Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux
Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux (1594–1636) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1628 when he was created a peer.
Biography
Molyneux was the son of Sir Richard Molyneux, 1st Baronet of Sefton and his wife Frances Gerard, the daughter of Sir Gilbert Gerard and Anne Ratcliffe.[1] He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 24 November 1609, at the age of 15. He was knighted on 27 March 1613. In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wigan. He held the office of Receiver-General of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1616. He succeeded to the Molyneux Baronetcy as the 2nd Baronet on the death of his father on 8 February 1622.[1]
In 1625 Molyneux was elected MP for Lancashire. He was elected MP for Lancashire again in 1628 and sat until December 1628 when he was created Viscount Molyneux by King Charles I (taking his seat in the House of Lords on 4 November 1634).[2] In the same year, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire but noted as a recusant and non communicant. According to Aylmer, Molyneux was one of only two Royalist gentry in the county of Lancashire who held an important office of state during the period 1625–1642 [3] (?) to 1636.[4]
Family
Molyneux married Mary (1596 – before 21 June 1639), daughter of Sir Thomas Caryll of Bentone, Sussex in about 1618.[1][2] His widow remarried, to Raphael Tarterau, Caver to the Queen Consort (he survived her).[2]
Molyneux was succeeded by his son Richard Molyneux, 2nd Viscount Molyneux.[5] His daughter Charlotte married Sir William Stanley, Bt. of Hooton and his daughter Mary became the wife of Sir John Gage, Bt. of Firle, Sussex.
Molyneux's brother, Sir Vivian Molyneux, was a scholar, traveller and Royalist agent in the 1640s, and an uncle of Robert Earl of Caernarvon, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.
Notes
- 1 2 3 Cokayne 1900, p. 4.
- 1 2 3 Cokayne 1910, p. 326.
- ↑ Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of James I (1611–1618). Mary Anne Everett Green. London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts. 1858. pp 383 (1616), 451, 468, 557.
- ↑ The King's servants: the civil service of Charles I, 1625–1642. G. E. Aylmer. Columbia University Press, 1961. pp 357.
- ↑ Cokayne 1910, p. 327.
References
- Cokayne, George E, ed. (1900). Complete Baronetage (1611–1625). 1. Exeter: W. Pollard & company. pp. 3–4.
- Cokayne, George Edward, ed. (1910). Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct or dormant (Ab-Adam to Basing). 1. London: The St. Catherine Press, ltd. pp. 326–327.
| Parliament of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir William Cooke Sir John Pulteney |
Member of Parliament for Wigan 1614 With: Gilbert Gerard |
Succeeded by Sir Thomas Gerard Roger Downes |
| Preceded by Sir John Ratcliffe Sir Thomas Walmsley |
Member of Parliament for Lancashire 1625 With: Sir John Ratcliffe |
Succeeded by Robert Stanley Sir Gilbert Hoghton |
| Preceded by Robert Stanley Sir Gilbert Hoghton |
Member of Parliament for Lancashire 1628–1629 With: Sir Alexander Radcliffe |
Succeeded by Parliament suspended until 1640 |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by New Creation |
Viscount Molyneux 1628–1636 |
Succeeded by Richard Molyneux |