Richard Hurd (1720-1808) was born in Staffordshire and educated at Brewood School and Emmanuel College Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1742, held a curacy in Norfolk for a short while and returned to Emmanuel as a Fellow in 1743. In 1749 he met William Warburton (1698-1779) who encouraged him to pursue a clerical career. He was Rector of Thurcaston, Leicestershire, from 1756-1774, Bishop of Lichfield from 1774-1781 and Bishop of Worcester from 1781 until his death in 1808. He had two residences at the Palace in Worcester and the castle in the village of Hartlebury some ten miles away, where he spent the chief of his time, accompanied by his nephew Richard, who became Diocesan Registrar in 1783 and also acted as his uncle's secretary. Having a large collection of books of his own and having recently purchased those of William Warburton Hurd had to build a library at the castle to accommodate them. The Hurd Library was built in 1782 and the books have remained there ever since.
From the guide to the The papers of Richard Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, (1720-1808) and of his nephew Richard Hurd jr (1750-1827), 1677-1820, (The Hurd Library)
