Auchmuty, Robert (d. 1788)

Lawyer and judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court.

Prominent Boston lawyer. Judge of the Vice- Admiralty Court for Massachusetts and New Hampshire (1767). Served, with John Adams, as counsel for Captain Preston in the Boston Massacre case (1770). Member of the Gaspee commission. Adams complained of Auchmuty’s “heavy, dull, insipid Way of arguing” and his “Air of Reserve, Design and Cunning.” Loyalist; moved to England (1776).

Son of Judge Robert Auchmuty of Boston. Brother of Samuel Auchmuty, the Loyalist rector of Boston’s Trinity Church. Married Deborah Cradock.