Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe

The 1st Baron Edgcumbe.

Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, PC (23 April 1680 – 22 November 1758) was an English politician.

He was the son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Earl of Sandwich. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was successively Member of Parliament for St Germans, Plympton Erle and Lostwithiel from 1701 to 1742.

On two occasions he 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, which took place in 1742, was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole's expenditure of the secret service money.

He had 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.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Parliament of England
Preceded by Hugh Boscawen John Speccot	Member of Parliament for Cornwall with John Speccot 1701	Succeeded by John Granville James Buller
Preceded by Henry Fleming Daniel Eliot	Member of Parliament for St Germans with Henry Fleming 1701–1702	Succeeded by Henry Fleming John Anstis
Preceded by Courtenay Croker Richard Hele	Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with Thomas Jervoise 1702–1703 Richard Hele 1703–1705 Sir John Cope, Bt 1705–1707 1702–1707	Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Parliament of England	Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with Sir John Cope, Bt 1707–1708 George Treby 1708–1728 John Fuller 1728–1734 1707–1734	Succeeded by Thomas Clutterbuck
Preceded by Anthony Cracherode Edward Walpole	Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel with Philip Lloyd 1734–1735 The Lord Ducie 1735–1736 Sir John Crosse, Bt 1736–1741 1734–1741	Succeeded by Sir John Crosse, Bt Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bt
Preceded by Thomas Clutterbuck Thomas Walker	Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with Thomas Clutterbuck 1741–1742	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