Richard Tolson was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 lawyer and 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...

  from 1646 to 1648 and in 1660.

Tolson was the son of Henry Tolson of Bridekirk

Bridekirk

Bridekirk is a village near Cockermouth in West Cumbria. It contains no shops but is does contain a small church.-Church: St. Bridgets:Bridekirk is named after its cruciform church, reconstructed in the late 1860s. Surviving are the remains of a ruined chancel with 16th-century east and south...

 in west Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

 and his wife Margaret Savile, daughter of Henry Savile of Wath. He matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford on 17 October 1639, aged 17. He entered Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 in 1641 and also Grey's Inn in 1646.

In 1646, Tolson was elected 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,...

 for Cumberland

Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)

Cumberland is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of...

 and sat until 1648 when he was secluded under Pride's Purge

Pride's Purge

Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

. He was called to the Bar in 1656.

In 1660, Tolson was elected MP for Cockermouth

Cockermouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Cockermouth was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England in 1295, and again from 1641, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was a parliamentary borough represented by two...

 for the Convention Parliament. He was inactive in parliament. In 1667, he was High Sheriff of Cumberland

High Sheriff of Cumberland

The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions...

.

Tolson was buried at Wath on 2 July 1689.

Tolson married Anne Gregory, daughter of Gilbert Gregory of Barnby-upon-Don, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, in around 1650 and had five sons.