Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn

Born at Carlton Gardens, London, Jocelyn was the eldest son and heir apparent of Robert Jocelyn, 3rd Earl of Roden, and the Hon. Maria Frances Catherine, daughter of Thomas Stapleton, 12th Baron le Despencer.

Lord Jocelyn (standing second from left) in a conference between British and Chinese officials on board HMS Wellesley on 4 July 1840

Jocelyn served in the First Opium War as Military Secretary to Lord Saltoun. He published two works on his experiences of the conflict. In 1853 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the East Sussex Militia.

Jocelyn was Member of Parliament for King's Lynn from 1842 to 1854. He served under Sir Robert Peel as Joint Secretary to the Board of Control between 1845 and 1846.

Lord Jocelyn married Lady Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper, in 1841. They had several children. In 1854, while his regiment, the East Essex Militia, was quartered in the Tower of London, he contracted cholera and died in London in August of that year, aged 38, predeceasing his father by 16 years. His eldest son Robert later succeeded in the earldom. Lady Jocelyn died in March 1880.

• Jocelyn, Robert (1841). Six Months with the Chinese Expedition; or, Leaves from a Soldier's Note-book (2nd ed.). London: John Murray.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Biography at worldroots.com

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Viscount Jocelyn