Constituency : Hereford 1880-5, Dumfries Burghs 1886-1905
Robert was the other Liberal victor at Hereford. The Tories later claimed that he had agreed to step down in 1883 as part of the agreement that led to them withdrawing their petition. He denied it.
Robert was the son of a judge. He was educated at Cheltenham and Oxford. He became a barrister.
Robert was known as a Radical.
In 1894 Robert was knighted and made Solicitor-General by Rosebery. Later in the year he was promoted to Attorney-General.
Robert was a strong supporter of Campbell-Bannerman's stance on the Boer War and so when the latter came to power in 1905 he elevated Robert to the peerage as Lord Loreburn in order to become his Lord Chancellor. He was a plain, dutiful man who sought to use his powers of patronage fairly.
Robert was suspicious of the growing Entente with France and was part of a Cabinet revolt against the prospect of military intervention in Europe in 1911. Shortly afterwards he was upgraded to Earl Loreburn.
Robert's health began to decline and he resigned as Lord Chancellor in 1912. He was replaced by Haldane whose imperialism he had often crticised.
In 1913 Robert supported the idea of a cross-party conference to settle the Irish question with the possibility of treating Ulster separately, something he had opposed in Cabinet two years earlier.
Robert was an opponent of female suffrage and tried to delete it from the Representation of the People Act in 1918 when it came to the Lords.
He died in 1923 aged 77.
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