Tighe, Richard (d. 1673), Dublin alderman and MP, was son of William Tighe of Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, England, and his wife Mary, daughter of Tobias Houghton of Kelthorpe, Rutland, England. Tighe probably started his career as a merchant in London, but by the early 1640s he had become involved (in partnership with Alderman Daniel Hutchinson (d. 1676)) in provisioning the army of the marquess of Ormond (qv) in Dublin, and by 1649 he had settled in the city. He became sheriff of Dublin in October 1649, and was appointed alderman in October 1650. He was twice elected mayor (1651, 1655), and served as mayor of the Dublin statute staple between 1653 and 1655.
During the Cromwellian protectorate, Tighe's wealth came to depend as much on financial speculation as on trade. In 1654 he was able to purchase 2,800 acres of adventurers' lands in Westmeath, King's, and Queen's Counties; he also acquired valuable property in the city and county of Dublin; and in 1656 he started to lend money on statute staple bonds. These activities gave him a vested interest in the stability of the Cromwellian regime, and drew him into politics. He joined Daniel Hutchinson in an attempt to influence the elections for Co. Kildare and Co. Wicklow in August 1654. In May 1655 he signed a petition calling for the removal of customs barriers between England and Ireland, asking that Irish merchants be given the same privileges as their Scottish counterparts under the union. Tighe was elected for the city of Dublin in the Westminster parliament of 1656–8, with his expenses paid by the corporation. During the parliament he became involved in efforts to sort out the Irish land settlement and to reduce the rate of Irish assessments. He also supported the offer of the crown to Oliver Cromwell (qv), and the attempt to erect a civilian government under the Humble Petition and Advice. Throughout this period, he apparently supported the closer integration of Ireland with the Cromwellian empire.
Tighe returned to Dublin in the summer of 1657, and resumed his civic and business activities. After the collapse of the protectorate he remained aloof from politics, although he was entrusted with the command of the suburban regiment on 14 December 1659 – the day after the Dublin coup. He did not sit in the general convention in Dublin in 1660. He was pardoned by Charles II in February 1661, and during the 1660s became one of the most extensive money-lenders in the Dublin statute staple, and acquired further land holdings in Co. Carlow and Co. Dublin. In February 1664 he took a lease of Oxmanstown Green, Co. Dublin, where he constructed a bowling green which soon proved a fashionable place of resort for the gentry and nobility during the summer months. Tighe died on 20 February 1673. He had married Mary, daughter of Newman Rooke of London, and had one son and three daughters. His descendants include the Tighes of Woodstock, Co. Tipperary.