdeacon of Clonfert and had a son and six daughters:
Robert also appears to have had a natural son:
The 1st Viscount died in Dublin on 22 May 1725 at the age of sixty-nine and was buried in Swords . His widow, Letitia, died "of a great cold" on St Patrick's Day 1729 and was buried privately in St. Audoen's Church Dublin. Their eldest son, John, succeeded as 2nd Viscount Molesworth in 1725. John, in turn, was succeeded by his younger brother Richard a year later in 1726.
| Escutcheon: | Gules an Escutcheon Vair within an Orle of eight Cross Crosslets Or |
| Crest: | A Dexter Arm embowed in armour proper holding a Cross Crosslet Or |
| Supporters: | Dexter: a Pegasus Argent wings elevated Or; Sinister: a Pegasus wings elevated Gules semée of Cross Crosslets Or |
| Motto: | Vincit Amor Patriae (The love of my country prevails)[12] |