| Richard Wilbraham-Bootle | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Chester |
| Term Start: | 1761 |
| Term End: | 1790 |
| Predecessor: | Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt Thomas Grosvenor |
| Alongside: | Thomas Grosvenor |
| Successor: | Viscount Belgrave Thomas Grosvenor |
| Birth Name: | Richard Wilbraham |
| Residence: | Lathom House Rode Hall |
| Alma Mater: | St John's College, Oxford |
| Parents: | Randle Wilbraham Dorothy Kenrick |
| Relations: | Richard Bootle-Wilbraham (grandson) Richard Wilbraham (grandson) |
Richard Wilbraham-Bootle (20 September 1725 – 13 March 1796) was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 29 years from 1761 to 1790.
He was born Richard Wilbraham on 20 September 1725, the eldest son of Dorothy (Kenrick) Wilbraham and Randle Wilbraham of Rode Hall, Cheshire.[1]
He matriculated at St John's College, Oxford on 8 July 1742 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1742 and was called to the bar in 1747.
Wilbraham Bootle was returned as Member of Parliament for Chester without a contest in the 1761 general election and was returned unopposed again in 1768, 1774 and 1780. In 1780 the English Chronicle described him as “one of the most independent Members in the House”. He was a member of the St. Alban's Tavern group which in February 1784 tried to bring Pitt and Fox together. In the 1784 general election, he was returned with a comfortable majority the first time he had to contest his seat at Chester. He retired in 1790. Only a few speeches by him are recorded and none were of any consequence.
In 1758, he inherited Lathom House on the death of his wife's father and in 1770 inherited Rode Hall on the death of his own father.
On 31 May 1755, he married Mary Bootle, daughter and heiress of Robert Bootle of Lathom House, Lancashire.[2] Upon his marriage, he took the additional name of Bootle.[3] Together, they were the parents of at least six sons and eight daughters, including:[4]
Wilbraham Bootle died on 13 March 1796. His eldest son Edward inherited Lathom House and was created Baron Skelmersdale. Rode Hall passed to his younger son, Randle Wilbraham, father of General Sir Richard Wilbraham.[7]