Richard Edgcumbe (politician, around 1640)

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Sir Richard Edgcumbe FRS (* before February 13, 1640 , † before April 3, 1688 ) was an English nobleman and politician who was elected four 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 Piers Edgcumbe and his wife Mary Glanville and was baptized on February 13, 1640. During the English Civil War , his father supported the royalists until he had to surrender in 1645. The family therefore moved to the old Cotehele family home . In 1657 Edgcumbe studied at Christ Church College , Oxford . After the Stuart Restoration , he was made Knight of the Bath on the occasion of the coronation of Charles II on April 23, 1661 .

Political activity

In the general election in 1661, the young Edgcumbe was elected as a MP for the Borough of Launceston in 1661 . During the so-called Cavalier Parliament he hardly appeared and was usually a member of the court party that supported the government. After the death of his father in early 1667, he inherited his extensive estates and became one of the leading representatives of the gentry of south-west England. In addition, he took over several local offices, including from 1670 that of a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall . From 1674 he was Justice of the Peace for Devon , from 1675 for Cornwall. In 1677 the king and his entourage visited him at Mount Edgcumbe House , which he had moved back into after the death of his father. Edgcumbe had probably already gone from being a supporter to being an opponent of the government, but he was absent from votes several times. In the general election in March 1679 he was elected Knight of the Shire for Cornwall and now supported the government under Shaftesbury again . In the elections in October 1679 and 1681 he was confirmed as Knight of the Shire without being particularly active politically. The government thanked his support by granting privileges, approving the expansion of the port of Stonehouse not far from Mount Edgcumbe and other rights. In the general election in 1685 Edgcumbe did not run again as a candidate due to his gout disease . After leaving the House of Commons, he turned down the Catholic King James II and supported John Carew, 3rd Baronet , when the latter refused to repeal the test file. Before he could be removed from office by the government, he died. He was buried in Maker's Church on April 3, 1688 .

Others

On November 30, 1676, Edgcumbe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . In Mount Edgcumbe he had, among other things, the entrance area of ​​the manor house and the garden redesigned.

Family and offspring

Edgcumbe had married on January 5, 1671 Lady Anne Montagu († 1729), a daughter of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich and his wife Jemima Crewe . She brought a handsome dowry of £ 5,000 into the marriage. With her he had three sons and six daughters, including:

His widow married her cousin Christopher Montagu in 1694 . His heir was first his son Piers, after his untimely death his youngest surviving son Richard.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 - 2007. (PDF) Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003, p. 18
  3. ^ History of Parliament Online: MONTAGU, Christopher (c.1655-1735), of St. Anne's, Westminster and the Middle Temple, London. Retrieved August 30, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Edgcumbe, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Edgcumbe, Sir Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: baptized February 13, 1640
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: buried April 3, 1688