Editing Robert Filmer (section)

==Life==
{{Toryism |expanded=people}}{{Conservatism UK|Intellectuals}}
The eldest child of Sir Edward Filmer and Elizabeth Filmer (née Argall) of [[East Sutton]] in Kent, he matriculated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1604.<ref>{{acad|id=FLMR604R|name=Filmer, Robert}}</ref> He did not take a degree and was admitted to [[Lincoln's Inn]] on 24 January 1605. He was [[called to the bar]] in 1613, but there is no evidence he practised law. He bought the porter's lodge at [[Westminster Abbey]] for use as his town house. On 8 August 1618, he married Anne Heton in [[St Leonard's, Shoreditch|St Leonard's Church]] in London, with their first child baptised in February 1620. On 24 January 1619, King [[James I of England|James I]] knighted Filmer at [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]].<ref name="ODNB">Glenn Burgess, '[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9424 Filmer, Sir Robert (1588? – 1653)]', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., October 2009, accessed 25 September 2013.</ref>

Filmer's father died in November 1629 and Filmer, as the oldest child, took over his father's manor house and estate. He became a Justice of the Peace and an officer of the county militia in the 1630s. Filmer's eldest son Sir Edward was active in opposing the [[Long Parliament]] and Filmer stood surety for £5000 for the release of his friend Sir [[Roger Twysden]], who had been imprisoned for his part in the Kentish petition. The [[Roundhead|Parliamentary]] army looted his manor house in September 1642. By the next year his properties in Westminster and Kent were being heavily taxed to fund the Parliamentary cause. Filmer was investigated by the county committee on suspicion of supporting the King, though no firm evidence was uncovered. Filmer asked the investigators to note "how far he hath binn from medling on either side in deeds or so much as words." One of his tenants claimed that Filmer had hidden arms for the [[Cavalier|Royalists]], although this was apparently a false charge. Perhaps for that reason, Filmer was imprisoned for some years in [[Leeds Castle]] and his estates were sequestered.<ref name="ODNB" />

Filmer died on or about 26 May 1653. His funeral took place in East Sutton on 30 May, where he was buried in the church, surrounded by descendants of his to the tenth generation. He was survived by his wife, three sons and one daughter, one son and one daughter having predeceased him.

His son, also Robert, was created the first of the [[Filmer baronets]] in 1674. His other son, Beversham Filmer, became the owner of [[Luddenham, Kent|Luddenham]] Court, near [[Faversham]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hasted |first=Edward |year=1798 |title=Parishes |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62968 |journal=The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |volume=6 |pages=386–393 |access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref> who then passed it on through his family.