Robert Shirley, Viscount Tamworth

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Robert Shirley, Viscount Tamworth (28 December 1692 – 5 July 1714) was an English nobleman and politician from Staunton Harold, Leicestershire. He was the eldest son of Hon. Robert Shirley and Anne Ferrers, born at Staunton Harold Hall. He inherited Tamworth Castle and other Staffordshire estates after his mother's death in 1698, and became the heir to his grandfather, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, when his father died in 1699. After his grandfather was made Earl Ferrers in 1711, he was styled Viscount Tamworth. In 1713 the Tory party chose him to replace the MP for Leicestershire; he and the sitting member Sir Thomas Cave were returned without a poll. In Parliament, on 22 June 1714, he spoke in favor of a money-raising bill to grant Queen Anne 32 years of additional duties on various goods. Two weeks later, he died of smallpox and was buried at Staunton Harold. He left his estates to his sister Elizabeth (who later married James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton) and his personal property to his aunt Lady Barbara Shirley.