Richard Arundell

The Honourable Richard Arundell (c. 1696 – 20 January 1758) was an English courtier, administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1720 to 1758.

Biography

Arundell was the second son of John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Trerice and his second wife Barbara, the widow of Sir Richard Mauleverer, 4th Baronet, of Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire. He succeeded his mother to Allerton Mauleverer in 1721.

Arundell was a page to Queen Anne from 1707 to 1714. With the patronage of his friend the Earl of Burlington he was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for Knaresborough at a by-election on 16 April 1720. He retained the seat unopposed until his death in 1758. In 1726 he was appointed Surveyor of the King's Works by Sir Robert Walpole, holding the post until 1737, when he accepted the more lucrative post of Master of the Mint (until 1744). He was also Surveyor of the King's Private Roads from 1731 to 1744.

Arundell died childless on 20 January 1758. He had married Lady Frances Manners, the daughter of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland in August 1732.