RICH, Sir Robert, 4th Bt. (1685-1768), of Roos Hall, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1715 - 1722
4 Feb. 1724 - 1727
1727 - 1741

Family and Education

b. 3 July 1685, 2nd s. of Sir Robert Rich, 2nd Bt., M.P., ld. of Admiralty 1691-9, by Mary, da. of Sir Charles Rich, 1st Bt., of Mulbarton, Norf. m. 28 Sept. 1714, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Col. Edward Griffith, clerk of the Green Cloth to Queen Anne and sec. to Prince George of Denmark, 3s. 2da., one of whom m. George Lyttelton. suc. bro. Oct. 1706.

Offices Held

Ensign 1 Ft. Gds. June 1700; capt. 24 Ft. Aug. 1704; capt. and lt.-col. 1 Ft. Gds. Mar. 1708; col. regt. of Ft. Feb. 1710, regt. of Drags. 1715-17, 13 Drag. Gds. Nov. 1722, 8 Drag. Gds. Sept. 1725; brig.-gen. Mar. 1727; col. 6 Drag. Gds. Jan. 1731, 4 Drag. Gds. May 1735-d.; maj.-gen. 1735; lt-gen. 1739; gen. 1745; f.m. 1757.

Page of honour to William III 1700-Aug. 1702; groom of the bedchamber to George II as Prince of Wales and King, Mar. 1718-59 (res.); gov. Chelsea Hospital 1740-d.

Biography

After serving under Marlborough, Rich was returned in 1715 for Dunwich, which his father had represented 1689-99. A Whig, he voted for the septennial bill in 1716, but was one of the army officers who were deprived of their regiments for voting against the Government in the division on Lord Cadogan in 1717.1 Though appointed in 1718 to the household of the Prince of Wales, who was then in opposition, he voted with the Government on the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts and on the peerage bill in 1719. Defeated at Dunwich in 1722, but subsequently brought in for Bere Alston and St. Ives by his friend, Sir John Hobart, he was given another regiment, thereafter voting with the Government in all recorded divisions. Retiring from Parliament in 1741, he served with his regiment in the war of the Austrian succession and was present at Dettingen. He died 1 Feb. 1768, worth £100,000.2

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Shirley Matthews

Notes

  • 1. Pol. State, xiv. 80.
  • 2. HMC Carlisle, 238.