Meredith (Meredyth), Richard (c.1550–1597), Church of Ireland bishop of Leighlin and dean of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, was the son of Richard (or Robert) Meredith ap Gronw of Denbighshire, Wales, and his wife Margaret, daughter of William John ap Gronw. He was educated at Oxford, receiving his BA (4 March 1573) and MA (1 June 1575). Over the next decade he held a succession of clerical appointments in Wales, including prebendary of the collegiate church of Brecon (1578), vicar of Llanavon Vawr, Brecon (1579), and rector of Angle (or Nangle), Pembrokeshire (1580).
In 1584 he was appointed chaplain to Lord Deputy Sir John Perrot (qv), thereby beginning an involvement with Ireland which was to continue until his death. On 13 June 1585 he was appointed dean of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, in succession to Thomas Jones (qv), who had been advanced to the see of Meath. As dean, he was in charge of the administration of the cathedral, and served on a number of commissions of appeal in relation to inheritance disputes, such as that concerning the estate of Edward Coxe in October 1585, and the estate of James Goodman the following February. On 4 May 1586 he was presented to the rectory of Loughrea, Co. Galway, in the diocese of Clonfert, and in 1588 was commended to Walsingham for his diligent preaching, and appointed to the commission and adjunct commission for ecclesiastical causes in Ireland. Finally, he was nominated (11 January 1589) to the see of Leighlin, and received letters patent on 13 April, in which month Adam Loftus (qv), archbishop of Dublin, consecrated him. He rebuilt and fortified the bishop's house, but such was the poverty of the see, because of the ongoing conflict with the O'Moores and Cavanaghs, that he continued to hold the deanery of St Patrick's in commendam.
His association with Perrot, which had seen him advance rapidly up the ecclesiastical hierarchy, was soon to envelop him in controversy when Perrot was accused of treason. In March 1590 Meredith was appointed to the commission that was to examine Denis O'Roughan, the priest who had accused Perrot of treasonable dealings with Spain. Meredith sent Perrot a copy of O'Roughan's examination, and got into further trouble when O'Roughan claimed that Meredith had tortured him and attempted to get him to retract his evidence against Perrot. By June, therefore, Meredith was included among the witnesses who were to be sent to England for examination. The following month he claimed that a priest imprisoned in Dublin castle had knowledge of O'Roughan's practice, and later that month he charged Lord Burghley, lord treasurer, and Lord Deputy William Fitzwilliam (qv) with suborning O'Roughan.
Sent over to London in August, he was at first detained in a house near Charing Cross under the guard of the bailiff of Westminster. By February 1591 he was imprisoned in the Fleet, before being removed by 30 May 1591 to the Tower of London, where he was a close prisoner. During his detention he was examined, and subsequently tried and found guilty in the Star Chamber by May 1592. By that stage, his health having declined during his captivity, he was allowed the attention of a doctor, and in July 1592 he was given the liberty of the Tower in order to aid his recuperation. The following March, having agreed to pay 300 marks (£200) for ten years in order to pay the £2,000 fine that had been imposed in star chamber, he was finally released from the Tower. Concerned that his death might cheat her of the £2,000, the queen placed an inhibition on the chapter of St Patrick's cathedral electing a successor to Meredith as dean until his debt was paid in full.
In 1594 he again found himself in difficulty, being sentenced in the court of castle chamber to eight days’ imprisonment and a fine of £20 after he was found guilty of declaring that the lord deputy would do his bidding regarding a dispute between them over the salary of a schoolmaster in Leighlin. Nonetheless, his situation was not without hope, for in February 1594 Archbishop Loftus had recommended him for the archdiocese of Tuam (though nothing came of it), and it appears that he resumed his duties in Leighlin. In 1597 he was again before the court of castle chamber, this time for disturbances between himself and Henry Sheffield, the original incident having occurred in 1595. Richard Meredith, who both prospered and suffered in large measure through his connection with Sir John Perrot, died 3 August 1597 in Dublin, and was buried in St Patrick's cathedral.
Meredith married (date unknown) Sarah Batho (Bathoe, Bathow), with whom he had two sons, Robert (d. 1668) (subsequently chancellor of the Irish exchequer) and Thomas. His widow married Adam Loftus (qv), Viscount Loftus of Ely.