Robert More

Robert More FRS (May 1703–5 January 1780), of Linley Hall, near Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. was an English academic and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. He was also a noted amateur botanist.

Early life More was the son of Robert More, (formerly a London merchant), and his second wife Sarah Walcot, daughter of John Walcot of Walcot, Shropshire. His father was the third son of the Parliamentarian Samuel More. More was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge in 1721, and matriculated there in 1723. He graduated B.A. in 1725, M.A. in 1728, and became a Fellow. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1729. in a contest at the 1727 British general election. He usually voted with the Administration and opposed a bill to limit the number of placemen in parliament. His nephew John Walcot, who had acquired the manor of Bishop's Castle and was Tory MP for Shropshire in the same parliament, voted for the Opposition and was stirred up by his colleagues to give grief to his uncle in the run-up to the 1734 British general election. More was returned unopposed at that election, but decided not to stand in 1741. He was mayor of Shrewsbury in 1737.

Out of Parliament, More started building Linley Hall in 1742 from designs by Henry Joynes, who was clerk of the works to John Vanbrugh at Blenheim Palace. Later, he travelled widely in Europe. In 1749 he set out for Portugal, and in October was at Madrid where he became intimate with Benjamin Keene and Spanish ministers, and promoted administrative reform.

Later life and legacy An enthusiastic botanist, More was a friend of Linnæus,

His great-grandson, Robert Jasper More represented Ludlow and Shropshire South from 1885 to 1903, like More and his great-grandfather representing Shropshire seats in Parliament.