Arthur Stert
British Member of Parliament (died 1755)

Arthur Stert (died 1755) of Membland, near Modbury, Devon was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1754.
Stert's family had been settled near Plympton, Devon, and in 1723 he purchased the estate of Membland from the Champernowne family. He rebuilt the house with detached wings.
Stert had a small electoral interest at Plymouth with the corporation. He was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for Plymouth at the 1727 British general election as a government supporter. In 1730 he was appointed a commissioner for settling the claims of merchants against Spain under the Treaty of Seville. He was responsible for assessing the compensation payable to them, and was examined on them by the House of Commons. He was returned again for Plymouth in 1734 and 1741. He lost his post after the fall of Walpole in 1742 but was recommended by Walpole to Pelham who obtained a secret service pension for him and used him in west country elections. He was returned unopposed again at the 1747 British general election but did not stand in 1754.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q30318488. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1755, 1727, 1754 and 1723.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arthur Stert” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.