Richard Lumley 1686-1740

Richard LUMLEY, 2nd Earl of Scarbrough 1686-1740

Biographical Note

Son of Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, politician and soldier, from whom he inherited the title and family estates in 1721. Matriculated at King's College, Cambridge 1703, after which he travelled in Europe; he was given the LL.D. degree by the University of Cambridge in 1728. MP for East Grinstead 1708-10, for Arundel 1710-15, after which he entered the House of Lords as Baron Lumley. He held various court appointments and also followed a military career, being commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel in 1712 and rising to be a lieutenant-general in 1739, the year in which he became one of the founding members of the Foundling Hospital. He committed suicide in 1740.

Books

Lumley used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 18901). The extent and disposition of his library is not known; the earldom was inherited by his brother Thomas.

Sources

• History of Parliament.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.