Robert Vansittart (December 28, 1728 – January 31, 1789) was an English jurist, antiquarian and rake.
[1] The son of Arthur Vansittart and Martha, daughter of Sir John Stonhouse, 3rd Baronet, and elder brother of Henry Vansittart, he grew up in Shottesbrooke in Berkshire.
He held a number of minor judicial appointments, including that of recorder of Maidenhead in 1758 and Newbury in 1764, before being appointed Regius Professor of civil law at Oxford in 1767, a chair he held until his death.
[1][2] He was a close acquaintance of Samuel Johnson, William Hogarth and Paul Whitehead and a participant in the debauchery of the Hellfire Club.
[1] A character in one of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's comedies is named for him following a meeting in Italy.