Newdigate, Roger
| Name |
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| born on | 20 May 1719 Jul.Cal. (31 May 1719 greg.) at 01:50 (= 01:50 AM ) | ||||
| Place | Nuneaton, England, 52n32, 1w28 | ||||
| Timezone | LMT m1w28 (is local mean time) | ||||
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| Astrology data |   08°54'   07°20 Asc. 13°34'
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Biography
English politician and collector of antiquities.
He was the son of Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet (who died in 1727) and inherited the title 5th Baronet and the estates of Arbury and of Harefield in Middlesex on the early death of his brother in 1734. He was educated at Westminster School and University College, Oxford, and contributed greatly to the university throughout the remainder of his life. He is most remembered as the founder of the Newdigate Prize on his death and as a collector of antiques, a number of which he donated to the University. The prize for poetry helped make the names of many illustrious writers.
From 1742 until 1747, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesex, and in 1751, he began a 30-year tenure as an MP for Oxford University. He lavished attention on the Elizabethan Arbury Hall which he rebuilt over a period of thirty years in splendid Gothic Renaissance style, engaging the services of the architect Henry Couchman. He is immortalised in fiction in George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life, where he appears as Sir Christopher Cheverel in Mr Gilfil's Love Story.
He married, firstly Sophia Conyers in 1743, and secondly Hesther Margaret Munday in 1776. Both marriages were childless. He died on 23 November 1806.
Events
Source Notes
Sy Scholfield quotes time from family bible transcribed in "Family Genealogica" by F. A. Crisp, Vol. XII (1889), p. 19: "Roger 7 son of Ri: & Eliz: Newdigate was born at Arbury abt 10 minutes before 2 i'th morning, christened 23." Date and place from "The House of Commons, 1715-1754: Members E-Y" by Romney Sedgwick (Published for the History of Parliament Trust, by Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 292: "b. 20 May 1719, 7th s. of Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Bt., by his 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir Roger Twisden, 2nd Bt., M.P., of Bradbourne, Kent." This date would be Old Style (he was christened on the 23rd). Other references give 30 or 31 May 1719. 20/5/1719 [OS] = 31/5/1719 [NS].
Categories
- Vocation : Politics : Public office (Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesex)
