Martin Ffolkes Explained

Honorific Suffix:FRS
Office:1st Baronet
Term Start:1774
Term End:1821
Successor:William John Henry Browne ffolkes
Constituency Mp1:King's Lynn
Parliament1:British
Term Start1:1790
Term End1:1821
Office2:High Sheriff of Norfolk
Term Start2:1783
Term End2:1784
Birth Date:21 May 1749
Death Date:11 December 1821
Death Place:Hillingdon, UK
Occupation:lawyer
Alma Mater:Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Children:3
Spouse:Fanny Turner
Unit:Norfolk Rangers

Sir Martin Browne ffolkes, 1st Baronet, FRS (21 May 1749 – 11 December 1821) was an English baronet and Member of Parliament.

Martin ffolkes was the only son of William ffolkes, a barrister of Hillington, Norfolk and his second wife Mary, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Browne, MD, President of the Royal College of Physicians. His uncle was Martin Folkes, President of the Royal Society.

He was educated at Eton School from 1758 to 1766 and Emmanuel College, Cambridge and then entered Lincoln's Inn in 1768 to study law. He succeeded his father in 1783, inheriting lands in Norfolk. On the death of his grandfather Sir William Browne in 1774 he restyled himself Browne ffolkes and was created a baronet later that year.[1] He married Fanny, the daughter and coheir of Sir John Turner, 3rd Baronet of Warham, on 28 December 1777; they had a son and two daughters.[2]

He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1783–84 and in 1790 was elected MP for King's Lynn, sitting until his death in office in 1821.[1]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1772.[3] He was an officer in the Norfolk Rangers  - a captain in 1794 and by 1804 a major.[2]

He died at Hillington in 1821 and was succeeded by his elder son, William John Henry Browne ffolkes.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BROWNE FFOLKES, Sir Martin, 1st bt. (1749-1821), of Hillington, King's Lynn, Norf.. History of Parliament Online. 7 July 2015.
  2. Web site: Ffolkes, Martin Browne, Sir, 1st Baronet (1749 - 1821). University of Toronto. 11 April 2023.
  3. Web site: Fellows Details. Royal Society. 7 July 2015.