Sir Richard Franklin, 1st Baronet

Who is Sir Richard Franklin, 1st Baronet?

Sir Richard Franklin, 1st Baronet was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1679.

Franklin was the son of Sir John Franklin of Willesden Middlesex and his wife Elizabeth Purefoy, daughter of George Purefoy of Wadley Buckinghamshire and was baptised at Willesden on 20 July 1630. He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 23 June 1648 and matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford on 19 March 1649. In May 1652 he purchased the Moore Park estate. He was knighted at Whitehall on 14 July 1660 and was created a baronet on 16 October 1660. In 1661, he was elected Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire in the Cavalier Parliament.

Franklin died at St Martin's in the Fields at the age of 55 and was buried at Willesden on 16 September 1685.

Franklin married firstly in or before 1655 Elizabeth Cheeke, daughter of Sir Thomas Cheek of Pirgo Essex. She died in 1660 and was buried at Willesden on 21 November 1660. He married secondly on 31 April 1661 at St James, Clerkenwell Mary Tryon, daughter of Sir Samuel Tryon, 1st Baronet and his first wife Eleanor Lee.