FRANKLAND, Robert (1784-1849), of Thirkleby, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

31 Mar. 1815 - Mar. 1834

Family and Education

b. 16 July 1784, 2nd but o. surv. s. of Sir Thomas Frankland, 6th Bt.*, of Thirkleby by Dorothy, da. of William Smelt. educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1803. m. 30 Nov. 1815, Louisa Anne, da. of Rt. Rev. Lord George Murray, bp. of St. Davids, 5da. suc. fa. as 7th Bt. 4 Jan. 1831; cos. Robert Greenhill* (afterwards Greenhill Russell) 1836, taking additional name of Russell 9 Feb. 1837.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Yorks. 1838-9.

Biography

Frankland entered Parliament for the family borough in the seat vacated by his uncle William. No speech of his is known before 1820, but his votes indicate an inclination to opposition. (He joined Brooks’s Club, 19 May 1815.) He voted against the transfer of Genoa, 27 Apr. 1815, and may have paired next day against the resumption of hostilities with Buonaparte. He was in the minorities on the income tax and the civil list, 1 and 8 May, and supported Catholic relief, 30 May 1815. He opposed the Duke of Cumberland’s establishment, 28, 30 June, 3 July 1815. No vote survives from the session of 1816. In 1817 he joined opposition on the address, 29 Jan.; on the composition of the finance committee, 7 Feb.; for Admiralty reductions, 17, 25 Feb.; for a committee on the Bank, 19 Feb.; on Canning’s Lisbon mission, 6 May, and on the choice of Speaker, 2 June. In the following session he was in the minorities against the operation of the suspension of habeas corpus, 17 Feb., 5 Mar., and in the opposition majority on the Duke of Clarence’s marriage grant, 15 Apr., but a month later voted with the ministerial majority for the grant to the Duke of Kent. He voted for a commission on popular education, 3 June 1818.

Without committing himself to opposition, Frankland further voted with them in the Parliament of 1818: on the Bank question, 2 Feb. 1819, on the Windsor establishment, 22 Feb., and on excise informers, 9 Mar. He took a month’s leave on 21 Apr., but was in the minority for Tierney’s censure motion, 18 May. He voted against the seditious meetings bill, 2 Dec. 1819, and on 6 Dec. for limiting its duration to three years.

According to the family historian, he was a celebrated amateur artist, specializing in portraiture, human and animal. He died 11 Mar. 1849.

Sir R. F. Payne Gallwey, Ped. Frankland of Thirkleby.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes