Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth, 1st Baronet


Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth, 1st Baronet was an Australian politician.
He was born in Sydney, the son of Edwin Tooth and Sarah Lucas, and was educated at Eton College. He returned to Australia in 1863, joining the family firm and becoming involved in the brewery business. He owned land near Bega. On 2 January 1873 he married Helen Tooth, his first cousin who was a daughter of Frederick Tooth; they had six children. From 1875 he had built an impressive mansion on Sydney harbour suburb called Swifts, Darling Point which was designed in the Gothic revival style. From 1880 to 1884 he represented Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
In 1889 he settled in England, although he remained involved in Australian interests and visited frequently. In 1895 he ran as a Conservative for the House of Commons, but he was defeated. In 1904 he took the name Lucas-Tooth and was created a baronet. In 1910 he bought Holme Lacy House from the Earl of Chesterfield and modernised it, installing electricity and sewage systems.
As a philanthropist he gave :
He died at Holme Lacy in 1915. Both his elder sons were killed in action within 6 weeks of each other First World War in 1914 and the youngest, Archibald, who had succeeded him as 2nd Baronet, also died of pneumonia on military service in 1918. Although two of his sons had married, there were no male heirs and the baronetcy thus became extinct. The baronetcy was revived in 1920 through the son of Sir Robert's daughter. Holme Lacy was sold in 1919 to R. Hadden Tebb. His wife Lady Helen Lucas-Tooth died in Cheltenham in 1942.