Richard Wyche (pronounced Whyche) (1554–1621) was a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

shipowner, explorer, and merchant.

Origins

Richard Wyche was born in 1554 in

Davenham Davenham (pronounced Dave-n-ham) is a rural village and civil parish approximately south of the town of Northwich, part of the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It has a population of 5,655 ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. He was the son of Richard Wyche (1525-1594) and Margaret Haughton. He was descended from a former Lord Mayor of London in the fifteenth century, Henry Wyche.

Career as an adventurer

He was on the first Committee of Directors of the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...

, assisted in the formation of the

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

in 1612, and was among the adventurers of the

Muscovy Company The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...

. ''Wiche Islands'' or ''Wiche's Land'' (discovered and named in 1617, and now erroneously called

Kong Karls Land Kong Karls Land or King Charles Land is an island group in the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. The island group covers an area of and is made up of the islands of Kongsøya, Svenskøya, Abel Island, Helgoland Island, and Tirpitzøya. ...

), Wichebukta (on the east coast of

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

), Wichefjellet (also on the Spitsbergen’s east coast), and ''Wiche Sound'' (named and discovered in 1614 and now called Liefdefjorden and Woodfjorden) were all named after him.

Marriage and family

Richard Wyche,

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

and

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

, married Elizabeth Saltonstall on 18 February 1583/4 at St Dunstan in the East, London She was the daughter of Sir

Richard Saltonstall Sir Richard Saltonstall (baptised Halifax, England 4 April 1586 – October 1661) led a group of English settlers up the Charles River to settle in what is now Watertown, Massachusetts in 1630. He was a nephew of the Lord Mayor of London Ric ...

, Member of Parliament and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

. Elizabeth's first cousin was another Sir

, who in 1630 established a settlement in the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

. This couple had many children.

Nathaniel Wyche Nathaniel Wyche (1607 – 23 May 1659) was a British merchant and president of the English East India Company. Early life Nathaniel was born in 1607 and baptized at Mitcham on 5 August 1607. He was the youngest son of Elizabeth ( Saltonstall) Wy ...

lived in India and was President of the East India Company in the late 1650s. Another son was Sir Peter Wyche, Ambassador to Constantinople (Ottoman Empire), who married Jane Meredith. Their children included (the second) Sir Peter Wyche, Sir

Cyril Wyche Sir Cyril Wyche PRS (c.1632 – 28 December 1707) was an English lawyer and politician. Early life He was born in Constantinople, Turkey, where his father, Sir Peter Wyche, was the English Ambassador. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxfor ...

, and Lady Jane Wyche, who married

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC, 29 August 1628 – 22 August 1701, was an English landowner who served in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War and was rewarded for his services after the 1660 Stuart Restoration with a title ...

. Sir Peter Wyche was one of the Chancellors of

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and his sons Sir Cyril and Sir Peter were among the founding members of the British

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. His daughter Jane Wyche Granville was

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

of Bath and

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

Henrietta Maria of France Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She wa ...

, Queen Consort of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

. Richard died on 20 November 1621 and was buried on 26 November at

St Dunstan-in-the-East St Dunstan-in-the-East was a Church of England parish church on St Dunstan's Hill, halfway between London Bridge and the Tower of London in the City of London. The church was largely destroyed in the Second World War and the ruins are now a publi ...

, London.London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812; Reference Number: P69/DUN1/A/001/MS07857/001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyche, Richard 1554 births 1621 deaths British East India Company people 17th-century English businesspeople 16th-century English people People of the Muscovy Company