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

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 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. 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 Hereford Jnl. 23 Feb., 15 Mar.; Herefs. RO AS53, E.B. Clive to S. Brooks, 17 Mar. 1820.

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 Session of Parl. 1825, p. 484; Hereford Jnl. 12, 19 Dec. 1821. He backed the 1820-1 parliamentary and extra-parliamentary campaigns on behalf of Queen Caroline and presented supportive addresses to her from Hereford.4 Hereford Jnl. 22 Nov.; The Times, 19 Dec. 1820, 30 Jan., 2 Mar. 1821. 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 Seren Gomer, v (1822), 187. 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 TNA C13/783/9; The Times, 7 Apr. 1824. 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 Kentchurch Court mss 1906. Naming Edward Bolton Clive* of Whitfield as his political heir, he announced in December 1823 that he would retire at the dissolution.8 Herefs. RO, Pateshall mss A95/V/EB/443. 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 PROB 11/1783/181; IR26/1271/145.