Richard King was an English 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...

  between 1640 and 1643. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

King was elected recorder of Melcombe Regis

Melcombe Regis

Melcombe Regis is an area of Weymouth in Dorset, England.Situated on the north shore of Weymouth Harbour and originally part of the waste of Radipole, it seems only to have developed as a significant settlement and seaport in the 13th century...

 on 4 February 1628.

In April 1640, King 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 Melcombe Regis

Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (UK Parliament constituency)

Weymouth and Melcombe Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset represented in the English House of Commons, later in that of Great Britain, and finally in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was formed by an Act of Parliament of 1570 which amalgamated the existing boroughs of Weymouth and...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. He was re-elected MP for Melcombe Regis in the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

 in November 1640 King is recorded in an incident in 1641 after George Digby

George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol

George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he was raised to the House of Lords...

 was accelerated to the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

. Digby's younger brother John

John Digby (MP)

John Digby was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War and died as a priest at a convent in France....

 perched himself on a ladder at the door of the chamber which the speaker, William Lenthall

William Lenthall

William Lenthall was an English politician of the Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons.-Early life:...

took as an act of disrespect and insubordination and told him to take his place, and not to sit upon the ladder as if he were going to be hanged. King complained that the Speaker had transgressed his duty in using so disgraceful a speech to so noble a gentleman and after some turmoil obtained a conditional apology. King supported King Charles and was disabled from sitting in parliament on 27 February 1643.

King died between 1643 and 1645.