SCUDAMORE, Richard Philip (1762-1831), of Kentchurch, Herefs. and Caroline Place, Regent's Park, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

1 May 1805 - 1818
21 Sept. 1819 - 1826

Family and Education

b. 30 June 1762, 2nd s. of John Scudamore I† (d. 1796) of Kentchurch and Sarah, da. and h. of Daniel Westcombe of Enfield, Mdx.; bro. of John Scudamore II†. educ. I. Temple 1778. unm. d. 5 Mar. 1831.

Offices Held

Capt. Wormelow and Greytree vols. 1803.

Biography

By the death in 1805 of his brother John, Scudamore became trustee to the Kentchurch estate during the minority of his nephew John Lucy Scudamore (1798-1875) and Member for Hereford, which his family had represented since 1764 on their own and the Whig 11th duke of Norfolk’s interest. Continuing the family tradition, he attended the House regularly, supported reform, retrenchment and Catholic relief and became a silent but uncompromising opponent of the Liverpool government. He was defeated by a Tory at Hereford in 1818 (at the first election following Norfolk’s death), but regained his seat at a by-election the following year.1 A ‘stand-off’ between the parties left him unopposed at the general election of 1820, when he confirmed his attachment to the Whig opposition and apologized for his recent absences from the House ‘through severe indisposition’.2

Until 1822, when his health deteriorated and Kentchurch went into receivership, leaving his finances in disarray, Scudamore, as a radical publication of 1825 noted, ‘attended frequently and voted with opposition’; he was fêted accordingly at the Hereford Whig dinner for Joseph Hume*, 7 Dec. 1821.3 He backed the 1820-1 parliamentary and extra-parliamentary campaigns on behalf of Queen Caroline and presented supportive addresses to her from Hereford.4 He divided unstintingly for retrenchment, paired for Catholic relief, 28 Feb. 1821, voted to permit Catholic peers to sit in the Lords, 30 Apr.,5 and divided for parliamentary independence, 31 May 1821, and reform, 25 Apr. 1822. Affected by litigation brought on following the death in 1820 of the lunatic dowager duchess of Norfolk, and by his nephew’s coming of age and marriage in October 1822 to the eldest daughter of Sir Harford Jones of Boultibrooke (who was confirmed as heir to Kentchurch in 1826 and took the name Brydges), Scudamore spent much of the next three years abroad.6 He remained entitled to £4,000 under his father’s settlement and £1,000 from his late mother, but he had unpaid debts of £3,200 and £300-400.7 Naming Edward Bolton Clive* of Whitfield as his political heir, he announced in December 1823 that he would retire at the dissolution.8 He divided for Catholic relief, 10 May 1825.

He died childless and unmarried at his London home in March 1831 worth £450-600, having bequeathed his entire estate to ‘Mary Webb, otherwise Prescott’, who resided with him and was required to repay his debts.9

Ref Volumes: 1820-1832

Author: Margaret Escott

Notes

  • 1. HP Commons, 1790-1820, ii. 197-9; iv. 116-17; Oxford DNB sub Scudamore fam. 1500-1820; Herefs. RO, Kentchuch Court mss AL40/2036-40.
  • 2. Hereford Jnl. 23 Feb., 15 Mar.; Herefs. RO AS53, E.B. Clive to S. Brooks, 17 Mar. 1820.
  • 3. Session of Parl. 1825, p. 484; Hereford Jnl. 12, 19 Dec. 1821.
  • 4. Hereford Jnl. 22 Nov.; The Times, 19 Dec. 1820, 30 Jan., 2 Mar. 1821.
  • 5. Seren Gomer, v (1822), 187.
  • 6. TNA C13/783/9; The Times, 7 Apr. 1824.
  • 7. Kentchurch Court mss 1906.
  • 8. Herefs. RO, Pateshall mss A95/V/EB/443.
  • 9. PROB 11/1783/181; IR26/1271/145.