Record

Authorised form of nameReading; Sir; Robert (c 1640 - 1689); 1st and Last Bt; politician
Other forms of surnameReding
Redding
Datesc 1640 - 1689
NationalityBritish
Date of birthc 1640
Date of deathMarch 1689
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
Newark, Nottinghamshire, England, Europe (25 March 1689)
Occupationpolitician
ActivityEducation:
Christ Church, Oxford; BA (1658); Inner Temple (admitted 1659)
Career:
MP in the Irish Parliament for Ratoath (1662-1666); attainted by the Irish Parliament of James II (1689)
Honours:
Bt 1675
Memberships:
Dublin Philosophical Society
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election02/11/1671
ProposerWilliam Brouncker
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Council 1683-1684
Other Royal Society activityRead a paper before the Society on pearl-fishing near Ireland (1688)
RelationshipsParents: John Reading, London.
Spouse: (c. 1662) Jane Coote, Dowager Countess of Mountrath and widow of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath, daughter of Sir Robert Hannay.
Children: Elizabeth, married James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn.
OtherInfoReading is most well-known for building six privately owned lighthouses around the coast of Ireland under letter patents granted by Charles II. These include some built at Howth Head, the Old Head of Kinsale, Hook Head, County Louth, Charles Fort, Isle of Magee near Carlingford. The lighthouses were compulsorily transferred into public ownership in 1704.
Reading has been frequently mentioned in the diary of Robert Hooke.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; Hunter; GEC Baronetage; Foster
References:
Hoppen, K T. 1965. 'The Royal Society and Ireland. II', in Notes and Records, vol. 20, pp. 78-99
CodeNA5739
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MS/390/70Bond of Sir Robert Reading to the Treasurer of the Royal Society18 November 1675
EL/R1/47Letter, from Robert Reading [to the Royal Society]13 October 1688
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