Richard Rich (Sheriff of London)

Richard Rich (died 1463-4) was a London mercer, and Sheriff of that city in 1442.^[1][2][3] However, Wikipedia's list of the sheriffs of London shows two other Sheriffs appointed in 1442. Further research is needed to clarify this contradictory information.

He was the son of Richard Rich of London, esquire, who died in 1447-8 seised of lands in Springfield, Little Waltham, Great Leighs, Terling and Boreham in Essex.^[4] and Catherine Cuthery.

His will, dated 20 April 1463 and proved 16 August 1464, shows that he died possessed of large estates in Middlesex and Hertfordshire, and was wealthy enough to found five almshouses in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.^[4][5]

Rich died 1463-4 and was buried in the church of St Lawrence Jewry, London.^[1][6]

Marriage and issue

Rich married a wife named Katherine, whose surname is unknown, by whom he had two sons and three daughters:

• John Rich (d. 29 July 1458), buried in the Mercers' Chapel in London, who married a wife named Isabel, and predeceased his father, leaving a son, Thomas Rich, who married Margaret Shaa, the daughter of Sir Edmund Shaa, Lord Mayor of London, by whom he had a son, Thomas Rich (d. 3 March 1531), esquire, of South Weald, Essex.^[5][2][7]
• Thomas Rich, who married Elizabeth Croke (d.1479), the daughter of John Croke, alderman of London.^[8] In his will, dated 2 July 1471 and proved 17 October 1475, he left £20 towards the marriage of his nephew, Thomas Rich, 'son of John Rich, sometimes my brother'.^[9] After the death of Thomas Rich, Elizabeth Croke married secondly John Fenne (d. 3 September 1474), and thirdly, in 1475, Sir William Stonor (d. 21 May 1494).^[10]
• Katherine Rich, who married William Marrow or Marowe (1410-1464), Lord Mayor of London in 1455, by whom she had three sons, William, John and Thomas, and three daughters.^[5][11]
• Isabel Rich, who married Sir Thomas Urswick (d. 19 March 1479). They had four sons, all of whom predeceased Sir Thomas, and eight daughters, only five of whom, Katherine, who married Henry Langley, Anne, who married John Doreward, Elizabeth, Jane and Mary, survived to be their father's heirs.^[5][12][13]
• Margaret Rich, who married John Walden (1410-1464), alderman and grocer of London. She is mentioned in the will of her brother, Thomas Rich.^[8][14]

Notes

1. Collins 1756, p. 233.
2. Metcalfe 1878, p. 276.
3. Cokayne 1945, p. 774.
4. Collins 1756, p. 234.
5. Nicolas 1826, p. 299.
6. Weever 1767, p. 188.
7. Collins 1756, pp. 233-4.
8. Nicolas 1826, pp. 299, 339.
9. Nicolas 1826, p. 339.
10. Richardson II 2011, p. 55.
11. Wedgwood 1936, p. 576.
12. Summerson 2004.
13. Wedgwood 1936, p. 898.
14. Wedgwood 1936, p. 914.

References

• Cokayne, George Edward (1945). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. X. London: St. Catherine Press. p. 774.
• Collins, Arthur (1756). The Peerage of England. II (3rd ed.). London: W. Innys and J. Richardson. pp. 233–4. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
• Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. (1878). The Visitations of Essex. XIII. London: Harleian Society. pp. 276–7. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
• Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1826). Testamenta Vetusta. I. London: Nichols and Son. pp. 299, 339. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. p. 417. ISBN 1449966381.
• Summerson, Henry (2004). "Urswick, Sir Thomas (c.1415–1479)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28025. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) The first edition of this text is available as an article on Wikisource:  "Urswick, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• Wedgwood, Josiah C. (1936). History of Parliament: Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439-1509. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. pp. 897–8, 914.
• Weever, John (1767). Antient Funeral Monuments. London: W. Tooke. p. 188. Retrieved 30 June 2013.

External links

• Will of Richard Riche, mercer, of Saint Lawrence, Old Jewry, London, proved 16 August 1464, PROB 11/5/84, National Archives Retrieved 30 June 2013
• Will of Thomas Ryche, mercer, of London, proved 4 October 1475, PROB 11/6/296, National Archives Retrieved 30 June 2013