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Robert Walker (MP)

English Member of Parliament for Exeter

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 22, 2025
Entity authorityQ7350798
Source-derived summary

Robert Walker (c. 1597 – 23 August 1673) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1640 to 1643 and from 1661 to 1673. He was a strong Royalist during the English Civil War.

Walker was the son of Thomas Walker, a merchant of Exeter, and his wife Margery Baker, daughter of John Baker of Thorncombe, Devon. In 1622 he was made Freeman of Exeter. He was bailiff from 1626 to 1627 and was a common councilman from 1628 to about 1649. He was receiver from 1633 to 1634 and sheriff from 1634 to 1635. In 1636 he became governor of the merchant adventurers. He was Mayor of Exeter for 1639–40.

In April 1640, Walker was elected Member of Parliament for Exeter for the Short Parliament.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Robert Walker (MP)” as english Member of Parliament for Exeter. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1597, 1673, 1640, 1643—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1597-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Robert, Walker and English can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as english Member of Parliament for Exeter. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7350798. VIAF identifies the subject as 160219964. The Library of Congress control number is no2010179861. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1597, 1673, 1640 and 1643.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Walker (MP)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert Walker (MP) primary sources, Robert Walker (MP) archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert Walker (MP)”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Robert Walker (MP)” 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.