Robert Rich (Bermuda settler)

Not to be confused with Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick, Sir Robert Rich, 2nd Baronet, or other members of the noble Rich family.
Lord
Robert Rich
Esquire
Title page of "Newes from Virginia: the lost flocke triumphant" (1610)
Bornfl. 1585
Kingdom of England
Died1630
Somers Isles (Bermuda)
Other namesRichard Rich
Occupation(s)Soldier, adventurer, chronicler
Notable work"Newes from Virginia: the lost flocke triumphant" (1610)

Lord Robert Rich (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Richard Rich[note 1]) (b. c. 1585 - d. 1630) was an English soldier and traveler.

Robert aspired to colonize Virginia, and set out in 1609 to the Jamestown, Virginia settlement. During the journey, a tropical storm caused the ship, the Sea Venture to be run aground on the reefs of the uninhabited St. George's Island, Bermuda. Along with Rich, George Somers, Thomas Gates, William Strachey, Silvester Jourdain, and other settlers were castaways.

Wreck of the Sea Venture in Bermuda

Robert Rich wrote a "verse pamphlet", "Newes from Virginia: the lost flocke triumphant."[note 2][3] Along with the writings of William Strachey and Silvester Jourdain, became well known in England by 1610, when Thomas Gates and Christopher Newport retold the saga in London.[4][5] In 1865 this work was rediscovered in a Viscount Charlemont library in Ireland by Shakespeare researcher John O. Halliwell. Halliwell printed a small amount of copies for distribution.[6]

Raised with a strong pious outlook, he and his brother (Nathaniel Rich, board member of the Somers Isles Company) were allies to the Puritans and to his cousin, Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick.[7]

Robert Rich returned to Bermuda in 1616 or 1617, and died there in 1630.[8]

  1. ^ Dunlop, Dale (December 28, 2014). "St George Bermuda - Find Out Why It Is a World Heritage Site".
  2. ^ "Sea Venture Monument -- St. George's Parish BM". waymarking.com.
  3. ^ "Newes from Virginia. The lost Flocke Triumphant by Lord Robert Rich (1610)". Encyclopedia Virginia.
  4. ^ Brown, Alexander (1898). The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown. p. 142. ISBN 9780722265451.
  5. ^ "The Wreck of the Sea Venture: The Untold Story". The Bermudian Magazine. April 27, 2023.
  6. ^ "Early Settlement of Virginia and Virginiola: As Noticed by Poets and Players in the Time of ..." Johnson, Smith , & Harrison. March 22, 1878 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ "RICH, Nathaniel (1585–1636), of Warwick House, Holborn, London and Stondon Massey, Essex | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  8. ^ "Sea Venture 1609". packrat-pro.com.


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