Edward Henry Rich, 9th Baron Rich, 7th Earl of Warwick and 4th Earl of Holland (January 1698 – 16 August 1721), of

Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house in Kensington, London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, was an English peer and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, styled Lord Rich until 1701 He is chiefly remembered as the stepson of the celebrated writer

Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard S ...

. He was the only son of

Edward Rich, 6th Earl of Warwick Edward Rich, 8th Baron Rich, 6th Earl of Warwick and 3rd Earl of Holland (1673 – 31 July 1701), of Holland House, Kensington, Middlesex, was an English peer and member of the House of Lords, styled Lord Rich until 1675. Origins He was the so ...

and his wife Charlotte Myddelton, only child of

Sir Thomas Myddelton, 2nd Baronet Sir Thomas Myddelton, 2nd Baronet (ca. 1651 – 5 February 1684) was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1679 and 1681. Myddelton was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Myddelton, 1st Baronet and his first wife Mary Cholmondley ...

. After his father's death, Charlotte in 1716 remarried the writer

, who had been her son's tutor. Edward and Addison are said to have quarrelled; according to a well-known story they did not meet for years until Addison was dying, when he invited his stepson to "see how a Christian dies". In 1718, he was appointed a

Gentleman of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the royal household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household; the term being fir ...

to George, Prince of Wales, and on 19 May 1719, he became a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria ( fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgoruk ...

. Because he died so young it is perhaps difficult to form any firm judgment on his character. Even during his short life there seem to have been two opposing views. On one view he was a notorious wastrel, and the despair of his stepfather, hence Addison's deathbed remark to him about dying like a Christian. The other view was that he was "an exceptionally studious and intellectual young man", who in his short life was much loved by his friends and family. The fact that Addison's close friend

Thomas Tickell Thomas Tickell (17 December 1685 – 23 April 1740) was a minor English poet and man of letters. Life The son of a clergyman, he was born at Bridekirk near Cockermouth, Cumberland. He was educated at St Bees School 1695–1701, and in 1701 ente ...

dedicated his elegy on Addison's death to Warwick suggests that he was sincerely moved by his stepfather's death. He died in 1721 and was succeeded by his cousin Edward Rich.

References

1698 births 1721 deaths 17th-century English nobility 18th-century English nobility Earls of Warwick (1618 creation)

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

Earls of Holland {{England-earl-stub