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HERBERT, Francis (c.1666-1719), of Oakly Park, nr. Ludlow, Salop.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
b. c.1666, 1st s. of Richard Herbert of Bromfield, nr. Ludlow and Dolguog, Mont. by Florentia, da. of Richard Herbert, 2nd Baron Herbert of Chirbury. educ. Christ Church Oxf. matric. 26 Mar. 1683, aged 16; G. Inn 1687. m. lic. 1 Feb. 1702, Dorothy (d.1717), da. and h. of John Oldbury, merchant, of Broad Street, London, 6s. (4 d.v.p.) suc. fa. 1676.1
Offices Held
Freeman, Ludlow 1683, common councilman 1697-d.; j.p. Salop June 1688-?d.; commr. for assessment, Salop 1689-90, Mont. 1689; sheriff, Salop 1696-7, Mont. 1709-10.2
Biography
Herbert came from one of the less distinguished branches of the family. His grandfather was a commissioner of array for Charles I and compounded in 1646 on a fine of £318. His father, also a commissioner of array, was one of the proposed knights of the Royal Oak at the Restoration with estates valued at £700 p.a. Herbert succeeded at the age of ten under the guardianship of the Hon. Henry Herbert, his maternal uncle, and Thomas Walcot.3
Herbert was listed as in opposition to James II in 1687, but he was added to the Shropshire commission of the peace in the following June on the recommendation of his cousin, the Roman Catholic Marquess of Powis. He was returned as a Tory for Ludlow, two miles from his home, at the general election of 1689. According to Ailesbury’s list he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. He was probably an inactive Member of the Convention, though he cannot usually be differentiated from Henry Herbert and James Herbert. As ‘Mr Herbert of Ludlow’ he was granted leave of absence for three weeks on 13 Apr. 1689. He wished to stand for Montgomery in 1690, but the family interest went to Charles Herbert. After sitting in three more Parliaments as a Tory, he died on 27 Feb. 1719 and was buried at Bromfield. His sons Henry Arthur Herbert, later 1st Earl of Powis, and Richard Herbert represented Ludlow as Whigs under George II.4