Roger Newdigate
Sir Roger Newdigate, 5th Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1742 and 1780. He was a collector of antiquities.
Early life
Newdigate was born in Arbury, Warwickshire, the son of Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet 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, 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 helped make the names of many illustrious writers.Political career
From 1742 until 1747, he served as Member of Parliament for Middlesex, and in 1751, he began a 30-year tenure as an MP for Oxford University.In 1759 he was commissioned as Major of the Warwickshire Militia and served with the regiment during its embodiment for home defence during the Seven Years' War, keeping a diary of his service.
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.