Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newcourt, Richard (d.1716)
NEWCOURT, RICHARD (d. 1716), author of ‘Repertorium Ecclesiasticum,’ was son of Richard Newcourt the elder [q. v.] He matriculated at Oxford as a servitor of Wadham College on 9 Dec. 1653, but did not graduate (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iii. 1060). He became a notary public and proctor-general of the court of arches, and from August 1669 until May 1696 was principal registrary of the diocese of London. A few years before his death he retired to East Greenwich, where he was buried on 26 Feb. 1715–16, having survived his wife Mary only a few days. By his will (54 Fox), proved on 6 March 1715–16, he left his property to his sister, Mary Spicer. Hearne (Notes and Collections, Oxford Hist. Soc., ii. 265) calls him ‘Thomas’ Newcourt, and adds that he was ‘a nonjuror and a man of true integrity.’
Newcourt compiled from the records in his keeping an invaluable work, entitled ‘Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense; an Ecclesiastical Parochial History of the Diocese of London,’ 2 vols. fol. London, 1708–10, to which is prefixed his portrait engraved by J. Sturt, presumably after the painting in possession of Lord Coleraine. A copy of this book, with corrections and additions by William Cole (1714–1782) [q. v.], is in the Guildhall Library, London. In Tanner MS. cxlii. 176, 179, 191, is Newcourt's ‘Report to the Commissioners appointed by the Bishop of London to visit the registries of the Consistory and Commissary,’ 1669, together with a letter from Thomas Povey on the subject, dated 26 May 1669.
[Gardiner's Registers of Wadham College, pt. i. p. 201; Newcourt's Preface to ‘Repertorium;’ Noble's Continuation of Granger's Biog. Hist. i. 267–8.]