Richard Boyle (soldier)

Last updated

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Boyle (died 1649) was an Anglo-Irish Royalist officer who was murdered in Drogheda five days after the city fell to Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army.

Contents

Biography

Boyle was the son of Richard Boyle, Archbishop of Tuam, and his wife Martha, daughter of Rice Wight of Brabouef Manor at Artington in Surrey and his wife Elizabeth Needler. [1] [2]

On 11 September 1649 Boyle was captured during the storming of Drogheda at the end of the siege. Five days later he was having dinner with Lady More (sister of John Gordon, Earl of Sutherland) when an English Parliamentary soldier entered the room and whispered something to him. Boyle stood up to follow the soldier, his hostess inquired where he was going, and he replied "Madam, to die". [3] He was shot on leaving the room. [3] In the opinion of Lady Antonia Fraser, this "was an answer in the great tradition of those Cavaliers who had died with honour and a jest on their lips in the Civil War". [4]

Notes

  1. Kimber 1784, p. 346.
  2. Henderson 1886, p. 116.
  3. 1 2 Collins 1998, p. 79.
  4. Fraser 2011, p. 178.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Cromwell</span> English military and political leader (1599–1658)

Oliver Cromwell was an English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles II of England</span> British monarch from 1660 to 1685

Charles II was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork</span>

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond</span> 17th-century Irish viceroy (1610–1688)

Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC, was an Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661. Following the failure of the senior line of the Butler family, he was the second representative of the Kilcash branch to inherit the earldom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll</span> Governed Scotland during Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 50s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was a major figure in the Covenanter movement that fought for the maintenance of the Presbyterian religion against the Stuart monarchy's attempts to impose episcopacy. He is often remembered as the principal opponent of the royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, styled Lord Broghill from 1628 to 1660, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England at various times between 1654 and 1679. Boyle fought in the Irish Confederate Wars and subsequently became known for his antagonism towards Irish Catholics and their political aspirations. He was also a noted playwright and writer on 17th century warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell</span> English noblewoman

Elizabeth Seymour was a younger daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall, Wiltshire and Margery Wentworth. Elizabeth and her sister Jane served in the household of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. In his quest for a male heir, the king had divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, whose only surviving child was a daughter, Mary. His marriage to Anne Boleyn had also resulted in a single daughter, Elizabeth. The queen's miscarriage of a son in January 1536 sealed her fate. The king, convinced that Anne could never give him male children, increasingly infatuated with Jane Seymour, and encouraged by the queen's enemies, was determined to replace her. The Seymours rose to prominence after the king's attention turned to Jane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cromwellian conquest of Ireland</span> Military campaign (1649–53)

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland with the New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in August 1649.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Drogheda</span> 1649 battle of the Irish Confederate wars

The siege of Drogheda or the Drogheda massacre took place 3–11 September 1649, at the outset of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The coastal town of Drogheda was held by the Irish Catholic Confederation and English Royalists under the command of Sir Arthur Aston when it was besieged by Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell. After Aston rejected an invitation to surrender, the town was stormed and much of the garrison was executed including an unknown but "significant number" of civilians. The outcome of the siege and the extent to which civilians were targeted is a significant topic of debate among historians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Jones (soldier)</span> Irish soldier of the Irish Confederate War and English Civil War

Lieutenant-General Michael Jones, circa 1606 to 10 December 1649, was an Irish-born soldier of Welsh descent who served in the War of the Three Kingdoms, primarily in Ireland.

Sir Arthur Aston was an English professional soldier, most noted for his support for King Charles I in the English Civil War, and in folklore for the gruesome manner of his death in Ireland. He was from a prominent Roman Catholic family originating in Cheshire. He was killed during the Siege of Drogheda during the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sack of Wexford</span> Part of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Sack of Wexford took place from 2 to 11 October 1649, during the campaign known as the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. It was part of the wider 1641 to 1653 Irish Confederate Wars, and an associated conflict of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derry Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda</span>

Henry Dermot Ponsonby Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda, is a British photographer known professionally as Derry Moore. He inherited the title of Earl of Drogheda from his father, The 11th Earl of Drogheda. He had the right to use the courtesy title Viscount Moore from November 1957 until December 1989.

Christopher Plunket, 2nd Earl of Fingall and 11th Baron Killeen was an Irish politician and soldier. In 1641 he negotiated with the rebels on behalf of the Old English of the Pale and pushed them to join the rebellion. He fought for the rebels at the siege of Drogheda. He joined the Confederates and fought in their Leinster army, notably at Dungan's Hill. When the Confederates fused into the Royalist Alliance, he fought under James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond in the Battle of Rathmines where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He died of his wounds two weeks later in captivity at Dublin Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Cromwell</span> Wife of Oliver Cromwell, a 17th-century English military and political leader

Elizabeth Cromwell was the wife of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland; and the mother of Richard Cromwell, the second Lord Protector.

General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery KP, styled Viscount Dungarvan from 1768 to 1798, was an Irish soldier and peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin</span> Irish soldier and lord (1614–1673)

Murrough MacDermod O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin and sixth Baron Inchiquin,, was an Irish nobleman and soldier, who came from one of the most powerful families in Munster. Known as "Murchadh na dTóiteán" he studied war in the Spanish service. He accompanied the Earl of Strafford into Leinster on the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and was appointed governor of Munster in 1642. He had some small success, but was hampered by lack of funds and he was outwitted the Irish leader, Viscount Muskerry, at Cappoquin and Lismore. His forces dispersed at the truce of 1643.

Richard Boyle was an English bishop who became Archbishop of Tuam in the Church of Ireland. He was the second son of Michael Boyle, merchant in London, and his wife Jane, daughter and co-heiress of William Peacock. His younger brother was Michael Boyle, bishop of Waterford.

Michael Boyle (archbishop of Armagh)

Michael Boyle, the younger was a Church of Ireland bishop who served as Archbishop of Dublin from 1663 to 1679 and Archbishop of Armagh from 1679 to his death. He also served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the last time a bishop was appointed to that office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Cromwell</span> Daughter of Oliver Cromwell (1638–1720)

Frances Cromwell, Lady Russell was the ninth child and youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his wife, Elizabeth Cromwell. She was baptized at St. Mary's Church in Ely on 6 December 1638.

References