Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe PC (2 August 1716 – 10 May 1761) was a British nobleman and politician.

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe
Richard, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe, by Joshua Reynolds
Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
In office 1759-1761
Comptroller of the Household
In office 1756-1761
Member of Parliament for Penryn
In office 1754-1758
Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel
In office 1747-1754
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle
In office 1742-1747
Personal details
Born	(1716-08-02)2 August 1716
Died	10 May 1761(1761-05-10) (aged 44)
Parent	Richard Edgcumbe (father)
Relatives	George Edgcumbe (brother) Richard Edgcumbe (nephew)

Arms of Edgcumbe, Earls of Mount Edgcumbe: Gules, on a bend ermines cotised or three boar's heads couped argent

Biography

The eldest surviving son of Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe and his wife Matilda Furnese, he was educated at Eton from 1725 to 1732. Through his father's interest in Devon and Cornwall, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle at a by-election in 1742 as a Government supporter.^[1]

Edgcumbe was a heavy gambler, losing "daily twenty guineas" at White's. He was given a secret service pension of £500 a year by Henry Pelham to provide for him. Meanwhile, he was made a capital burgess of Lostwithiel in 1743 and served as mayor the next year. He switched his seat to Lostwithiel in 1747. Dissatisfied with subsisting on Government charity, he unsuccessfully made an application to Pelham for employment, rather than a pension, in 1752. He was eventually made a Lord of Trade in 1754, when he was returned for Penryn and the next year, a Lord of the Admiralty instead, serving for a year. In 1756, he was appointed Comptroller of the Household and was again mayor of Lostwithiel, being appointed to the Privy Council on 19 November. Succeeding his father in 1758, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall in 1759 and recorder of Plympton Erle. He died childless in 1761 and was succeeded by his brother.^[1]