Homepage

Record

Entry TypePerson
SurnameRolle
ForenamesJohn
Pre TitleLord
EpithetBaron Rolle of Stevensone, Devon, MP
Dates1756-1842
BiographyInformation taken from the University College London's 'Legacies of British Slave-ownership' website, 18 Feb 2021
John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle of Stevenstone, MP for Devon 1780-1796, son of Denys Rolle (1725-1797) of Stevenstone, the latter a landowner and MP and 'major colonial landowner in Florida'. The family was later granted land in the Bahamas as American loyalists. John Rolle left £300,000 in personalty. His heir was his second wife's nephew, Hon. Mark George Kerr Rolle (ne Trefusis) of Stevenstone. Baron Rolle was a title created twice, once for Henry Rolle (d. 1750) and a second time for John Rolle of this entry.

John Rolle has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as 'politician.' As well as describing Denys Rolle as a 'major colonial landowner in Florida', the entry says of John Rolle in relation to slavery: 'Except on parliamentary reform, he almost invariably backed Pitt, whose opposition to the slave trade he approved, even though he was heir to his father's plantation in the Bahamas which was compensation for the loss of his Florida estates in the American War of Independence...At first peeved [in the 1830s] by the effect on his Bahamas plantation of the anti-slavery campaign, he became reconciled to it.'
Key Events1780-1796 MP for Devon
1796 Ennobled as Baron Rolle
1797 inherits extensive estates, particularly in Devon
Family TreeSon of Denys Rolle
Authorised Form of NameRolle; Lord; John (1756-1842); Baron Rolle of Stevensone, Devon, MP

Show related Catalog records.

Add to My Items
    Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier

    Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier

    Useful Links

    See more Collection highlights

    Strutt family of Belper
    Strutt family of Belper
    George M. Woodward (1767-1809), cartoonist
    George M. Woodward (1767-1809), cartoonist
    Florence Nightingale
    Florence Nightingale
    Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier
    Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier
    Collection Highlights