Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe
Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe (
1680 -
November 22,
1758), was the son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe. Educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge, he was successively
Member of Parliament for St. Germans, Plympton 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
1743. Edgcumbe was a faithful follower of 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 was succeeded by his son, Richard (1716-1761).
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