FRANKLAND, Frederick Meinhardt (c.1694-1768), of Whitehall, Westminster.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1734 - 25 Mar. 1749

Family and Education

b. c.1694, 5th s. of Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Bt., M.P. Thirsk 1685-95 and 1698-1711, by Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Russell, 3rd Bt., of Chippenham, Wilts. by Frances, da. of Oliver Cromwell, wid. of Hon. Robert Rich; bro. of Sir Thomas Frankland, 3rd Bt.. educ. Jesus, Camb. 1711; M. Temple 1711, called 1718. m. (1) his sis-in-law Elizabeth (d. 27 Jan. 1737), da. of René Baudouin, London merchant, wid. of William Frankland (d. 1714) and of Adam Cardonnel, Marlborough’s secretary (d. 1719), 3s. d.v.p. 3da. one of whom m. Thomas Pelham of Stanmer, later 1st Earl of Chichester; (2) Feb. 1739, Lady Anne Lumley, da. of Richard, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, s.p.

Offices Held

Director, Bank of England 1736-8; commr. of revenue [I] Mar. 1749-53, of excise 1753-63.

Biography

A younger son, who went into business as a merchant, Frankland was returned for his family’s borough, voting steadily with the Government. In 1739 he surprised his friends by separating from his recently married second wife, the sister of the Earl of Scarbrough, to whom ‘he would give no reason but that she was his utter aversion’. According to the 1st Lord Egmont:

Mr. Frankland declared the same to his lady, who on her knees begged she might still have an apartment in his house though he should never speak to her; otherwise, that such an open separation would give occasion to the world to suspect her virtue or make what ill stories it pleased of her. But he would not consent. He has since settled £600 per annum upon her, which was the jointure agreed upon when he married her, has returned her fortune, which was £10,000, has given her £1,000 to furnish a house, and all her jewels, together with his plate.
This procedure is the more wondered at because they were playfellows and acquaintances from their youth, and it was a match of his own seeking, though she was then between forty and fifty years old, ugly, and as fat as most women. He ... made a remarkable good husband to his first wife.1

He vacated his seat in 1749 by accepting an office incompatible with a seat in the House of Commons. About this time the 2nd Lord Egmont in his electoral survey observed that the Frankland family ‘had some thoughts of selling’ Thirsk, ‘but extravagantly dear’, on which the Prince of Wales commented ‘The best way is to continue Fred Frankland in his place, and then we have the borough’.

Frankland died 8 Mar. 1768. It is not known how he came to acquire the name of Meinhardt, sometimes spelt ‘Mynhard’.2 He was returned and signed his letters as ‘Frederick Frankland’.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. HMC Egmont Diary, iii. 72.
  • 2. E.g. in Add. 33190.