FRANK, Robert (1660-1738), of Pontefact.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1710 - 22 Mar. 1716

Family and Education

bap. 2 Feb. s. of John Frank of Pontefract by Mary, da. and coh. of William Harbred of Wistow, Yorks. educ. G. Inn 1678. m. 21 Feb. 1698, Elizabeth, da. of Ralph Lowther of Ackworth, Yorks., sis. of John Lowther, 1s. d.v.p. 3da.

Offices Held

Recorder, Pontefract.

Biography

Frank belonged to one of the leading families of Pontefract, where he owned 20 burgages1 and was the recorder of the borough. Returned for Pontefract as a Tory in Anne’s last two Parliaments, he was re-elected in 1715, when the mayor was his uncle, and the town clerk was his agent. On petition he was unseated on the ground that the mayor as returning officer, under the influence of Frank and his agent, had wrongfully rejected a number of his opponent’s votes.2

He did not stand again, dying in 1738 (buried 6 Sept.).

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. C. Bradley, 'Parl. Rep. of Pontefract, Newark and East Retford 1754-68' (Manchester Univ. M.A. thesis).
  • 2. CJ, xviii. 409-10.