MEREDITH, Richard (d. 1679), of Leeds Abbey, Kent.

Meredith came from an ancient Denbighshire family which developed far-flung interests and connections through commerce, marriage and public service. Our MP’s grandfather Sir William Meredith†, a Mercer and deputy-treasurer at wars who sat for Wootton Bassett in the 1593 Parliament, acquired an interest in Kent through a second marriage into the prominent Palmer family of Wingham.13Vis. Kent 1663, 114; HP Commons 1558-1603. Following his death in 1603 or early 1604, his widow remarried Sir John Vaughan†, later 1st earl of Carberry, while his infant son and heir William, our MP’s father, was left to the care of Sir Thomas Palmer† and other kin.14PROB11/105/119; HP Commons 1558-1603. Born about 1603, this William was admitted to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1619; married in November 1621 a daughter of Francis Barker, a London Vintner; and in 1622 was created a baronet, an honour which – especially given his age – presupposed substantial financial resources and illustrious connections.15Al. Cant.; St Olave, Hart Street, par. reg.; CB. The following year, his sister Anne became the wife of courtier Sir Francis Cottington†, later 1st Baron Cottington and lord treasurer, while before 1627 his sister Jane married Sir Peter Wyche, the diplomat and protégé of George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham.16‘Sir Francis Cottington’, ‘Sir Peter Wyche (d.1643)’, Oxford DNB. Notwithstanding this, and the fact he lived on until 1675, Sir William left remarkably little trace in the record; he was named as a commissioner of array in 1642, but does not appear to have been active in the service of either the king or Parliament during the civil wars.17Northants RO, FH133.

Richard Meredith matriculated from Queens’ College, Cambridge in 1647, and secured admission to Gray’s Inn in March 1649. Early in 1650 his elder brother William departed to be a merchant in Aleppo and Spain, while it was almost certainly this Richard Meredith who on 25 February 1651 was granted a pass to travel to the Low Countries with John Dingley (with whose family the Kent and Denbighshire Merediths had dealings) and James Master.18Soc. of Antiquaries, MS 203, f. 70; CSP Dom. 1651, p. 520; Kent RO, U274/T95. This would be inconsistent with his being the Richard Meredith employed as a messenger to the council of state in the early 1650s, involved in an unspecified controversy with other servants of the republic during 1651, and in dispute with Edward Dendy* over Irish lands in 1653.19CSP Dom. 1650, p. 468; 1651, pp. 42, 252, 264, 497; 1651-2, p. 30; 1652-3, p. 421; 1653-4, pp. 203, 211. The expedition to the Netherlands, on the other hand, would fit with our MP’s marriage, settled in October 1654 and effected in April 1655, to a daughter of Major-general Philip Skippon*, whose Dutch connections feature among the Cottington and Meredith papers.20Kent RO, U274/T89. The match, which yielded a portion of £4,000, may have owed more to commercial and religious links in London and abroad than to political affiliations. The role of Skippon, a Cromwellian councillor, in Meredith’s political career in the 1650s is hard to assess, but impossible to discount.

However, the wealth and status of Meredith’s family alone might account for his election to Parliament as a knight of the shire for Kent in 1656. There is no evidence that he received the backing of Major-general Thomas Kelsey*, and it is more likely that his return resulted from the attempt by local gentry to reassert their influence. Meredith had played no visible part in local affairs until that spring, when he was added to the commission of the peace.21C231/6, p. 328. Nor did he play any significant part in the proceedings of the assembly. He was named to no committees, and on the only occasion on which he is recorded as having risen to speak, he was interrupted by the Speaker’s having left the chair (31 Dec. 1656).22Burton’s Diary, i. 291.

Parliamentary seats were restored to their traditional distribution for the 1659 Parliament, and with only two knights of the shire Meredith was unable to secure re-election for the county. However, he obtained a place at Sandwich, alongside a local burgess, James Thurbarne*, being admitted as a freeman on 3 January 1659.23E. Kent RO, Sa/AC8, ff. 141v-42v. He does not seem to have been a candidate of the protectorate court since he defeated Colonel Nathaniel Rich*, who was doubtless promoted by the authorities at Dover.24E. Kent RO, Sa/AC8, ff. 141v-42v. Once again, Meredith played an insignificant part at Westminster, and the only impression which he made on the record of proceedings was to be granted leave to return to Kent on 16 April, shortly before the dissolution of Parliament.25CJ vii. 641a.

Meredith played a negligible part in political life after the Restoration, his public career outshone by that of his younger brother Roger, who became Gresham Professor of Law and secretary to the diplomat and statesmen, Sir William Temple†.26Al. Cant. This low profile probably reflected Meredith’s personal standing, rather than political views, and the fact that the family estate in Kent and Denbighshire, together with the baronetcy, came to him only after the death of his father in April 1675.27PROB11/347/496. He enjoyed it for just a few years before his own death in 1679. His son William inherited the baronetcy, although he too died shortly after inheriting the estate, in 1682.28PROB11/370/482. The title passed to a second son, Richard, who was a lunatic, leaving a third son, Thomas Meredith†, who represented Kent in 1701, in effective control of the state. The baronetcy later passed to fourth and fifth sons, the latter of whom, Sir Roger Meredith†, an East India merchant, represented Kent in 1727.29HP Commons 1690-1715; HP Commons, ii. 253.