GRAHAM, RICHARD, Viscount Preston (1648–1695), born at Netherby, Cumberland, on 24 Sept. 1648, was the eldest son of Sir George Graham, bart. (d. 1657), of Netherby, son and heir of Sir Richard Graham, kt. and bart. (d. 1653). His mother was Lady Mary Johnston, second daughter of James, first earl of Hartfell in Scotland. He was educated at Westminster School under Dr. Busby, though not on the foundation. In 1662, being then of Norton-Conyers, Yorkshire, he was created a baronet of England (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661–2, pp. 455, 528, 549). He proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, about 1664. On 4 Feb. 1666 he was created M.A. (Wood, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 293–4). He was elected M.P. for Cockermouth, Cumberland, on 8 June 1675, in the place of John Clarke, deceased, and continued to represent that borough in the parliaments of 1678–9, 1679, and 1680–1 (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return, pt. i.). Though a protestant he zealously advocated the right of James, duke of York, to the succession. On 10 Dec. 1679 he entertained the duke and duchess, when on their way to Scotland, at his Yorkshire seat of Norton-Conyers (Luttrell, Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, 1857, i. 26). Supported by other high tories he moved in the commons in behalf of the duke against the Exclusion Bill, 2 Nov. 1680. His exertions were rewarded by his being created a peer of Scotland by the title of Viscount Preston in the county of Haddington, and Baron Graham of Eske. The patent, which is dated at Windsor Castle on 12 May 1681, recites that Charles I in 1635 had given the warrant to Sir Richard Graham, the patentee's grandfather, and that it had afterwards been burnt by the rebels. In July 1681 Preston was in attendance on the Duke of York at Edinburgh; on 1 Aug. he took his place in the Scotch parliament; and on 26 Aug. was with the duke at Leith, where he made a speech about the succession. In May 1682 he succeeded Henry Savile as envoy extraordinary to the court of France (ib. i. 159, 182). His instructions included many relating to Orange and Luxembourg, and to the proposal to Charles II to be the mediator of a peace between France and Spain, and relating to French excesses in the Netherlands. In August he gave notice that a plot for a descent upon Ireland was being concocted in France against Charles, and he employed spies to collect information on the subject. The king was not much disturbed, and ordered one of Preston's spies out of his presence as a liar. In September Preston presented a strongly worded memorial to the French king ‘touching his seizing upon the city of Orange, looking on it as done to himself’ (ib. i. 221). In October 1683 the Earl of Sunderland by the king's commands gave Preston directions to let the ministers in France know ‘what a very ill man Dr. Burnet was.’ Preston obeyed these orders, but declined to receive a visit from Burnet. He was ordered to endeavour to trace out Bomeny, the valet to the Earl of Essex, who was suspected of being privy to that nobleman's death in the Tower. For his attention to the privileges in France of the Scotch people he gained the thanks of the Scotch royal boroughs. In the beginning of 1684 he heard reports that he was to be recalled, but the king disavowed any such intention in a very cordial letter. Preston returned home at the accession of James II, and on 2 April 1685 was elected M.P. for Cumberland. He hoped to have been raised to the English peerage as Baron Liddell in Cumberland, but was disappointed on account of his adherence to his religion. In conjunction with Lord Middleton he was entrusted by James with the management of the House of Commons which met on 19 May, was sworn a member of the privy council on 21 Oct., and five days later became chancellor to the queen-dowager (ib. i. 361). In 1687 he was made lord-lieutenant of Cumberland and Westmoreland. At the end of October 1688 he was chosen lord president of the council in succession to the Earl of Sunderland (ib. i. 471), and was one of the council of five appointed by the king to represent him in London during his absence at Salisbury in November 1688. He vainly endeavoured to impress upon James the necessity of moderation. After the revolution Preston, who was in high favour with Louis XIV, was entrusted by the French government with considerable sums of money for political purposes. In March 1689 he was reported to be in the north of England concerting measures for the restoration of the king (ib. i. 509). In May he was arrested, brought up to London, committed to the Tower, and not admitted to bail until 25 Oct. (ib. i. 539, 595). Meanwhile the Earl of Montague had commenced an action against him to recover the profits of the office of wardrobe, for which he held a life patent for the place. Preston thereupon appeared before the House of Lords on 11 Nov. and claimed the privilege of a peer of the realm in respect of the action at law. He stated that he had received a patent to be an English baron from James before the vote of abdication passed. It turned out that the patent was dated at St. Germain in France 21 Jan. 1689. The house
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