Richard Penn (governor)
Richard Penn | |
|---|---|
| Acting Governor of British Parliament | |
| In office 1784–1791 | |
| In office 1796–1802 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Circa 1735 |
| Died | 27 May 1811 Richmond, England |
Richard Penn Jr. (1735 – 27 May 1811, Richmond, Surrey, England) served as the lieutenant governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773, and was later a member of the British Parliament.
Life
Penn, of Laleham in Middlesex, was the second son of Richard Penn Sr. (1706–1771) and his wife Hannah Lardner, daughter of Richard Lardner M.D.; and the grandson of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania.[1] He was educated at Eton College and St John's College, Cambridge before joining the Inner Temple.[2]
In 1763, he and his brother John visited Pennsylvania, of which his family were still sole proprietors. He was qualified as a councilor on 12 January 1764. In 1768, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[3]
In 1771, he returned to Pennsylvania and was appointed lieutenant governor. He soon became acting governor when his brother returned to England to attend to the colony's legal interests. He proved popular with the provincials, taking much care over their commercial interests, but less so with his uncle, the proprietor. After two years, he was supplanted by the re-appointment of his brother as governor.
On 21 May 1772, at Christ Church, Philadelphia, he married Mary "Polly" Masters, daughter of the late William Masters of Philadelphia. The bride's mother gave them a splendid city house as a wedding present. Penn entertained members of the Continental Congress at his Philadelphia city house, a Virginia delegate, Colonel George Washington, being among his guests.
Richard Penn was elected a trustee of the College and Academy of Philadelphia (now the
After the conclusion of the
Penn entered Parliament in 1784 as member for
Richard and Mary Penn had two sons, William Penn (1776–1845) and
President's House
Penn sold his Philadelphia city house to
Notes
- ^ "Penn, Richard (?1734-1811), of Queen Anne Street, Marylebone, Mdx., History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^ "Penn, Richard (PN752R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, 3:226–233.
- ISBN 978-0-8063-5239-8.
References
- Dictionary of National Biography
- The Penn Family
- Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
- Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [better source needed]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
External links
- Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Richard Penn
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