Tomb monument to Sir Richard Newport (d. 1570) and his wife, daughter of the Lord Chief Justice, in St Andrew's church, Wroxeter. The tomb has a chain of mourners to the sides, with spiral-fluted corner piers, and two recumbent alabaster effigies.
"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 .
He was eldest son of Thomas Newport of High Ercall, Shropshire, and Anne Corbet (the daughter of Sir Robert Corbet of Moreton Corbet and his wife, Elizabeth Vernon).
Newport was admitted to the Inner Temple by its ruling parliament on 7 May 1525. The date of Newport's admission to the Inner Temple is the main guide to his date of birth. The parliament noted that he had paid a fine of 26s 8d or two marks to be excused holding any office at his Inn or having to attend during the vacations, these being the vacation periods at the law courts, when important academic lectures and discussions were scheduled for the students. This suggests that his legal education was never intended to be at a professional level, but simply the rudiments useful to a future landowner and local politician. Nevertheless, it was an important source of contacts: Newport was to have close social and political links with other Inner Templars throughout his career.
Richard Newport began to make his mark politically even before he succeeded to the family estates. Some time in the 1540s he married Margaret Bromley, the daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley, a prominent member of the Inner Temple and a Justice of the King's Bench, later Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. 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. The pair had invested heavily in lands made available by the dissolution of the monasteries, especially the large estates of Shrewsbury Abbey. As Margaret was the only child and heir to Bromley's fortune, Newport had expectation of gaining lands across five counties to add to his patrimony.
Henry VIII trusted Bromley, making him an executor of his will. On the king's death in 1547, Thomas Bromley became a member of the regency council of the boy successor, Edward VI, although he kept his distance from the political in-fighting within the council. 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.
Newport made his will on 11 September 1570 and died the following day. Shrewsbury's chronicle, giving a different date, reported:
This yeare and the xviijth of September 1570 one Syr Rychard Newport a valiant knyght of Shropshire and of a pryncely personage dysceassyd for whose deathe there was mutche mone made in Shrosberye.
Newport's will begins with an exemplary Protestant declaration of faith:
First and principally, I yield up my soul into the merciful hands of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, believing assuredly to be saved only through God’s mercy purchased for me by the death and bloodshedding of Jesus Christ, God and man, my only Saviour and Redeemer, & by no other means.
Newport named his widow and eldest son, Francis as executors, while George and Thomas Bromley, described as cousins, were made supervisors. Margaret Bromley was given considerable responsibility in meeting Newport's obligations to his children as, despite his great wealth, he did not have the spare money to meet the full costs of the daughter's marriages or the sons' educations. 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 anxious that his daughters, Isabel and Elizabeth, already married, should have their marriage money available as soon as their fathers-in-law had arranged their jointures. He was very generous to all his servants, ordering that all should receive a whole year's pay in addition to any outstanding from the current year. Some were given considerably more, including Jockey, a servant who had returned with him from the Scottish campaign, who was to receive £13 6s. 8d., and Margaret Gibbons, his maid, who was allotted £6 13s. 4d. Cash sums were given to his brothers, brothers-in-law and sons. George Bromley was given first choice of his geldings and William Gratwood, who had married his daughter Mary, was to take the best of the remainder.
Newport asked to be buried in the parish church at Wroxeter, near the tomb of his wife's parents. This request was met. 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."
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