[1] He was born in Dowth in County Meath, second son of Luke Netterville, judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.
Richard was one of three barristers chosen to go to London to protest against what the gentry argued would be the ruinous cost of the plans, the others being Henry Burnell and the former Attorney General for Ireland, Barnaby Skurloke.
[2] The Lord Deputy wrote to the Queen- Netterville is the younger son of a mean family and (his father) second justice of one of the benches, born to nothing and yet only by your Majesty's bounty liveth in better countenance than his father ever did or his elder brother doth; and notwithstanding that all he hath, he holdeth of your Highness in effect, he is (your sacred Majesty not offended with so bad a term as his lewdness deserveth) as seditious a varlet and as great an impugner of English Government as any this land beareth and calls for severe dealing with.
[2] The Queen, in the end, dealt leniently enough with the three lawyers: as opposition mounted to Sidney's plans, his position in the Irish government weakened accordingly.
[2] In the political troubles of the early 1580s, especially the rebellions of William Nugent and James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass, the Nettervilles were deeply involved, and two of Richard's brothers were killed fighting on the rebels' side.
Netterville's imprisonment and apology did not lessen his willingness to oppose the authority of the Lord Deputy, and he proceeded to clash with Sidney's successor Sir John Perrot.