- Roger Newdigate
Sir Roger Newdigate, 5th Baronet (30 May 1719 – 23 November 1806) was an English politician and collector of antiquities.
He was born in Arbury,
Warwickshire , the son ofSir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet (who died in 1727) and inherited the title 5thBaronet and the estates of Arbury and ofHarefield inMiddlesex on the early death of his brother in 1734. He was educated atWestminster School andUniversity College, Oxford , and contributed greatly to the university throughout the remainder of his life. He is most remembered as the founder of theNewdigate Prize in 1805 [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9098404/Newdigate-Prize Encyclopaedia Britannica, Newdigate Prize] ] and as a collector of antiques, a number of which he donated to the University. The prize forpoetry 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 the University of Oxford.He married, firstly Sophia Conyers in 1743, and secondly Hesther Margaret Munday in 1776. Both marriages were childless.
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 architectHenry Couchman .References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.