Richard de Towneley, also known as Richard de la Legh, was born circa 1323. By 1345 he had married Ellen. In 1351, at the time of the plague known as the Black Death, Richard rented the manor of St Saviour (Stydd) near Ribchester, probably living there for the rest of his life. The same year, along with his brother Gilbert, the Abbot of Whalley and John de Altham, he held the franchise for providing a bailiff for Blackburnshire. In 1353 he was one of two receivers for Lancashire appointed by the 1st Duke of Lancaster, also attending the Parliaments of 1361 and 1371 as a knight of Lancashire. He was Escheator of the County in 1371 and served as the High Sheriff of Lancashire from 1374 to 1377. He died on 16 April 1381, survived by three sons, John, Robert and Henry.