Robert Hucks

Hucks was baptised on 5 March 1699, the eldest surviving son of William Hucks brewer of St Giles-in-the-Fields and his wife Elizabeth Selwood, daughter of Robert Selwood of Abingdon, Berkshire.

[2] She brought him Aldenham House, which was built on the estate of Penns Place.

[2] Hucks was an enemy of religious establishments and in 1736 he opposed a grant to repair the Henry VII Chapel and promoted a mortmain bill to prevent land being alienated to religious and charitable institutions.

In 1737 he resigned as a councillor of the Georgia Trustees over plans to endow land for a church there.

In 1743 he presented the Treasury with a petition on behalf of London victuallers which sought the repeal of the Pot Act, which imposed a levy on publicans.