Sir Ralph Freeman (6 July 1589 – 12 June 1667) was a wealthy English civil judge born in

St Mary-at-Hill St Mary-at-Hill is a Church of England parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap. It was founded in the 12th century as "St Mary de Hull" or "St Mary de la Hulle". It ...

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to th ...

, London and lived at Military St

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, he was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

then at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

and was called to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

bar in 1606 he later received a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

hood in 1617. He was also known as a dramatist and translator. He should not be confused with another contemporary Sir Ralph Freeman who was lord mayor of London, and died on 16 March 1634.

Life

He succeeded

Robert Naunton Sir Robert Naunton (1563 – 27 March 1635) was an England, English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626. Family Robert Naunton was the son of Henry Naunton of ...

in his office of as one of six Masters of Requests in 1618. He had married a relation of

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ( ; 20 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and self-described "lover" of King James VI and I. Buckingham remained at the heigh ...

, through whose influence he had also obtained a grant of he rights ofpre-emption and transportation of

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

for seven years in August 1613. In 1622 he had a grant in reversion of the auditorship of imprests and of the auditorship of the

Mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

. Freeman hoped that through Lord Buckingham, he would succeed Thomas Murray as provost of Eton, but the appointment was given to Sir Henry Wotton. Freeman then unsuccessfully applied to Buckingham to be allowed to succeed Wotton as ambassador at

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. In 1626 and 1627 he was on a commission for the arrest of French ships and goods in England. In 1629 he held the office of auditor of imprests after a dispute as to its possession with Sir Giles Monpesson and purchased a large manor in Betchworth,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

for £1,080. He became master worker of the mint at a salary of £500 per annum, when in 1635, jointly with Sir Thomas Aylesbury, he formed a commission exercising the powers of the

Master of the Mint Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an office in the governments of Scotland and England, and later Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, between the 16th ...

. This came about by the exclusion from the position of Robert Harley, in favour of the previous incumbent Randal Cranfield, who then died suddenly.Christopher Edgar Challis, ''A New History of the Royal Mint'' (1992), p. 279. Freeman was also one of the first appointed in February 1635 to the newly created office of 'searcher and sealer' of all foreign

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

imported into England. On the death of Sir Dudley Digges, Freeman bid high for the

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

, which was taken by Sir Charles Caesar. With no known office in later life in 1655 he published ''Imperiale'', a tragedy which he had written many years before; an unauthorised edition to which he refers had appeared in 1639. Freeman also published two verse translations from

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

: the ''Booke of Consolation to Marcia'' (1635), and the other the ''Booke of the Shortnes of Life'' (2nd ed. 1663). At the last-given date Freeman was still alive.

Personal life

He married Catherine Bret and had two sons: George Freeman, who died with his landed estate and without sons in 1678, and Ralph Freeman who held it in 1684 and in whose family's hands it would remain until sale in 1817.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Ralph 1589 births 1667 deaths 17th-century English judges Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English dramatists and playwrights 17th-century English knights English male dramatists and playwrights 17th-century English translators Masters of the Mint People educated at Eton College