Richard Edgcumbe (politician, before 1570)

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Sir Richard Edgcumbe (also Edgecombe ) (* between 1564 and 1570; † March 22 or 23, 1639 ) was an English nobleman and politician who was elected six times as a member of the House of Commons .

Origin and youth

Richard Edgcumbe came from the Edgcumbe family . He was the eldest son of Peter Edgcumbe and his wife Margaret Luttrell. In 1585 he studied at the Middle Temple in London.

Early political activity

In the general election in 1586, the young Edgcumbe was elected as a member of the Borough of Liskeard in Cornwall , where his father held the position of steward . In the next election in 1589 Edgcumbe ran successfully for the Borough of Totnes in Devon . Although his father had already sold his last rights to the borough in 1578, he apparently still had political influence there. In the election of 1593 Edgcumbe was elected MP for the Borough Grampound in Cornwall, near a family estate. However, almost nothing is known about his activities in the House of Commons.

Restrictions due to the family's tight financial situation

While his father was still alive, the young Edgcumbe invested, as his father did, in ore mines in south-west England and in the Mines Royal Company . But even his investments were unsuccessful, so that by 1602 the family was heavily indebted to over £ 4,400. Probably to improve his financial situation, Edgcumbe married Anne Carey , who was described as unattractive, but who brought a dowry of £ 2000 into the marriage. Probably because of the tight financial situation of the family, Edgcumbe did not run again in the next general election. On the occasion of the coronation of James I , however, he was knighted on July 23, 1603, and from 1605 he held various local offices in south-west England. After the death of his father in early 1608, he became his heir. After the death of his first wife, he married a London merchant's daughter in 1608 or 1609, but his financial situation remained tense. When the young Prince Henry held the office of sheriff of Cornwall from 1610 to 1611, he served as its under-sheriff , which is why he had to live in Cornwall. Otherwise, however, he often lived with relatives near London, apparently to save money. Until the late 1610s he had legal disputes with his creditors, so that in 1613 he even considered leasing his properties in south-west England and moving entirely to his wife's family in London.

Renewed political activity in Cornwall

However, Edgcumbe quickly rejected his plans to move entirely away from south-west England. Instead, he renewed his political activity in Cornwall when he ran successfully for the Borough of Bodmin after 21 years of absence from the House of Commons in the general election in 1614 . There his brother-in-law Edmund Prideaux was rector , which may have favored his candidacy. Again, there is little information about his work in the House of Commons. However, when a rumor arose about upcoming elections in 1616, Edgcumbe tried to secure a candidacy in Totnes again. However, this rumor turned out to be false. Edgcumbe had now moved back to Mount Edgcumbe House in Cornwall. His financial situation had improved further, so that in 1620 he was able to invest in the New England Company . He was probably influenced by Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the governor of the nearby Mount Edgcumbe House fortress of Plymouth . Gorges was a leading member of society, and Edgcumbe had worked with him on several occasions on local issues. Several years later, in 1637, Edgcumbe von Gorges acquired claims to approximately 40 km 2 of land in Maine , North America , which he did not pursue.

Involved in power struggles in Cornwall

Edgcumbe was Justice of the Peace in Cornwall and Devon from 1617, and before 1623 he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall. Now he was considered one of the leading members of the Gentry of Cornwall, so that he was able to run again successfully as a member of Parliament for Grampound in the general election of 1624. In doing so, however, he came into conflict with the powerful Duke of Buckingham , whose candidate John Mohun had also been elected as a member of Parliament for Grampound. In the general election in 1625, Edgcumbe applied for reimbursement of his costs after his election victory on May 7, but a little later Sir Samuel Rolle , a relative of Mohun, was named as MP instead . However, the exact circumstances of this apparent electoral fraud are not known. In January 1626 Edgcumbe was seriously ill and a little later lost his post as justice of the peace in Devon, as his property there was allegedly too small. In 1629, however, he was reinstated as justice of the peace.

Conflicts with John Eliot and others

In the late 1620s, a conflict arose in Cornwall between supporters of John Mohun and Sir James Bragg , who supported the Duke of Buckingham's policies, and a group led by William Coryton and Sir John Eliot , Buckingham's leading opponents. Edgcumbe apparently supported Mohun's group after he failed to prevail against Coryton and Eliot in the 1628 Knight of the Shire elections . Instead, Edgcumbe ran successfully for Borough Bossiney with the help of the Prideaux family, who are related to him . Whether Edgcumbe actually supported Mohun and Buckingham’s politics remains open. Although he accepted Buckingham's demands for a general tax, he remained rather an outsider in the group around Mohun, which was dominated by his relatives and friends. Possibly his main motive was the opposition to Eliot, who lived in Port Eliot not far from Mount Edgcumbe. Edgcumbe was on a committee that was supposed to review Eliot's election, but he also distanced himself from Mohun's actions. A side effect of the dispute over the validity of the 1628 elections in Cornwall was that the election was also reviewed in Borough Newport and Edgcumbe's son Piers was confirmed as MP. After that, Edgcumbe was only little politically active, but he led bitter trials against Eliot, even when Eliot was already imprisoned in the Tower of London . With Sir Reginald Mohun and other supporters of John Mohun, however, he also had a dispute over reforming the militia , which is why he had to answer to the Privy Council in 1630 . There he was able to justify himself successfully.

Last years and death

In his final years Edgcumbe was careful to maintain his social status. To this end, he continued to strive to improve the management of his estates. After initially leaving the loss-making stake in the Mines Royal Company to his brother, in 1630 he hired the London lawyer Christopher Earle to safeguard his claims. In 1636 he gave his eldest son Piers the rights to most of his property, and in 1638 a smaller part to his younger son Richard. In his will of September 29, 1638 Edgcumbe could only regulate personal matters, consider his servants and make small donations for the benefit of the poor.

After his death he was buried in Maker's church.

family

Edgcumbe's first marriage was in 1602, when she married Anne Carey , a daughter of Sir George Carey from Cockington , Devon. The marriage remained childless. After her death he married Mary Cotteel , a daughter of the London merchant Sir Thomas Coteel , in 1608 or 1609 . With her he had three sons, including:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 121.
personal data
SURNAME Edgcumbe, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Edgcumbe, Sir Richard; Edgecombe, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH between 1564 and 1570
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1639 or March 23, 1639