Francis Richard Wegg-Prosser (19 June 1824 – 16 August 1911), born Francis Richard Haggitt, was a wealthy Englishman and Roman Catholic convert who established the Benedictine community which became Belmont Abbey and so played a significant role in the English Catholic Revival.
In 1849, he inherited the very substantial estates (estimated at over £250,000 - equivalent to around £10 million in 2005) of his great-uncle, Richard Prosser, Archdeacon of Durham.
[citation needed] In 1852 he converted to Roman Catholicism and was received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Grant of Southwark.
[citation needed] After providing facilities for Catholic worship in his neighbourhood, he built a church on his estate, which, by agreement with the Bishop of Newport and the superiors of the English Benedictine Congregation, became the pro-cathedral of the diocese.
On the adjoining land given by him, a monastery was built, to serve as the novitiate and house of studies of the congregation.