Richard Edgcumbe, 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

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

References

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. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |voume= ignored (help)
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
Vacant Title last held by The Earl of Radnor	Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall 1742–1758	Succeeded by The Lord Edgcumbe
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

External links

http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.php?aid=233&ctid=1&cid=17

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[1] "Edgcumbe, Richard (EGCM697R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[HOP-2] "EDGCUMBE, Richard (1680-1758), of Mount Edgcumbe, Maker and Cothele, Cornw". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 23 August 2018.

[HOP2-3] "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.

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