Richard Erle Drax Grosvenor [I]

Eldest son of Thomas Grosvenor of Swell Court, Somerset and Deborah Skynner (daughter of Stephen Skynner of Walthamstow, Essex). Married Sarah Frances Drax of Charborough Park, near Blandford Forum, Dorset, the daughter of Edward Drax of Charborough. Took the names Erle Drax before Grosvenor on marriage.
An MP for various constituencies, his major preoccupation appears to have been with attempting to secure for himself a peerage (in which he was unsuccessful). His political positions were not consistent but he was a strong opponent of the bill to abolish the slave trade 23 February 1807, and was also strongly anti-Catholic.
He was also a Captain in the Dorset yeomanry 1795, 1803, and a Major, 1809.

His son, also called Richard Erle Drax Grosvenor (q.v.), became owner of Drax Hall.

His brother, Thomas Grosvenor (1764-1851); of Grosvenor House, Walthamstow, Essex and Stocking Hall, Leics.), was also an MP: for Chester 20 Feb. 1795-1826 and Stockbridge, 1826-1830.

The lineage of Richard Erle Drax Grosvenor and the Drax family was:
Colonely Drax of Yorkshire, a cavalier in the civil war, retired to Barbados in 1647 where he acquired, within a few years, an estate worth £8,000-9,000 per year. He married the daughter of the Earl of Carlisle, proprietor of the island. His descendants included Henry Drax of Ellerton Abbey, Yorkshire and MP for Lyme Regis and Wareham. (Wareham 1718-1722, 1734-1748, 1751-1754, 1754-1755; Lyme Regis, 1727-1734). He was also secretary to Fredrick, Prince of Wales. Married Elizabeth Ernle of Charborough, Dorset in 1720, the daughter of Sir Edward Ernle (1673-1729) of Maddington, Wiltshire and MP for various constituencies, including Wareham, between 1695 and 1729. Their children included Thomas Erle-Drax (1723-1790) who died without issue.
Thomas Erle-Drax was succeeded by his brother Edward Drax of Charborough (-1791), who married Mary Churchill in 1762. Their only daughter and heiress, Sarah Frances Drax, married Richard Grosvenor, 11 March 1788 who thus became Richard Erle Drax Grosvenor.

Entry by M. H. Port in History of Parliament online.

See separate entry for the son.

Entry by M. H. Port in History of Parliament online.

John Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (4 vols., London, Henry Colburn, 1835-1838), vol. IV, pp. 208-9.