Sir Ralph Freeman (6 July 1589 – 12 June 1667) was a wealthy English civil judge born in

St Mary-at-Hill St Mary-at-Hill is an Anglican parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap. It was founded in the 12th century as "St. Mary de Hull" or "St. Mary de la Hulle". It was se ...

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to the ...

, London and lived at Military St

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, he was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

then at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and was called to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

bar in 1606 he later received a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

hood in 1617. He was also known as a dramatist and translator. He should not be confused with another contemporary Sir Ralph Freeman who was lord mayor of London, and died on 16 March 1634.

Life

He succeeded

Robert Naunton Sir Robert Naunton (1563 – 27 March 1635) was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626. Family Robert Naunton was the son of Henry Naunton of Alderton, Suffolk, and Elizabeth Ashe ...

in his office of as one of six Masters of Requests in 1618. He had married a relation of

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...

, through whose influence he had also obtained a grant of he rights ofpre-emption and transportation of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

for seven years in August 1613. In 1622 he had a grant in reversion of the auditorship of imprests and of the auditorship of the

Mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

. Freeman hoped that through Lord Buckingham, he would succeed Thomas Murray as provost of

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, but the appointment was given to Sir Henry Wotton. Freeman then unsuccessfully applied to Buckingham to be allowed to succeed Wotton as ambassador at

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In 1626 and 1627 he was on a commission for the arrest of French ships and goods in England. In 1629 he held the office of auditor of imprests after a dispute as to its possession with Sir Giles Monpesson and purchased a large manor in Betchworth,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

for £1,080. He became master worker of the mint at a salary of £500 per annum, when in 1635, jointly with Sir Thomas Aylesbury, he formed a commission exercising the powers of the

Master of the Mint Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an important office in the governments of Scotland and England, and later Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, between ...

. This came about by the exclusion from the position of Robert Harley, in favour of the previous incumbent Randal Cranfield, who then died suddenly.Christopher Edgar Challis, ''A New History of the Royal Mint'' (1992), p. 279. Freeman was also one of the first appointed in February 1635 to the newly created office of 'searcher and sealer' of all foreign

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

imported into England. On the death of

Sir Dudley Digges Sir Dudley Digges (19 May 1583 – 18 March 1639) was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1629. Digges was also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia ...

, Freeman bid high for the

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...

, which was taken by

Sir Charles Caesar Sir Charles Caesar (27 January 1590 – 6 December 1642), of Benington in Hertfordshire, was an English judge who served as Master of the Rolls in the period leading up to the outbreak of the English Civil War; his father, Sir Julius Caesar, ...

. With no known office in later life in 1655 he published ''Imperiale'', a tragedy which he had written many years before; an unauthorised edition to which he refers had appeared in 1639. Freeman also published two verse translations from

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

: the ''Booke of Consolation to Marcia'' (1635), and the other the ''Booke of the Shortnes of Life'' (2nd ed. 1663). At the last-given date Freeman was still alive.

Personal life

He married Catherine Bret and had two sons: George Freeman, who died with his landed estate and without sons in 1678, and Ralph Freeman who held it in 1684 and in whose family's hands it would remain until sale in 1817.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Ralph 1589 births 1667 deaths 17th-century English judges Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English dramatists and playwrights English knights English male dramatists and playwrights English translators Masters of the Mint People educated at Eton College