Sir Martin Browne ffolkes, 1st Baronet, FRS (21 May 1749 – 11 December 1821) was an English baronet and Member of Parliament. Martin ffolkes was the only son of William ffolkes, a barrister of

Hillington, Norfolk Hillington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Hillington is located north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of Norwich, along the A148. History Hillington's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Ol ...

and his second wife Mary, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Browne, MD,

President of the Royal College of Physicians The president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is the elected head of the Royal College of Physicians of England, which was founded by letters patent from King Henry VIII in 1518. The president is elected annually late in the year. Presi ...

. His uncle was

Martin Folkes Martin Folkes (29 October 1690 – 28 June 1754) was an English antiquary, numismatist, mathematician and astronomer who served as the president of the Royal Society from 1741 to 1752. Life Folkes was born in Westminster on 29 October 1690, ...

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society who presides over meetings of the society's council. After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gres ...

. ffolkes was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

from 1758 to 1766 and matriculated at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

in 1767. He then entered

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

in 1768 to study law. He succeeded his father in 1783, inheriting lands in Norfolk. On the death of his grandfather Sir William Browne in 1774 he restyled himself Browne ffolkes and was created a baronet later that year. He married Fanny, the daughter and coheir of

Sir John Turner, 3rd Baronet Sir John Turner, 3rd Baronet (1712–1780), of Warham, Norfolk, was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1739 to 1774. Turner was baptized on 19 June 1712, the only son of Sir John Turner, 2nd Baronet, of War ...

of Warham, on 28 December 1777; they had a son and two daughters. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Norfolk The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The High Sheriff of Norfolk was originally the principal law enforcement officer in Norfolk and presided at the assizes and other im ...

for 1783–84 and in 1790 was elected MP for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, sitting until his death in office in 1821. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1772. He was an officer in the Norfolk Rangers – a captain in 1794 and by 1804 a major. He died at Hillington in 1821 and was succeeded by his elder son, William John Henry Browne ffolkes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ffolkes, Martin Browne 1749 births 1821 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn High sheriffs of Norfolk Fellows of the Royal Society Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 People from Hillington, Norfolk