 He was a descendant of the famous antiquary Sir William Dugdale, and a maternal member of the Noble House of Stratford.Richard Geast, maternal nephew of John Dugdale of Blyth, inherited the Dugdale family seat of Blyth Hall and assumed by Royal Licence the surname of Dugdale "in lieu" of Geast in 1799.His wife Penelope Bate was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Francis Stratford of Merevale Hall, Warwickshire, from whom the Dugdales descend), which was inherited by their son Dugdale Stratford Dugdale, the great-grandfather of the first Baronet.