Introduction
Richard Baldwin, D.D. (c. 1672 – 1758) was Provost of Trinity College Dublin.
Biography
Baldwin first became connected with TCD by obtaining a scholarship in 1686. He was afterwards made a Fellow, and on 24 June 1717 was appointed Provost. On his death, 30 Sept. 1758, he bequeathed his fortune of 80,000l. to TCD. The will was disputed by certain persons in England who claimed to be his relatives ; but after sixty-two years' litigation the case was in 1820 decided in favour of TCD. His associates knew nothing of his nativity or parentage; but the claimants asserted that he was the son of James Baldwin, of Parkhill, near Colne, and that he was born in 1672 and educated at Kilkenny College. A suggestion has also been made that he owed his promotion to the Provostship to his relationship to someone of high influence. There is a marble monument to his memory in the Examination Hall, sculpted by Christopher Hewetson.