Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet

Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet (5 May 1644 – 4 January 1710) was an English landowner, entrepreneur, engineer, and politician who held the title of Commissioner for Assessment for Warwickshire, and served on the Warwickshire Commission of the Peace, as well as the Member of Parliament for Warwickshire for two separate terms. He also became well known for investing his estate’s wealth into expansions and mining ventures, and for large infrastructure projects.

Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet was the eighth child and third (but only surviving) son born to Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet (1602-1678) of Arbury Hall, Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, and his wife Juliana Leigh (1610-1685) sister of Sir Francis Leigh of Dunsmore (1595-1653). He was the grandson of Sir John Newdigate (1571-1610), and had five sisters, who he stayed on good terms with for his entire life. His first marriage was to Mary (1646-1692), the daughter of Sir Edward Bagot of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire (1616-1660), with whom he had seven surviving daughters and four sons. After relations with his family deteriorated in the final decade of his life, he married again to Henrietta (1685-1739), daughter of Thomas Wigginton (1644-1723) in 1704. There were no surviving children from this marriage. His son Sir Richard, 3rd Baronet was the father of Sir Roger Newdigate.

Newdigate was born on 5 May 1644. He was entered as a scholar at the age of ten at Gray’s Inn, as it was within walking distance of his childhood home at Holborn, and his father was appointed as a sergeant there. He learned basic knowledge in Latin and the basic tenets of the law. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at Christ Church College, Oxford, but did not take a degree. He would however maintain lasting links with the University, particularly through his communication with the Dean of Christ Church, John Fell (1625-1686).

Almost a year after his twenty-first birthday, his father passed on all of his Warwickshire lands to him and enabled him to live at the estate in Arbury, which allowed him to collect rents over much of his father's vast land holdings. After the family had settled at Arbury Hall, Newdigate began acting as a broker for Birmingham gunsmiths and drew up a proposal for a canal between the Severn and the Avon. He also undertook a makeover to his estate, adding on a private chapel, stables, and gardens. He was particularly confident in his love of mines and mining, and he strove to construct a waterway from Arbury to Nuneaton by pioneering the use of mining methods in modern construction, a project that was abandoned after his death.

...
Wikipedia