The Dryden baronetcy, of Canons Ashby in the County of Northampton, was created in the Baronetage of England on 16 November 1619 for Erasmus Dryden. He was in the Fleet Prison in 1605, after signing a pro-Puritan petition of Sir Francis Hastings. He was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1598 and 1619, and subsequently Member of Parliament for Banbury in 1624.
The 2nd Baronet represented Northamptonshire in the Long Parliament. The title became extinct on the death of the 7th Baronet in 1770.
The poet John Dryden was the grandson of the 1st Baronet, and father of the 5th Baronet who became a Dominican priest.