Richard Penn Jr. (1735 – 27 May 1811, Richmond, Surrey, England) served as the lieutenant governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773, and was later a member of the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

Life

Penn, of

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the Borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, was the second son of Richard Penn Sr. (1706–1771) and his wife Hannah Lardner, daughter of Richard Lardner M.D.; and the grandson of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, the founder of Pennsylvania. 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, ...

and St John's College, Cambridge before joining the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

. In 1763 he and his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

visited Pennsylvania, of which his family were still sole proprietors. He was qualified as a councilor on 12 January 1764. During 1768 he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1771 he returned to Pennsylvania and was appointed lieutenant governor. He soon became acting governor when his brother returned to England to attend to the colony's legal interests. He proved popular with the provincials, taking much care over their commercial interests, but less so with his uncle, the proprietor. After two years he was supplanted by the re-appointment of his brother as governor. PhiladelphiaPresidentsHouse

On 21 May 1772, at

Christ Church, Philadelphia Christ Church is an Episcopal church in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1695 as a parish of the Church of England, it played an integral role in the founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In 178 ...

, he married Mary "Polly" Masters, daughter of the late William Masters of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The bride's mother gave them a splendid city house as a wedding present. Penn entertained members of the Continental Congress at his Philadelphia city house, a Virginia delegate, Colonel

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, being among his guests. Richard Penn was elected a trustee of the College and Academy of Philadelphia (now the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

) in 1772, serving as president of the board in 1773 and 1774. With the coming of the Revolution, he retired and returned to England in the summer of 1775, when the Continental Congress entrusted him with the Olive Branch Petition to the King.

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

refused to accept the petition, but Penn gave evidence to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

on the colonies' attitudes toward independence. After the conclusion of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, he was allowed compensation by the US government for the loss of his proprietary rights in Pennsylvania, and visited Philadelphia again in 1808.

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer ...

(who was a friend of Penn's) records that in 1789 the influential

Earl of Lonsdale Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 (becoming extinct in 1802), and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowth ...

urged the government to appoint Penn as Britain's first Ambassador to the United States, although nothing came of the idea. Penn entered Parliament in 1784 as member for Appleby, elected on the Lonsdale interest, and subsequently also represented two other Lonsdale-dominated boroughs, Haslemere and Lancaster. He was a reliable supporter of Pitt's government (breaking with the other Lonsdale-backed members to support Pitt over the Regency crisis in 1788–89), but rarely if ever spoke in the House of Commons. He resigned his seat in 1791, but returned to Parliament at the next general election, in 1796. Richard and Mary Penn had two sons, William Penn (1776–1845) and Richard Penn, FRS (1784–1863), and two daughters, Hannah, who died without issue and Mary who married

Samuel Paynter Samuel Paynter (August 24, 1768 – October 2, 1845) was an American merchant and politician from Drawbridge, in Broadkill Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly an ...

(she also died without issue). He died at Richmond-on-Thames in 1811.

President's House

Penn sold his Philadelphia city house to Robert Morris in 1785. From 1790 to 1800, while Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the United States, it served as the executive mansion for Presidents

and

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

until the national capital moved to

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

in November 1800.

Notes

References

* ''Dictionary of National Biography''
''The Penn Family''
* Lewis Namier & John Brooke, ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790'' (London: HMSO, 1964) *Robert Beatson, ''A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807

*

External links

Biography and portrait
at the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, Richard 1730s births 1811 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs Cumbria MPs English people of Welsh descent Colonial governors of Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 University of Pennsylvania Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Appleby People educated at Eton College