Robert Monsey Rolfe

See Cranworth.

Robert Monsey Rolfe Cranworth

Robert Monsey Rolfe Cranworth, baron, lord chancellor of England, born at Cranworth in Norfolk, Dec. 18, 1790, died in London, July 24, 1868. He was educated at Cambridge university, and in 1816 was called to the bar. From 1832 to 1839 he was member of parliament for Penryn. In 1834 he was appointed solicitor general, and again in 1835, retaining the office till 1839, when he was made one of the barons of the exchequer. In 1850 he was appointed vice chancellor and raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, and in 1851 became lord justice of appeal in chancery. In December, 1852, he was appointed lord chancellor, and held the great seal until the formation of the Derby ministry in 1858, when he retired. In 1865-'6 he again held the office of chancellor under Lord Palmerston.

Robert Montgomery

Robert Montgomery, an English poet, born in Bath in 1807, died in Brighton, Dec. 3, 1855. He was the son of a theatrical clown named Gomevy, and assumed the name of Montgomery. He early conducted " The Inspector," a weekly journal in Bath, and published " The Stage Coach," a poetical collection, " The Age Reviewed, a Satire " (1827), " The Omnipresence of the Deity," his most popular poem, and a volume of miscellaneous verses (1828), and "Satan " (1829). In 1830 he entered Lincoln college, Oxford, and in 1835 became curate of Whittington, Shropshire. Subsequently he was minister of Percy street chapel, London, and for a time of St. Jude's chapel, Glasgow. He published numerous works in addition to those mentioned, prominent among which were a series of " Meditations " upon Scripture subjects. His poems, for a time immensely popular, were subjected to a crushing criticism by Macaulay in the " Edinburgh Review " for April, 1830.

Robert Montgomery Bird

Robert Montgomery Bird, an American physician and author, born at Newcastle, Del., in 1803, died in Philadelphia, Jan. 22, 1854. He was educated in Philadelphia, where he began the practice of his profession, and made his first literary ventures in the columns of the "Monthly Magazine." His tragedy of "The Gladiator" long retained its popularity upon the stage, chiefly through the personation of Mr. Edwin Forrest. His novels, published at intervals between 1830 and 1840, are chiefly historical romances. The scene of "Calavar" and "The Infidel" is in Mexico, at the time of the Spanish conquest; that of "Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay," in Kentucky, at the close of the war of the revolution; "Peter Pilgrim" contains a minute description of the Mammoth cave in Kentucky; and "The Adventures of Robin Day" is the story of a shipwrecked orphan. Dr. Bird was for some time editor of the "North American Gazette."

Robert Orme

Robert Orme, an English author, born in Travancore, India, in 1728, died at Ealing, England, Jan. 13, 1801. He was educated at Harrow, and in 1742 went to Calcutta and engaged in business. In 1757-'8 he was commissary and accountant general in the East India company's civil service. In 1760 he settled in London, and was appointed historiographer of the East India company. He wrote " History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from the Year 1745 " (2 vols., 1763-'78), extending to the peace of 1703; "Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire from the Year 1059 " (8vo, 1782); and "A General Idea of the Government and People of Indostan" and "Origin of the English Establishments at Broach and Surat," published posthumously, together with the "Historical Fragments" and a life of the author (4to, 1805).