Francis Annesley

Francis Annesley, FRS (October 1663 – 7 April 1750) was an Irish lawyer and politician who sat in the Irish House of Commons between 1692 and 1714, in the English House of Commons from 1705 to 1708 and in the British House of Commons between 1708 and 1734.

Early life Annesley was the eldest son of the Hon. Francis Annesley of Castlewellan, County Down and his wife Deborah Jones, daughter of Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath. He entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1679 and qualified BA in 1682 and LL.B. and LL.D in 1725. He was admitted at the Inner Temple in 1684 and remained in London during the conflict in Ireland. He was called to the bar in 1690. He made a financially beneficial marriage to Elizabeth Martin, the daughter of Joseph Martin, a London merchant, on 5 July 1695. In 1700 he became a Director of the New East India Company. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1704.

Political career Annesley was originally an Irish country whig and sought to protect Protestant interests against both Catholic and Scottish Presbyterian influences. He was elected MP for Downpatrick in the Parliament of Ireland in 1695, sitting until he was expelled in 1703. He was a Commissioner of inquiry into forfeited estates in Ireland from 1699 to 1700, and a trustee for sale from 1700 to 1703.

Later life and legacy Annesley married again twice. In July 1732 he married Elizabeth Gomeldon, widow of William Gomeldon of Summerfield Hall, Kent and daughter of John Cropley of Rochester, Kent. He subsequently married Sarah Lady Fowler, the widow of Sir Richard Fowler, 2nd Baronet, of Harnage Grange, Shropshire and daughter of William Sloane of Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Annesley died in 1750. He had seven sons and two daughters by his first wife. One of his sons was William Annesley, 1st Viscount Glerawly.