Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet

Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet, , GCH, PC, FRS (21 December 1784 – 31 May 1841), born Robert John Wilmot, was a British politician, sociopolitical theorist, and colonial administrator. He was Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between 1821 and 1828, and Governor of Ceylon between 1831 and 1837. He is most widely known for his writings on assisted emigration to the colonies of the British Empire.

Early life and education Robert John Wilmot was born on 21 December 1784. He was the only son of Sir Robert Wilmot, 2nd Baronet, of Osmaston, near Derby (see Wilmot baronets), and his first wife Juliana Elizabeth (née Byron).

Career Wilmot-Horton was a Canningite supporter of free trade and Catholic emancipation among the Tories. He sat as a member of parliament (MP) for Newcastle-under-Lyme from 1818 until 1830. He served under the Earl of Liverpool, George Canning and Lord Goderich as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1821 to 1827 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1827. He reorganised the Colonial Office, including dividing the Empire into areas with a senior clerk responsible for administering each area.

Wilmot-Horton's aide-de-camp at the Colonial Office was his friend Major Thomas Moody ADC Kt., with whom he maintained an extensive correspondence throughout his life. Wilmot-Horton forwarded one of Moody's reports on West Indian slavery to Canning in 1824, Wilmot Horton and Thomas Hyde Villiers MP also wrote articles - under the pseudonym 'Vindex', which Moody had also used - to The Star newspaper, in which they refuted the objections that others had made to Moody's philosophy and defended Moody. Moody named one of his sons, Wilmot Horton Moody, after Wilmot-Horton.

Wilmot-Horton is best remembered for advocating that poor British and Irish families should be allowed to emigrate to the colonies and be granted land there, and was mainly responsible in securing two parliamentary grants in 1823 and 1825 to fund an experiment where poor Irish families settled in Canada. He managed to establish a parliamentary committee on emigration and served as its chairman between 1826 and 1827. In this position he pushed for a plan where so called paupers gave up their rights to parish maintenance in return for grants of land in the colonies. However, the plans were dropped after Wilmot-Horton left the Colonial Office in 1827.

Horton Plains was named after Wilmot-Horton in 1834 by Lt William Fisher of the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and Lt. Albert Watson of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot.

Horton Place in Colombo and Horton Plains National Park was named after the governor.

His memorial is located in St John the Baptist's Church, Croxall.