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A 1684 mezzotint of Rich

Edward Rich, 6th Earl of Warwick ( c. 1673 – 31 July 1701) was an English peer and politician who was styled Lord Rich until 1675. [1]

Origins

He was the son and heir of Robert Rich, 5th Earl of Warwick, 2nd Earl of Holland (1620–1675).

Career

In 1675 he succeeded his father to the titles. In 1699, together with his friend Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, Warwick was tried for the murder of Richard Coote and was found guilty of manslaughter. He escaped punishment by pleading the privilege of peerage. He and Mohun had killed Coote in a duel and it was common for a seventeenth-century jury in such cases to take a lenient view of such matters. [2]

Marriage and children

In early 1697 he married Charlotte Myddelton, a daughter of Sir Thomas Myddelton, 2nd Baronet, by whom he had one son:

Charlotte, who survived her husband, was later married to the celebrated writer Joseph Addison.

Death and burial

He died in 1701 and was succeeded by his son Edward Rich, 7th Earl of Warwick (1698–1721). [1]

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b Doyle, James William Edmund (1886). The Official Baronage of England, v. 3. London: Longmans, Green. p. 600.
  2. ^ "The trial of Edward Earl of Warwick and Holland, before the House of Lords, for the murder of Richard Coote, esq". A complete collection of State Trials and proceedings for High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors. 13 (402, column 939). 1812.
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Warwick
Earl of Holland

1675–1701
Succeeded by