Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Bt.

Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet (29 April 1668 – 22 July 1727) was an English landowner.

Early life Newdigate was born on 29 April 1668. He was the eldest of two sons and seven daughters born to Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet and Mary Bagot. His father, a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, served as MP for Warwickshire.

His paternal grandparents were Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet and Juliana Leigh (daughter of Sir Francis Leigh of King's Newnham).

Career

Upon the death of his father on 4 January 1710, with whom he was said to have a terrible relationship (his father described him in his will as "my most inveterate and implacable enemy"), he succeeded as the 3rd Baronet Newdigate, of Arbury. He inherited the estates of Arbury and of Harefield in Middlesex together all of his father's considerable debts. Coal was found on the Arbury estate in the early 1700s and he introduced Newcomen atmospheric engines in 1716.

In 1712 he was appointed a trustee of Rugby School. Together, they were the parents of at least eleven children, including:

Elizabeth Newdigate (1703–1769), who married Hon. John Chichester, second son of Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall and Lady Catherine Forbes (a daughter of the 1st Earl of Granard), in 1726. Richard Newdigate (1705–1706), who died young. John Newdigate (1707–1709), who died young. Juliana Newdigate (1711–1780), who married John Bracebridge Ludford of Ansley Hall, in 1733. Sir Edward Newdigate, 4th Baronet (1716–1732), who was educated at Westminster School and University College, Oxford before his unexpected death.

Sir Richard died at Arbury on 22 July 1727 and was buried at St Mary the Virgin Church, Harefield, of which his family was patron. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Edward.