[1][2] Essex was the youngest daughter of Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and his second wife Anne Cheeke.

Following her mother's death, Essex and her sisters were brought up in the household of her father's brother, Charles Rich, 4th Earl of Warwick.

[3] Husbands proposed for Lady Essex Rich included the son of Baron Berkeley of Stratton and Thomas Vane.

[3] However, on 16 June 1674, she married Daniel Finch at Leez Priory, near Felsted, and they moved in with his parents at Kensington Palace.

[4] The couple had eight children but only one daughter survived to adulthood: The Countess of Nottingham died in childbirth, and was buried in the family vault at Ravenstone.