Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich

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Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich (c1537-1581) was an English nobleman.

He was the eldest son of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Jenks of London.{{cite book|title=The Visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634|publisher=Harleian Society|date=1878|page=277}}

He married around 1555 Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of George Baldrey (d. 1540){{cite web|title=VCH Buckingham, Vol. 4:Akeley|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol4/pp144-147|access-date=10 November 2023}} and granddaughter of Sir Thomas Baldry, Lord Mayor of London in 1514.{{cite web|title=Aldermen of the City of London, 1502-1700|publisher=British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-aldermen/hen3-1912/pp168-195|access-date=10 November 2023}}

Their children were:

• Richard married Katherine Knyvet. He died before his father.
• Robert, 3rd Baron Rich (later Earl of Warwick)
• Edwin married Margaret, daughter of Charles Wolriche of Suffolk
• Elizabeth

His father was reprimanded by the privy council in 1562 for seeking to have Rich elected as knight of the shire in preference to William Petre.{{cite book|title=CSPD Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth|page=212}} This may have been due to suspicions of Petre's religious views, as Rich was a strong Protestant who later had the Calvinist Robert Wright as his domestic chaplain.{{cite book|title=The history of the Puritans or Protestant non-conformists|first=Daniel|last=Neal|date=1837|page=250}}

In 1578 a dispute between Rich and one Edward Windham led to skirmishes in Fleet Street between their servants,{{cite book|title=The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558-1641|first=Lawrence|last=Stone|date=1965|pages=231–2}} which resulted in Windham's imprisonment.{{cite book|title=CSPD Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth|page=620}}

Following his death his property in London and Essex was valued at £1,857.{{cite web|title=Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House, Vol. 4:November 1591|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-cecil-papers/vol4/pp157-161|accessdate=10 November 2023}}

He is presumably the kneeling figure represented on the monument to his father in Felsted church.{{cite web|title=An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Vol. 2:Felstead|publisher=British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/essex/vol2/pp73-84|access-date=10 November 2023}}