Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (1496-12 June 1567) was Lord Chancellor of England from 1547 to 1552, succeeding William Paulet and preceding Thomas Goodrich.
Biography[]
Richard Rich was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England in 1496, and he entered the Middle Temple as a lawyer in 1516. In 1529, he was elected to Parliament as an MP for Colchester, with Thomas Audley granting him his patronage. In 1533, he was knighted and became Solicitor General, serving under Thomas Cromwell. He had a share in the trials of Thomas More and John Fisher, and he used admissions made in friendly conversation against the two men. He later took part in the fall of Cromwell, and he became Lord Chancellor in 1547. In spite of taking part in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, his religious beliefs remained nominally Roman Catholic. Lord Rich would take part in the restoration of Catholicism in Essex under Queen Mary, and he was one of the most active persecutors of Protestantism. He died in Rochford, Essex in 1567 at the age of 71.