Richard Newport (died 1570)
Sir Richard Newport (by 1511–12 September 1570) was an English landowner and politician of Shropshire origin, prominent regionally during the mid-Tudor and early Elizabethan periods .
[3] Anne Corbet's brothers, Roger,[7] Richard[8] and Reginald,[9] were all major landowners with numerous connections at court and, at various times, MPs.
[11] Bromley had profited greatly both from his legal practice and from property speculation in partnership with the immensely rich merchant Sir Rowland Hill, the first known Protestant to become Lord Mayor of London.
This added access to the highest circles of government to Newport's power base among the local gentry – a factor confirmed by his own father being pricked as High Sheriff of Shropshire for 1549-50.
Richard Newport was elected to represent Shropshire in the House of Commons of England in 1547, taking the second seat, after Sir George Blount.
Although a large landowner, Thomas had been forced to set aside two thirds of his valuable estate at Bickmarsh, then in Warwickshire, in trust to yield funds for the marriage of Richard's sisters, Ursula and Katherine – a process expected to take about ten years.
Although a considerable part of his wealth was potential rather than actual, Richard Newport was made sheriff of his native county immediately after inheriting.
One clue to Newport's probably evolving beliefs is that he owned a copy of Edward Hall's chronicle[3] of the Wars of the Roses and early Tudor period, entitled The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke.
[16] Hall supported the breach with the Papacy and placed great emphasis on submission to royal power, which seems to accord with Newport's own inclinations.
Only occasionally, however, did he express his Protestant loyalties explicitly, as in a passage dealing with the death of William Tyndale in which he wrote with approval of the role of Martin Luther.
His father-in-law, Chief Justice Bromley, had died in 1555, giving Newport some access to his great wealth, so he was now one of the richest and most influential men in the county.
Sir Thomas Botelar or Butler, the vicar of Much Wenlock, recorded in his parish register: Having compelled the congregation to offer distinctively Catholic prayers for the Protestant queen, Newport then went out into the market square and ordered Elizabeth's accession to be proclaimed again.
He was knighted by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk on 21 July at Berwick-upon-Tweed, as the army returned, after the Treaty of Edinburgh secured an end to French intervention in Scotland.
He was forced to assign a large part of his High Ercall estate to this purpose for eight years, charging Margaret Bromley with managing the lands appropriately.
He was given a large altar tomb, on the south side of the chancel, with brilliantly coloured effigies of himself, in full Elizabethan armour, and his wife, Margaret.
[30] Newport's marriage to Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Bromley of Eyton on Severn, Wroxeter, and Shrewsbury, produced at least the eight children who are depicted on their tomb.
[18] Richard Newport had also bought for her land at Cound and Cressage for her from Sir John Lyttelton[27] She died in 1598 and it was only at this point that her large estates were formally handed over to her son, Francis.
