Mural monument to Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and his second wife Frances Wray. St Lawrence's Church, Snarford, LincolnshireArms of Rich: Gules, a chevron between three crosses botonée orLady Isabella Rich, painted by William Larkin in 1614
Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (December 1559 – 24 March 1619), was an English nobleman, known as Baron Rich between 1581 and 1618, when he was created Earl of Warwick. He was the first husband of Penelope Devereux, whom he divorced in 1605 on the grounds of her adultery.
Origins
Rich was the son and heir of Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich (c. 1538–1581) by his wife Elizabeth Baldry, a daughter of George Baldry.[1] He was the grandson of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, the progenitor of the powerful Rich family.
Career
Rich succeeded his father in the barony in 1581. In 1618, he was created Earl of Warwick.
His second marriage, in 1616, was to Frances Wray (1568–1634), widow of Sir George St Paul, 1st Baronet, and second daughter of Sir Christoper Wray, Lord Chief Justice to Queen Elizabeth I. Wray was described as "a person of shining conversation and eminent bounty"; she survived her second husband and in her second widowhood was one of the richest women in Lincolnshire. Neither of her marriages produced children. She died at Snarford in 1634 aged 66.[citation needed]