Richard Boyle (1566 - 1643)

Born 13 Oct 1566 in Canterbury, Kent, England

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Fenton) Boyle — married 25 Jul 1603 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 15 Sep 1643 in Youghal, Cork. Ireland

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Biography

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork was born on 13 October 1566 at Canterbury, Kent, England.

He was the son of Roger Boyle and Joan Naylor.

He attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1583, and studied law at the Middle Temple, London; first went to Ireland in 1588 and in 1602 purchased for a small sum Sir Walter Raleigh's large landholdings in Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary; he was appointed (1629) one of the lord justices of Ireland and in 1631 became lord high treasurer of the kingdom; knighted, 1603; elected to Parliament, 1614; 1st Baron Boyle of Youghal, 1616; 1st Viscount Dungarvan, 1620; Lord High Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.

Marriages and Issue

He married, firstly, Joan Apsley, daughter of Captain William Apsley and Annabella Browne, on 6 November 1595 at Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland.

He married, secondly, Catherine Fenton, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton^[1]

Children of Catherine Fenton and Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

1. Roger Boyle b. 1606, d. 1615
2. Lady Alice Boyle b. 20 Mar 1607, d. 23 Mar 1666
3. Lady Sarah Boyle b. 1609, d. 14 Jul 1633
4. Lady Lettice Boyle b. 1610, d. 1649
5. Lady Joan Boyle b. 1611, d. 11 Mar 1656/57
6. Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork b. 20 Oct 1612, d. 15 Jan 1697/98
7. Lady Catherine Boyle b. 1615, d. 23 Dec 1691
8. Geoffrey Boyle b. 1616, d. 1617
9. Lady Dorothy Boyle b. 31 Dec 1617, d. 26 Mar 1668
10. Lewis Boyle, 1st Viscount Boyle of Kinalmeaky b.28 May 1619, d.2 Sep 1642
11. Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery b. 25 Apr 1621, d. 16 Oct 1679
12. Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon b. 25 Jun 1623, d. c Apr 1699
13. Lady Mary Boyle b. 1625, d. 1678
14. Hon. Robert Boyle b. 25 Jan 1626/27, d. 30 Dec 1691
15. Lady Margaret Boyle b. 1629, d. 1637

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork also went by the nick-name of 'the great Earl of Cork'.

Education

He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, Kent, England.

He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, in 1583. He was accused of embezzlement several times and spent 2 months in the Gatehouse, but was acquitted to the discredit of his accusers.

Occupation

He was Clerk to Chief Baron Manwood. He emigrated to Ireland arriving on 23 June 1588.

He was Sub-Escheator to the Excheator General in 1590.

He was Clerk of the Council of Munster on 8 May 1600.

On 7 December 1602 he bought all of the lands of Sir Walter Raleigh in Ireland, being 12,000 acres, for £1,500.

He was invested as a Knight on 25 July 1603 at St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland.

He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) for Munster on 12 March 1606.1 He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Lismore between 1613 and 1615.

He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Ireland] on 15 February 1612/13.

He held the office of Governor of Loughfoyle between 1614 and 1643.

He was created 1st Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghal, co. Cork [Ireland] on 6 May 1616.

He was created 1st Earl of the County of Cork [Ireland] on 16 October 1620.

He was created 1st Viscount of Dungarvan, co. Waterford [Ireland] on 16 October 1620.

He held the office of Lord Justice [Ireland] on 26 October 1629.

He held the office of Lord High Treasurer [Ireland] between 9 November 1631 and 1643.

He wrote the book The True Remembrancer, autobiography.

He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) on 28 June 1640.

In 1641 he raised two troops of horse to fortify the Castle of Lismore,^[2] during the rebellion.

Death

He died on 15 September 1643 at age 76 at Youghal, County Cork, Ireland.

Burial

He was buried at St. Mary's Abbey, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. His will was probated in 1668.

His last will was dated 24 November 1642.^[3]

Sources

• Toby Barnard, ‘Boyle, Richard, first earl of Cork (1566–1643)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 12 Oct 2017

• Wikipedia: Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

• Dictionary of Irish Biography profile for Richard Boyle (1566-1643)

• The Peerage for Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

• A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.

• Findagrave.com https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=44820972

1. ↑ The Fentons were a well-known family in their own right. Sir Geoffrey Fenton (1539-1608) was a Continental traveller (in his youth) and linguist and writer and Principal Secretary of State for Ireland. Geoffrey's brother was the famous navigator Edward Fenton. Sir William Fenton (son of Geoffrey, brother of Catherine) married Margaret FitzGibbon and inherited the White Knight's lands (but not the title) when Maurice, 12th White Knight, Margaret's brother, died young without issue.
2. ↑ A modern photo of Lismore Castle and a map pinpointing its location, from the website "Irish Castles":
   • https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/501529
3. ↑ entered on 2013 Nov 22 by Michelle - taken from The Peerage for Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

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