Sir Francis Sykes

Sir Francis Sykes, 1st Baronet was an English landowner, Member of Parliament and sometime Governor of Kasimbazar in India, being styled an English nabob by his peers.

Sir Francis was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1732. He joined the British East India Company and amassed a fortune in Bengal, at the court of the Nawab. He became Governor of Kasimbazar and was good friends with both Warren Hastings and Lord Clive. Upon his return to England, he purchased Ackworth Park in Yorkshire and Basildon Park in Berkshire. He was for many years Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury and then for Wallingford, and acquired a baronetcy in 1781. Sir Francis lived at Basildon, although he died before the building was complete. His son, Francis William Sykes (1767–1804) was also member of parliament for Wallingford. Both Sir Francis and his son, Francis William, are commemorated in an unusual memorial at St Bartholomew's Church, Lower Basildon in Berkshire.