Francis Page (né Bourne) (c. 1726–1803) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for 33 years from 1768 to 1801. Page was born Francis Bourne, the son of Richard Bourne of Ombersley, Worcestershire and his wife Isabella Smith, niece of judge Sir Francis Page. He succeeded to the estates of his uncle Sir Francis Page and took name of Page in 1741, as a condition of his inheritance. He matriculated at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

on 29 April 1743, aged 16 and was created MA on 1 August 1747 and DCL on 14 April 1749. He was

High Sheriff of Oxfordshire The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

for 1752–1753. He embellished and consolidated the estate he inherited at Middle Aston. Page had no great political or intellectual attainments, but was devoted to the Church and University. He was elected as Member of Parliament for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

1768 Events January–March * January 9 – Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses, in London. * February 11 – Samuel Adams's circular letter is issued by the Massachusetts House of Re ...

after a contest, and held his seat unopposed for 33 years. By 1790 he was secure in his seat for as long as he wished to hold it but he was politically negligible apart from his attachment to Tory principles in church and state. Early in 1793 he was so ill that there was a canvass for his seat, and on 10 December 1795 he took leave of absence for two weeks to recover his health. In April 1796 he decided to offer himself for re-election in the 1796 general election. Having come into the 1st United Kingdom Parliament in 1801, he resigned his seat within the first quarter of 1801. Page died on 24 August 1803 in his 78th year. He left his estate to his nephew William Sturges who took the additional name of Bourne and subsequently sold Middle Aston for £13,166 to Sir Clement Cottrell Dormer.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Francis 1720s births 1803 deaths Politicians from Worcestershire Alumni of New College, Oxford High sheriffs of Oxfordshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Oxford University British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the University of Oxford Tory MPs (pre-1834) UK MPs 1801–1802