Sir Roger Newdigate, 5th Baronet (30 May 1719 – 23 November 1806) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1742 and 1780. He was a collector of antiquities.

Early life

Newdigate was born in

Arbury Arbury is a district and electoral ward of the city of Cambridge, England. The ward borders the following other wards (from North, proceeding clockwise): Histon, King's Hedges, West Chesterton, Market and Castle. History The area has been occu ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, the son of Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet (who died in 1727) and inherited the title 5th

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and the estates of

and of

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

on the early death of his brother in 1734. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

, where he matriculated in 1736, and graduated M.A. in 1738; he contributed greatly to the university throughout the remainder of his life. He is best 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 Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

helped make the names of many illustrious writers.

Political career

From 1742 until 1747, he served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

, and in 1751, he began a 30-year tenure as an MP for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

He lavished attention on the Elizabethan Arbury Hall which he rebuilt over a period of thirty years in splendid

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Renaissance style, engaging the services of the architect

Henry Couchman Henry Couchman (8 January 1737 – 21 January 1803) was an English architect and landscape gardener. He designed the Old Drapers' Hall, Coventry (demolished) and helped complete Arbury Hall, Warwickshire, for Sir Roger Newdigate, including des ...

Private life

He married, firstly Sophia Conyers in 1743, and secondly Hesther Margaret Munday in 1776. Both marriages were childless and on his death in 1806 the baronetcy became extinct. Arbury Hall and Harefield passed to Francis Parker (1774–1862) of Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, a distant cousin of the 5th Baronet, who then adopted the additional name of Newdigate. Francis Parker moved into Arbury Hall and married Lady Barbara Maria Legge, daughter of George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth, in 1820.

Legacy

Sir Roger was immortalised in fiction in

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...

's ''

Scenes of Clerical Life ''Scenes of Clerical Life'' is George Eliot's first published work of fiction, a collection of three short stories, published in book form; it was the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym. The stories were first publis ...

'', where he appears as Sir Christopher Cheverel in ''Mr Gilfil's Love Story''.Cooke, George Willis. ''George Eliot: A Critical Study of her Life, Writings and Philosophy''. Whitefish: Kessinger, 2004

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newdigate, Roger 1719 births 1806 deaths British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Newdigate, Roger, 5th Baronet Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Alumni of University College, Oxford People educated at Westminster School, London Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Oxford University