Family and Education

b. bef.1660, 1st s. of Sir Mark Milbancke, 1st Bt., of Halnaby by Elizabeth, da. and h. of John Acclom of Moreby Hall, Yorks.; bro. of Ralph Milbancke*.  m. 3 Feb. 1680, Jane (d. 1704), da. of Sir Ralph Carr*, 5s. 4da.  suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 1680.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Northumb. 1685–6.

Biography

Milbancke’s grandfather, a merchant and mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, lent large sums of money to Charles II in exile. His father was one of the proposed knights of the Royal Oak in 1660, with an annual income estimated at £2,000. Milbancke himself was recommended for the North Riding lieutenancy in February 1688, and for the Durham commission of the peace in May.2

Returned unopposed in 1690 for Richmond, where he had a house dominating the town, Milbancke was classed as a Tory and probable Court supporter by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†). In December Carmarthen classed him as a likely supporter in the event of an attack on him as a minister. However, Milbancke appears to have been an inactive Member. On 2 Jan. 1693 he was absent from a call of the House, ordered to be taken into custody, and discharged 15 days later. He was then granted leave of absence on 15 Feb. for three weeks, due to his wife being very ill. However, in the following session he was again absent from a call of the House on 5 Dec., sent for into custody and discharged two days later. On 14 Mar. 1694 he was once again absent when the House was called over and he was ordered into custody. He was probably ill at the time, as his death was erroneously reported in August of that year. Defeated at the Richmond election in 1695, he died in May 1698, and was buried at Croft in Yorkshire. After his death his widow was sued for unpaid excise duties in Durham and Northumberland, as he had acted as surety for the receiver, but she was able to come to a composition with the Treasury without paying anything. Milbancke was succeeded by his eldest son, Mark, who died in 1705, when the baronetcy passed to the 3rd baronet’s younger brother, Ralph, who although never a Member of Parliament, took an active interest in electoral politics in Richmond, and married the sister of the 3rd Earl of Holdernesse, who held a significant interest in that borough.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Ivar McGrath

Notes

• 1. Surtees, Dur. i. 274.
• 2. Burke, Commoners, i. 689; Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1883), 291; (1882), 436.
• 3. HMC Portland, iii. 552; Surtees, 274; Cal. Treas. Bks. xvii. 307, 418, 476; Borthwick Inst. York, wills, Prerog. Ct. Feb. 1714–15.