Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney (5 February 1680 – March 1750), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1734.

He held no Office of State, nor any commercial directorship of significance,[2] but is remembered chiefly as the builder of the now long-demolished Palladian "princely mansion"[3] Wanstead House, one of the first in the style constructed in Britain.

[4] Richard Child was baptised at Wanstead Church of the Virgin Mary on 5 February 1680, the third son of the wealthy Sir Josiah Child (1630–1699) Governor of the East India Company, who had been created 1st Baronet of Wanstead in 1678, by his third wife Emma Barnard (died 16 October 1725), daughter of Sir Henry Barnard, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, Turkey merchant of London.

Richard then on 12 February 1700 petitioned Parliament for a bill, to vest certain lands in trustees, so that settlements made upon the marriage of his half-brother Josiah could be honoured.

Coming into full possession of it, Sir Richard Child, 3rd Baronet, commissioned in 1715 the Scottish architect Colen Campbell to build a palatial Palladian mansion to replace the former manor house.

By the time of its completion in 1722 Wanstead House had provided Child with a grand seat befitting his newly obtained status as Viscount Castlemaine, a creation of 1718.

Sir Richard Child stood unsuccessfully as a Tory candidate for Essex at the 1705 general election, with the backing of Henry Compton, Bishop of London.

During this session he acted as a teller for the minority in favour of an adjournment during the debate on the Whitchurch election, which had been fought by his wife's relative, Frederick Tylney.

He was a member of the October Club and in 1711 he was listed as one of the "Worthy Patriots" who had drawn attention to the mismanagement of the previous government.

[8] In June 1711 a rumour emerged that Child was about to purchase a peerage for £10,000 from the administration under Queen Anne, which prompted Thomas Viscount Windsor to complain: "that's beginning too soon to be like the Duchess of Marlborough, to do anything for money, making a man that's no gentleman a lord".

1. c. 13) authorising their descendants to bear both their surnames (Craven and Tylney)[12] — ultimately their marriage was without surviving issue.

The following pictures by him were some of the 16 by Nollekens included in the great sale by auction held at Wanstead House in 1822 shortly before its demolition (source: catalogue, with prices realised):[16] Other Nollekens paintings associated with Wanstead are: Earl Tylney and his wife Dorothy Glynne had seven children: On the Earl's death in March 1750, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son John, who had also adopted the surname Tylney, by private act of Parliament, the Younger Sons of the Duke of Rutland's Names Act 1734 (8 Geo.