William Penn was an English Admiral and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1670 as MP for Weymouth and Melcombe. He was the father of William Penn, founder of the province of Pennsylvania. He commanded squadrons in the navy of the Commonwealth of England during the first Anglo-Dutch war and received a gold medal and chain from Parliament for his service. He commanded the expedition to the West Indies where he was involved in a number of skirmishes, capturing Jamaica for Parliament in 1655. Despite this, he fell out of favour with Cromwell after backing the restoration of Charles II. He was among those sent to Holland to return the king to England. As Admiral and General at Sea for Parliament he helped to draw up the first code of tactics given to the English navy. An important source of Penn’s life is the diary of Samuel Pepys, who was Penn’s next-door neighbour. An oil on canvas portrait of Admiral Sir William Penn by Sir Peter Lely is in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (inv. no. BHC2946).