Francis Annesley (2 May 1734 – 17 April 1812) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

for 32 years from 1774 to 1806, and was the first Master of

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

Early life

Annesley was the son of Martin Annesley D.D. of

Bucklebury Bucklebury is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, about north-east of Newbury and north of the A4 road. The parish has a population of 2,116, but the village is much smaller. Bucklebury Common, with an area of over , is one ...

and

Frilsham Frilsham is a village and civil parish from Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Geography Frilsham is near the Berkshire Downs, with the M4 to the north. The nucleated village is on a hill, with the parish church of St Widefride at ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, and his wife Mary Hanbury, daughter of William Hanbury of Little Marcle, Herefordshire. He was educated at

Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...

and was admitted at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1753 to study law.

Career

Annesley was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in the 1774 general election, and retained the seat until

1806 Events January–March * January 1 ** The French Republican Calendar is abolished. ** The Kingdom of Bavaria is established by Napoleon. * January 5 – The body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall ...

. In 1800 he was elected the first Master of Downing College, and awarded an LL.D. degree by Cambridge. He died unmarried on 17 April 1812.

Family

Annesley had a family connection to

Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet (baptised 24 October 1685 – 10 June 1749) was a British landowner and inititially Tory, but later Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1710 and 1749. Through a donation in his will, he was t ...

, founder of Downing College. Frances Downing, the 3rd Baronet's aunt as sister to

Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet ( – June 1711) was a British civil servant. He was the son and heir of Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, for whom Downing Street is named. His father worked as Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer from 1660 unt ...

, married John Cotton, son of Sir John Cotton, 3rd Baronet. Their daughter, Frances Cotton, married John Hanbury, and was mother to Mary Hanbury, who was Annesley's mother. He was heir to Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet, but the effective founding of Downing College was long delayed by litigation with other parties, in which he was heavily involved.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annesley, Francis 1734 births 1812 deaths People educated at Reading School Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 Masters of Downing College, Cambridge