Richard Benyon of Madras

Richard Benyon (1698–1774) was a British merchant and colonial administrator who served as the President of Madras from 23 January 1735 to 14 January 1744.

Early career

Benyon first arrived in Madras as a writer in 1710. In 1718, he was nominated to the council of Fort St. George and served till 1725, when he resigned and returned to England. During the second invasion, the Maratha army under Raghoji Bhonsle invaded Trichinopoly, where the Carnatic general Chanda Sahib had set up his stronghold, while another occupied Fort St David, Porto-Novo and Sadras.

After his return to England, Benyon lived at Gidea Hall in Essex and Englefield House in Berkshire and married his third wife, Mary Tyssen, daughter of Rachel De Beauvoir and Francis Tyssen of Hackney, and the widow of Powlett Wright. He was the father with her of Richard Benyon, the Peterborough MP, and grandfather of Richard Benyon De Beauvoir, the philanthropist.

He died in 1774. There is a monument to him in St Margaret's Church, Margaretting, Essex.