Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick

Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick was a diarist and the seventh daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and his second wife, Catherine Fenton, only daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Principal Secretary of State for Ireland, and Alice Weston. She was born in 1625 in Youghal, County Cork, and after her mother's death in 1628, was raised by her relatives Sir Richard and Lady Clayton in Mallow, before becoming a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria. In 1641 she married Charles Rich, 4th Earl of Warwick. They had two children, who died young. Rich is remembered for her love of literature and the diaries she kept from 1666 to 1677, which include many of the current events in 17th-century Ireland, alongside her domestic issues.