Background
Robert Wilmot was the elder son of Robert Wilmot (died 1738) of Osmaston Hall, and his younger brother was the judge John Eardley Wilmot (1709-1792).
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Robert Wilmot
Edit ProfileEducation
He graduated from Oxford University in 1729, and studied law at the Inner Temple.
Career
By 1750 several correspondents regarded him as "the channel through which all Irish business, especially that concerning patronage, must flow". About 1730 he became private secretary to William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire. When Cavendish was appointed Viceroy of Ireland in 1737, Wilmot became the Viceroy"s Deputy Resident Secretary in England.
He was promoted to Resident Secretary in June 1740, serving twelve successive Viceroys until the year of his death in 1772.
Wilmot acted as an intermediary for William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire in the complicated negotiations which led to Cavendish briefly serving as titular Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1756-1757. He was rewarded in 1758, when Devonshire patronage helped him become Deputy Secretary, and subsequently Secretary, to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household.
Robert Wilmot"s first marriage was childless. In October 1772 he was created a baronet, Wilmot of Osmaston.
The papers relating to his official activities are held at Derbyshire Record Office, with copies at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
