This MP’s family took its name from the manor of Newdigate, where his ancestors are known to have lived from the early 13th century, if not before, gradually consolidating their estates in the area. His father, William, played a prominent part in local government: he represented Surrey in at least four Parliaments, served as a j.p., sheriff and royal commissioner, and towards the end of his career, in 1373, he was made steward of the King’s manor of Banstead (Surrey).
Although not as distinguished as his father, Newdigate served on at least one royal commission, and entered Parliament when a member of the local bench—even though his executors subsequently alleged that the letters of appointment had never reached him. Little evidence has survived to illuminate his more personal affairs. In March 1382 he witnessed a deed for Richard, Lord Poynings, who at some unknown date made him a feoffee-to-uses of his manor of Ifield. Ownership of land in this part of Sussex probably accounts for the connexion between the two men, which does not otherwise appear to have been very close. The year 1382 also saw the grant by Newdigate and Laurentia atte Wood (the mother of Hugh Quecche) of rents worth £6 14s. a year to the priory of Newark by Guildford. The money, which had previously been paid to the neighbouring priory of Stoke, was intended for the foundation of a chantry dedicated to the King, Bishop Wykeham of Winchester and various members of the atte Wood family, so it may well be that Newdigate was acting as an executor of Laurentia’s second husband, Peter. Three years later, in August 1385, the MP conveyed his Somerset estates to a group of London grocers who were perhaps purchasers of the property rather than feoffees-to-uses.