Richard Wingfield, 1st Viscount Powerscourt

Richard Wingfield, 1st Viscount Powerscourt PC (I) (19 August 1697 – 21 October 1751) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer.

Early life Powerscourt was the son of Edward Wingfield, MP for County Sligo, and his wife, Eleanor Gore, a daughter of Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet.

Career He sat in the Irish House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Boyle between 1727 and 1743. On 4 February 1743 he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Viscount Powerscourt, of Powerscourt in County Wicklow, and Baron Wingfield, of Wingfield in County Wexford, and he assumed his seat in the Irish House of Lords. In 1746 he was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.

Powerscourt was responsible for commissioning the German architect, Richard Cassels, to carry out extensive remodelling work on Powerscourt House between 1731 and 1741.

Personal life

On 30 August 1721 Anne Usher, a daughter of Christopher Usher, of Usher's Quay, Dublin.