John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale

The Right Honourable The Lord Redesdale PC KC FRS
Sir John Mitford by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Speaker of the House of Commons
In office 1801–1802
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	Henry Addington
Succeeded by	Charles Abbot
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
In office 1802–1806
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Henry Addington Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	The Earl of Clare
Succeeded by	George Ponsonby
Personal details
Born	18 August 1748 (1748-08-18) London, England
Died	16 January 1830(1830-01-16) (aged 81) Batsford Park, Gloucestershire
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Lady Frances Perceval (d. 1817)

John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale PC, KC, FRS (18 August 1748 – 16 January 1830), known as Sir John Mitford between 1793 and 1802, was an English lawyer and politician. He was Speaker of the House of Commons between 1801 and 1802 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland between 1802 and 1806.

Born in London, Mitford was the younger son of John Mitford (d. 1761) of Exbury, Hampshire, and Philadelphia, daughter of Willey Reveley of Newton Underwood, Northumberland. The historian William Mitford was his brother. He was educated at Cheam School and sudied law at the Inner Temple from 1772, being called to the bar in 1777.

Having become a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1777, Mitford wrote A Treatise on the Pleadings in Suits in the Court of Chancery by English Bill, a work reprinted several times in England and America. He was made a King's Counsel in 1789.

In 1788 he became Member of Parliament for the borough of Bere Alston in Devon, and in 1791 he successfully introduced a bill for the relief of Roman Catholics, despite being himself a committed Anglican. In 1793 he succeeded Sir John Scott as Solicitor-General for England (receiving the customary knighthood at the same time), becoming Attorney General six years later, when he was returned to parliament as member for East Looe in Cornwall.