Family and Education

b. Apr. 1661, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir George Fletcher, 2nd Bt. by 1st w.; half-bro. of George Fletcher^†. educ. Queen’s, Oxf. 1678-9. unm. suc. fa. as 3rd Bt. 23 July 1700.1

Offices Held

Alderman, Carlisle 1684-7, mayor 1687-Mar. 1688; lt. of militia horse, Cumb. by 1685-9, capt. 1689-at least 1690, commr. for assessment 1689-90.2

Biography

Fletcher was ‘civil and studious’ during his year at Oxford, distinguishing himself by ‘his abundant kindness to his countrymen’. His father refused to let him stand in 1685 for Cockermouth, where the family owned much property, but in July 1687 he wrote to his uncle, Sir Daniel Fleming: ‘I have been staying at Cockermouth, my father wishing me to stand for Parliament for that place’. Like his father he probably opposed James II’s religious policy, and was removed from the Carlisle corporation. He was returned for Cockermouth at the general election of 1689. He attended the coronation of William and Mary, but he was totally inactive in the Convention. At the general election of 1690 he supported the candidature of (Sir) Christopher Musgrave for Westmorland, but, ‘falling into a languor and melancholy state of mind’, he did not stand again himself, though he entertained lavishly on behalf of his half-brother George, who was returned for Cockermouth in 1698 and sat for the county from 1701 till his death. After succeeding to the baronetcy he settled his estates on a distant cousin of the Moresby branch, declared himself a Roman Catholic and retired to the Benedictine monastery at Douai. The baronetcy became extinct at his death on 19 May 1712.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Gillian Hampson

Notes

• 1. Vis. Cumb. and Westmld. ed. Foster, 49; Flemings in Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xliv), 305, 405, 557
• 2. HMC 9th Rep. pt. 1, p. 199; R. S. Ferguson, Royal Charters of Carlisle, 274; S. Jefferson, Hist. Carlisle, 447; PC2/72/651; Westmld. RO, D/Ry 2832, 4077.
• 3. Flemings at Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xliv), 239, 297; Westmld. RO, D/Ry 2858, Musgrave to Fleming, 21 Feb. 1685; Hutchinson, Cumb. i. 509.