Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe

The 1st Baron Edgcumbe.
Arms of Edgcumbe, Earls of Mount Edgcumbe: Gules, on a bend ermines cotised or three boar's heads couped argent

Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, PC (23 April 1680  22 November 1758) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1701 until 1742 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Edgcumbe.

Life

Edgcumbe was the son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Earl of Sandwich. He was admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1697.[1]

In June 1701 Edgcumbe was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for Cornwall at a by-election but never took his seat as Parliament had been prorogued. At the general election later that year he was returned unopposed as MP for St Germans. He was elected MP for Plympton Erle in 1702 and remained the MP there through successive general elections until 1734. In that year he was returned as MP for Plympton Erle and Lostwithiel and chose to sit for Lostwithiel. He was elected again for Plympton Erle at the 1741 general election until he was raised to the peerage in 1742.[2] [3]

On two occasions Edgcumbe served as a lord of the treasury; and from 1724 to 1742 he was Paymaster-General for Ireland, becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in December 1742. Edgcumbe was a faithful follower of the Whig Sir Robert Walpole, in whose interests he managed the elections for the Cornish boroughs, and his elevation to the peerage was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole's expenditure of the secret service money.[3]

Edgcumbe married Matilda Furnese, the daughter of Sir Henry Furnese of Waldershare in Kent who died in 1721. They had four children of whom the eldest son died young. Richard was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Richard (1716–1761) and after the latter's death, by his second surviving son George.

Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe is the namesake of Edgecombe County, North Carolina.[4]

Notes

  1. "Edgcumbe, Richard (EGCM697R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. "EDGCUMBE, Richard (1680-1758), of Mount Edgcumbe, Maker and Cothele, Cornw". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 "EDGCUMBE, Richard (1680-1758), of Mount Edgcumbe, nr. Plymouth, Devon". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  4. Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. p. 114.

References

  • Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Edgecumbe". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  •  "Edgcumbe, Richard (1680-1758)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  • Baker, Anne Pimlott. "Edgcumbe, Richard, second earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1764–1839)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8474. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Hugh Boscawen
John Speccot
Member of Parliament for Cornwall
1701
With: John Speccot
Succeeded by
John Granville
James Buller
Preceded by
Henry Fleming
Daniel Eliot
Member of Parliament for St Germans
1701–1702
With: Henry Fleming
Succeeded by
Henry Fleming
John Anstis
Preceded by
Courtenay Croker
Richard Hele
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle
1702–1707
With: Thomas Jervoise 1702–1703
Richard Hele 1703–1705
Sir John Cope 1705–1707
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Parliament of England
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle
1707–1734
With: Sir John Cope 1707–1708
George Treby 1708–1728
John Fuller 1728–1734
Succeeded by
Thomas Clutterbuck
Preceded by
Anthony Cracherode
Edward Walpole
Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel
1734–1741
With: Philip Lloyd 1734–1735
The Lord Ducie 1735–1736
Sir John Crosse, Bt 1736–1741
Succeeded by
Sir John Crosse, Bt
Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bt
Preceded by
Thomas Clutterbuck
Thomas Walker
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle
1741–1742
With: Thomas Clutterbuck
Succeeded by
Thomas Clutterbuck
The Lord Sundon
Honorary titles
Vacant
Title last held by
The Earl of Radnor
Custos Rotulorum of Cornwall
1726–1758
Succeeded by
The Lord Edgcumbe
Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
1742–1758
Court offices
Preceded by
The Viscount Falmouth
Lord Warden of the Stannaries
1734–1737
Vacant
Title next held by
Thomas Pitt
Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Cholmondeley
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1743–1758
Succeeded by
The Earl of Kinnoull
Legal offices
Preceded by
The Duke of Somerset
Justice in Eyre
north of the Trent

1758
Succeeded by
The Lord Sandys
Peerage of Great Britain
New title Baron Edgcumbe
1742–1758
Succeeded by
Richard Edgcumbe


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