Robert Wharton was the longest-serving Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Background
Robert Wharton, the second child of Joseph Wharton, by his second wife, Hannah (Owen) Ogden Wharton, was born at his father's country seat, "Walnut Grove, " in Southwark, Philadelphia, later the scene of the historic fête, "The Mischianza, " given in honor of the British commander, General Howe. A first cousin of Thomas and half-brother of Samuel Wharton, he was a grandson of Thomas Wharton, of Westmorland, England, who emigrated to Philadelphia some time before 1689.
Education
As a boy Robert displayed a "decided distaste for learning, " and at the age of fourteen was allowed to relinquish his studies and become apprentice to a hatter.
Career
After having learned the trade, he did not follow it, but entered the counting house of his half-brother Charles. Subsequently, he engaged in business for himself as a wholesale grocer and as a flour merchant. In 1792 he was elected a member of the common council of Philadelphia, and in 1796 was appointed alderman. While he was serving in that capacity the sailors on merchantmen then in the harbor went on a strike for higher wages, and being denied, proceeded to terrorize the water front. Armed with clubs and knives, they marched up and down the streets near the river until influential citizens appealed to Wharton to take charge and suppress the rioters, since the mayor of the city was in feeble health and incapacitated. Wharton gathered a force of some sixty police and twenty volunteers, and led them armed with sticks of cordwood against the rioters, who numbered about three hundred. Wharton himself was unarmed, but after being knocked down four times he succeeded in seizing the standard bearer. A hundred men were arrested and the riot was suppressed. In 1798 Wharton was elected mayor of Philadelphia for the first of fifteen times. Before the election, and while an alderman, he volunteered to take charge of the Walnut Street Jail, since the jailer and several of his deputies had resigned in the face of the yellow-fever epidemic which had broken out in the city. Wharton took up his residence in the prison, and when a mutiny among the convicts broke out he armed himself with a fowling piece, and together with several keepers met the insurgents, whom he called upon to surrender. Since they continued to advance he gave the order to fire, and himself fired immediately. Several of the prisoners fell, two of them mortally wounded. Wharton asked the grand jury to investigate the incident, and they returned a report that he had only performed his duty in upholding the law. His fellow townsmen never forgot these two instances of his courage and devotion. He was reëlected mayor in 1799, and served subsequently in 1806-07, in 1810, from 1814 to 1818, and from 1820 to 1824. In the latter year he resigned, having served as chief executive of Philadelphia more years than any other mayor of that city. Greatly interested in sports and social activities, Wharton early became a member of the Gloucester (N. J. ) Fox Hunting Club, of which he was president from 1812 until it was disbanded in 1818. He was also a member of the Schuylkill Fishing Company from 1790 until 1828, when he resigned, having in the meantime been elected governor sixteen times. His social interests naturally caused him to join, in 1798, the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, of which body he was elected captain in 1803 without having passed through the intermediate ranks. In 1810, he was elected colonel of the Regiment of Cavalry of Philadelphia, and in 1811 he became brigadier-general of the First Brigade, Pennsylvania Militia. When the First Troop went into active service in 1814, he served as a private under his former lieutenant, resigning to become once more the mayor of Philadelphia.
Achievements
Connections
On December 17, 1789, he was married to Salome, daughter of William Chancellor. He had two children, both of whom predeceased him.