Family and Education

b. 18 Sept. 1750, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Adm. Sir Thomas Frankland, 5th Bt.^†, of Thirkleby by Sarah, da. of William Rhett, merchant, of Charleston, step-da. of Nicholas Trott, chief justice of S. Carolina; bro. of William Frankland*. educ. Eton 1761-7; Merton, Oxf. 1768; L. Inn 1772. m. 7 Mar. 1775, his cos. Dorothy, da. of William Smelt of Leases, Bedale, Yorks., 2s. 3da. suc. fa. as 6th Bt. 21 Nov. 1784.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Yorks. 1792-3.

Biography

Frankland’s marriage was ‘a very proper match in every respect but want of fortune’, and on his father’s death in 1784 he was reported to have been ‘left nothing’.1 He inherited, at least, the nomination of two seats in Parliament for Thirsk, which he had represented in his father’s lifetime, acting with opposition. According to his daughter’s memoir, Pitt, before a general election, offered him a peerage in exchange for the two seats for Thirsk, but he declined. As she recalled that they were worth between £8,000 and £10,000, it is not unlikely that his guests paid for them.2 In 1796, when apparently Pitt’s bid was made,3 he returned himself in one seat.

Frankland made no mark at Westminster. On 13 Dec. 1796 he took three weeks’ leave for private business. One minority vote is known—for Bankes’s amendment to the proposal to send the militia to Ireland to suppress rebellion, 19 June 1798. In October 1801 he made way for his more ambitious brother William. An eminent botanist, he spent £40,000 on the house built for him by James Wyatt at Thirkleby.4 He died 4 Jan. 1831.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Authors: Winifred Stokes / R. G. Thorne

Notes

• 1. Add. 48218, ff. 67, 163.
• 2. NLW, Harpton Court mss 2393.
• 3. PRO 30/8/197, f. 252.
• 4. Eton Coll. Reg. 206; Sir R. F. Payne Gallwey, Ped. Frankland of Thirkleby.