Sir Nicholas Slanning, 1st Baronet FRS (June 1643 – April 1691) of

Maristow Maristow House in the parish of Bickleigh (formerly Tamerton Foliot), Devon, England, is a large country house set in landscaped parkland, on the River Tavy to the north of Plymouth. It was built in about 1560, rebuilt in the mid-18th century a ...

in the parish of

Tamerton Foliot Tamerton Foliot is a village and former civil parish situated in the north of Plymouth, in the Plymouth district, in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. It also lends its name to the ecclesiastical parish of the same name. Situated near t ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, was an English courtier and 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 ...

between 1667 and 1689.

Life

Slanning was the eldest son of Sir

Nicholas Slanning Sir Nicholas Slanning (1 September 1606 - August 1643) was a soldier and landowner from Devon who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He served in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War and was mortally wounded at Bri ...

and his wife Gertrude (née Bagge), daughter of Sir James Bagge.History of Parliament Online - Slanning, Sir Nicholas, 1st Bt.
/ref> His father was killed in 1643 fighting for the Royalist cause in the Civil War. His mother remarried

Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice (c. 1616 – 7 September 1687) of Trerice in Cornwall, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1664 when he was raised to the peerage. He fough ...

. After the

Restoration of Charles II The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

Slanning was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1661 and made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1663. His first marriage to the influential Cartaret family brought him for a time into the inner Court circle. He was appointed Cupbearer to Queen

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza (; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, King Charles II, which la ...

(1663) and Commissioner for Assessment for

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

(1661–1678), Devon (1661–1662, 1665–1680). 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 1664. Like his father, he had some interest in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. In 1669, Slanning was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...

. He was a diligent MP, sitting on some 70 committees. He was elected MP for

Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River ** Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the ...

in 1679 and in 1681 and 1685. He was expelled from the Royal Society in 1682. He was appointed Standard-bearer to the Band of Gentleman-pensioners (1676–1684), Commissioner for Rebels' Estates, Devon (1686), Vice-Warden of the Stannaries (1686-death) and Deputy-Governor of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

(1688). He was Commissioner for Assessment for Cornwall and Devon from 1689 to 1690. He supported the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

, but retired from politics the following year. Slanning died in Tamerton Foliot, Devon in 1691.

Family

Slanning married four times: firstly in 1662 Anne (died 1668), daughter of Sir George Carteret, Bt, of St Owen's,

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Treasurer of the Navy The Treasurer of the Navy, originally called Treasurer of Marine Causes or Paymaster of the Navy, was a civilian officer of the Royal Navy, one of the principal commissioners of the Navy Board responsible for naval finance from 1524 to 1832. T ...

and his wife Elizabeth. Anne was remembered as a "pious and sweet-tempered lady":

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

refers to her affectionately in his celebrated

Diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

. He married secondly in 1670 Mary, daughter of James Jenkin of Treseny,

St Columb Major St Columb Major is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay Ordnance Survey: Landran ...

, and thirdly in 1673 Mary, daughter of

Sir Andrew Henley, 1st Baronet Sir Andrew Henley, 1st baronet (1622–1675), of Bramshill, Hampshire was an English politician and the first of the Henley baronets. He is best remembered for his celebrated quarrel with the future Duke of Bolton, which is recorded in the Diar ...

, of Henley,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and his first wife Mary Gayer. Mary Henley was the mother of his only son, Andrew. He married fourthly in 1679 Amy, widow of Sir John Davie, 2nd Baronet, and also of Walter Hele of

Newton Ferrers Newton Ferrers is a village and former Manorialism, manor, civil parish, civil and ecclesiastical parish, now in the parish of Newton and Noss, in the South Hams district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on a creek of the River Y ...

, and daughter of Edmond Parker of

Boringdon Hall Boringdon Hall is a 16th-century Grade I listed manor house in the parish of Colebrook, about two miles north of Plympton, Devon. Description The oldest parts of the present house were said by John Britton (1771–1857) to have been built about ...

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient Stannary, stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down riv ...

, Devon. His only son, Sir Andrew Slanning, inherited his title. Andrew was

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

by John Cowland in 1700, following a drunken brawl in the Rose Tavern, Convent Garden, and the title died with him. The Slanning estates passed to the heirs of Sir Nicholas's sister Elizabeth, Lady Modyford.''State Trials'' Vol.18 p. 305

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slanning, Sir Nicholas Slanning, 1st Baronet 1643 births 1691 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of England for Plympton Erle English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall