Francis Barrell was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 in 1701 and 1702.

Barrell was the son of Francis Barrell

Francis Barrell (died 1679)

Francis Barrell was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1679.Barrell was the son of a Kentish clergyman and became serjeant at law at Rochester...

 and his wife Anne Somer daughter of Richard Somer of Clifford's Inn. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

. He entered Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1675 and was called to the bar in 1686. In 1689 he was made Freeman of Rochester and was Recorder of the town from 1692.

Barrell was a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Rochester

Rochester (UK Parliament constituency)

Rochester was a parliamentary constituency in Kent. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...

 from 1701 to 1702. He was from a strong clerical family and his devout Anglicanism influenced his politics, making him a Tory. Barrell founded three schools in Rochester and Strood to teach reading and the Anglican catecism.

Barrell died aged 61 and was buried in Rochester Cathedral

Rochester Cathedral

Rochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...

.

Barrell married Anne Cropley, widow of John Cropley of St Margarets and daughter of William Kitchell of Canterbury.