Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough

The Reverend Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough (21 October 1719 – 21 April 1799) was a British clergyman who inherited the earldom of Harborough.

Early life

Born on 21 October 1719, he was one of six sons and eight daughters born to Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough by his wife, the former Anne Pedley (d. ). Among his sisters was Lady Dorothy Sherard, who married Rev. James Torkington of Great Stukeley (Rector of Kings Ripton and Little Stukeley). His father, a Member of Parliament for Rutland, succeeded to the earldom of his cousin, Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough, in 1732.

From 1743 until 1773, Rev. Sherard served as Rector of Wistow in Huntingdon, and of Teigh in Rutland. He also served as Canon Residentiary of Salisbury from 1757 to 1773 and Prebendary of Southwell from 1761 to 1778.

As a member of the House of Lords for 29 years during the late Georgian period, there is no record of the Earl participating in debates and he was only in his place on 24 occasions. He did not attend debates on the American War of Independence, but he did attend the trial of Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston in 1776 when she was found guilty of bigamy.

Descendants Through his son Philip, he was a grandfather of Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough, and Lady Lucy Eleanor Sherard, who married the Hon. Henry Lowther, MP, second son of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (parents of seven children, including Henry Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale and diplomat William Lowther).

Through his daughter Lady Lucy, he was a grandfather of Philip Pusey (1799–1855) (who married Lady Emily Herbert, daughter of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon), Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800–1882), an English churchman, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, and Charlotte Pusey (wife of Richard Lynch Cotton).