Robert Westley Hall-Dare

He was born Robert Westley Hall in Demerara in modern-day Guyana on 3 March 1789 to parents Robert Westley Hall and Maria Elizabeth De Codin.[1] He was educated at Harrow from 1802 to 1809.[2] He was a Captain in the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers, serving in the West Indies and the Peninsular War.[2]

He married Elizabeth Grafton on 8 November 1815.[3] He changed his name by Royal sign-manual to Robert Westley Hall-Dare on 25 April 1823, taking the name Dare from his wife, daughter and heiress of Marmaduke Grafton Dare.[3][2]

One of his granddaughters was Mabel Virginia Anna Hall-Dare (Mabel Bent, 1847–1929), who in 1877 married the explorer James Theodore Bent (1852–1897).

Hall-Dare was High Sheriff of Essex in 1821.[2] He was elected MP for South Essex in 1832. In terms of politics, he was described as "opposed to free trade in corn and in everything else; in favour of a repeal of the assessed, and other taxes pressing on the springs of industry, and the imposition in their stead of a tax upon property; and also in favour of an extension of the currency", and a Peelite.[2] He supported the Corn Laws in Parliament, as well as better observance of the Sabbath.[4][5]

Hall-Dare died at the age of 47 in his house in London, 4 Portman Square.[1][2] He had nine children.[3] He left his estate in British Guyana to his eldest son, also called Robert Westley Hall-Dare.[2]