Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe (1680 - November 22, 1758), was the son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was successively Member of Parliament for St. Germans , Plympton and Lostwithiel from 1701 to 1742; on two occasions he served as a lord of the treasury; and from 1724 to 1742 he was Paymaster-General for Ireland, becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1743. Edgcumbe was a faithful follower of Sir Robert Walpole, in whose interests he managed the elections for the Cornish boroughs, and his elevation to the peerage, which took place in 1742, was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole's expenditure of the secret service money. He was succeeded by his son, Richard (1716-1761).