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 Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

Early life

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

Bucklebury Bucklebury is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Berkshire, England, about north-east of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury and north of the A4 road (England), A4 road. The parish has a population of 2,116, but the village ...

and

Frilsham Frilsham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish from Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, in the England, English county of Berkshire. Geography Frilsham is near the Berkshire Downs, with the M4 motorway, M4 to the north. The nucleat ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

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

Reading School Reading School is a state 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, alth ...

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 for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

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 British naval leader Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state ...

. 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, founder of Downing College. Frances Downing, the 3rd Baronet's aunt as sister to Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet, 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