Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Baronet, of Middle Claydon

Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Baronet DL, JP (12 November 1613 – 24 September 1696) was an English baronet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1690.

Baptised at Hillesden in Buckinghamshire, he was the eldest son of Sir Edmund Verney and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Denton. Verney was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and was called to the bar by the Middle Temple.

Verney entered the Short Parliament in 1640, sitting as Member of Parliament for Aylesbury. He was re-elected MP for Aylesbury for the Long Parliament in November 1640. He was present in the trial of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford in January 1641, making notes, and was knighted in March. Verney opposed William Laud before the Civil War, and sided with the Parliamentarians at its outset; however, when he didn't partake in the Solemn League and Covenant in 1643, he was forced to flee into exile; three years thereafter his assets were confiscated. He went first to the Netherlands, met his wife in Blois in France, where she died, and arrived then in Italy. He was disabled from sitting in Parliament on 22 September 1645.

Following his return to England in 1653, Verney was captured and imprisoned two years later, however released with a fine in 1656.

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