Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet (20 December 1553 – 22 May 1632) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1624.
Erasmus' mother, Elizabeth Cope, was the daughter of Sir John Cope, from whose heirs the Drydens purchased the priory and village remnants of the Canons Ashby estate.
He was an uncle of female Puritan preacher Anne Hutchinson.
He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1571 aged 18. and was demy from 1571 to 1575 and fellow from 1575 to 1580, being awarded BA on 11 June 1577.
His youngest son Erasmus was the father of John Dryden, the first Poet Laureate.