Robert Rich

Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1587 - 1658) was an English colonial administrator and admiral.

Rich was the eldest son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and of his wife Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and succeeded to the earldom of Warwick in 1619. His younger brother was Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland. Developing an early interest in colonial ventures, he joined the Bermudas, Guinea, New England and Virginia companies. His enterprises involved him in disputes with the British East India Company (1617) and with the Virginia Company, which in 1624 was suppressed as a result of his action. In 1627 he commanded an unsuccessful privateering expedition against the Spaniards. His Puritan connections and sympathies gradually estranged him from the court, but promoted his association with the New England colonies. In 1628 he indirectly procured the patent for the Massachusetts colony, and in 1631 he granted the "Saybrook" patent in Connecticut. Forced to resign the presidency of the New England Company in the same year, he continued to manage the Bermudas and Providence Companies, the latter of which, founded in 1630, administered Old Providence on the Mosquito Coast. Meanwhile in England Warwick opposed the forced loan of 1626, the payment of ship-money and Laud's church policy.