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- Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford
- Also known as
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Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford
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primary name: Harley, Robert
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other name: (Earl of) Oxford
- Details
- individual; politician/statesman; collector; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1661-1724
- Biography
- Politician; MP for Tregony, 1689-90 and for New Radnor Bouroughs, 1690-1711. Speaker of the House of Commons, 1701-05; Secretary of State for the North, 1704–8; Commissioner for the union with Scotland, 1706; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1710–11; Lord Ttreasurer 1711–14. Created Earl of Oxford, 1711.
His great collection of books and manuscripts, including some important albums of prints was inherited and extended by his son Edward, the 2nd Earl of Oxford and became one of the founding collections of the BM. Much information on the library can be found in the diary of his librarian Humfrey Wanley (qv).
- Bibliography
- ODNB
History of Parliament
C.E.Wright & R.C.Wright, 'The diary of Humphrey Wanley 1715-26', 1966
P.L.Heyworth, 'Letters of HW, palaeographer, Anglo-Saxonist, librarian, 1672-1726', Oxford 1989