A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Rich, Frances

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
4121037A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography — Rich, Frances

RICH, FRANCES.

Youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, was born in December, 1638. She was probably handsome, as she received many splendid offers of marriage; among others, one from Charles the Second himself, then in exile. Cromwell refused, saying that "Charles would never forgive the death of his father." The Duke d'Enghien, eldest son of the Prince de Condé was another suitor of Frances Cromwell. On the 11th. of November. 1667, she married Robert Rich, grandson and heir to Robert, Earl of Warwick, the protector settling £16,000 on his daughter. Mr. Rich died three months after the marriage, and some time after, Mrs. Rich married Sir John Russel, by whom she had several children. She died January the 27th., 1721, at the age of eighty-four.