Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nugent, Richard (d.1460?)
NUGENT, Sir RICHARD, tenth Baron Delvin (d. 1460?), lord-deputy of Ireland, was eldest son of Sir William Nugent, who was sheriff of Meath in 1401 and 1402, and was much employed in Irish local government. Sir William was descended from Christopher Nugent of Balrath, third brother of Sir Gilbert de Nugent, who had accompanied Hugh de Lacy [q. v.] to Ireland in 1171. Sir Gilbert had received from de Lacy after 1172 the barony of Delvin; but, as Sir Gilbert's sons died before him, the barony devolved on his brother Richard, whose only child and heiress carried the title about 1180 to her husband, one John or FitzJohn. The marriage in 1407 of Sir William Nugent (father of the subject of this notice and the collateral descendant of Sir Gilbert, first lord of Delvin) to the sole heiress of John FitzJohn le Tuit, eighth baron Delvin since the creation of the title, restored that title to the Nugent family, and Sir William succeeded his father-in-law as ninth baron Delvin. But genealogists often regarded Sir William's peerage as a fresh creation, and described him as first baron of a new line. About 1415 Sir William died, and his son Richard thereupon became, according to the more commonly accepted enumeration, tenth Baron Delvin. In 1416 the tenth baron appended his signature to the memorial sent to Henry V by the leaders of the Anglo-Irish settlers, entreating the king to support with larger funds Sir John Talbot (afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury), the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, in his efforts to protect Ireland from rebellion and disease. The memorial is preserved among the Lansdowne manuscripts. Delvin was sheriff of Meath in 1424, and long distinguished himself as a leader in the wars against the native Irish. In 1422 he had a grant of 10l. a year from Henry VI for services performed during the reign of his predecessor; in 1427 a further grant of 20l. for the capture of O'Conor, who, with Hubert Tyrrell, had robbed and spoiled his majesty's subjects near Mullingar; and in 1428 he received an order, dated at Trim, to receive twenty marks out of the exchequer, as a recompense for ‘having impoverished his fortune in the king's wars.’ In 1444 he was appointed lord-deputy of Ireland under James, earl of Ormonde; and in 1449, previously to entering upon office in Ireland, Richard, duke of York, the new viceroy, again appointed the Baron of Delvin as his deputy. As deputy, he convened parliaments at Dublin and Drogheda in 1449. In 1452 he was appointed seneschal of Meath; he died before 1475. He married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Thomas Drake of Carlanstown, co. Meath, and had issue three sons. His eldest son, James, died before his father; James's son Christopher (d. 1493) became eleventh Baron Delvin, and father of Richard Nugent, twelfth baron Delvin [q. v.]
[Pedigree of the Nugent Family by D'Alton; Historical Sketch of the Nugent Family, 1853, printed by J. C. Lyons; Burke's Peerage; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, continued by Archdall, s.v. Westmeath, i. 215; Gilbert's History of the Viceroys of Ireland.]