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CORK, RICHARD BOYLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 156 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CORK, See also:RICHARD See also:BOYLE , 1sT See also:EARL of (1566-1643), Irish statesman, second son of See also:Roger Boyle of See also:Faversham in See also:Kent, a descendant of an See also:ancient See also:Herefordshire See also:family, and of See also:Joan, daughter of See also:Robert Naylor of See also:Canterbury, was See also:born at Canterbury on the 3rd of See also:October 1566, and was educated at the See also:King's school and at Bennet (Corpus Christi) See also:College, See also:Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1583. He afterwards studied See also:law at the See also:Middle See also:Temple and became clerk to See also:Sir Richard Manwood, See also:chief See also:baron of the See also:exchequer; but finding his position offered little opportunity for See also:advancement he determined to make a new start in See also:Ireland. He landed in See also:Dublin on the 23rd of See also:June 1588, as he relates himself, with 27, 3s. in See also:money, a See also:gold See also:bracelet See also:worth £ro, and a See also:diamond See also:ring, besides some See also:fine wearing See also:apparel. He began to make his See also:fortune almost immediately. In 1590 he obtained the See also:appointment of See also:deputy escheator to See also:John Crofton, the escheator-See also:general, and in 1595 he married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of See also:William Appsley of See also:Limerick, who died in 1599, having brought him an See also:estate of £5oo a See also:year. Meanwhile he had been the See also:object of the attacks of Sir See also:Henry See also:Wallop and others, incited, according to his own See also:account, by envy at his success and increasing prosperity, and was apprehended on various charges of See also:fraud in his See also:office, being more than once thrown into See also:prison. He was on the point of leaving for See also:England to justify himself to the See also:queen, when the See also:rebellion in See also:Munster in October 1598 again reduced him to poverty and obliged him to return to See also:London to his See also:chambers at the Temple. He was, however, almost immediately taken by See also:Essex into his service, when Sir Henry Wallop again renewed his See also:prosecution, with the result that Boyle was summoned before the See also:star chamber. His enemies appear to have failed in substantiating their accusations, and in the course of the inquiry, at which he had secured the presence of the queen herself, he was able to expose several instances of malversation on the See also:part of his opponent, who was dismissed in consequence from his office of treasurer, while Boyle himself, who had favourably impressed the queen, was declared by her as " a See also:man See also:fit to be employed by ourselves " and was at once made clerk of the See also:council of Munster. He brought to See also:Elizabeth the See also:news of the victory near Kingsale in See also:December 16ot, and in October 16o2 was again sent over by Sir See also:George See also:Carew, the See also:president of Munster, on Irish affairs; and on this occasion, at the instance of Carew, he bought for £t000 the whole of Sir See also:Walter See also:Raleigh's lands in Cork, See also:Waterford and See also:Tipperary, consisting of 12,000 acres with immense capabilities of development. This offered a splendid opportunity for the exercise of his See also:genius for business and See also:administration. Manufactures were established, the breeding of See also:cattle and See also:fish introduced, mines opened, colonists from England encouraged to come over, the natural resources of the See also:land See also:developed, See also:bridges, harbours and roads constructed, and towns settled, See also:order being maintained by 13 castles garrisoned by retainers.

While himself quickly accumulating vast riches, the services which Boyle rendered to the See also:

government and to the nation at such a See also:time of disorder and transition were incalculable. He soon became the most powerful subject in Ireland. On the 25th of See also:July 1603 he married, as his second wife, See also:Catherine, daughter of Sir See also:Geoffrey See also:Fenton, secretary of See also:state, and was knighted. In 16o6 he became a privy councillor for Munster and in 1613 for Ireland. On the 6th of See also:September 1616 he was raised to the See also:peerage as See also:Lord Boyle, baron of See also:Youghal, and on the 26th of October 1620 was created earl of Cork and See also:Viscount See also:Dungarvan. He was appointed on the 26th of October 1629 a lord See also:justice, and on the 9th of See also:November 1631 lord high treasurer. Though no peer of England, he was " by See also:writ called into the Upper See also:House by His See also:Majesty's See also:great See also:grace," and took his See also:place as an " assistant sitting on the inside of the See also:Woolsack."' The appointment of See also:Wentworth (Lord See also:Strafford), however, as lord deputy in 1633 put an end to the predominant See also:power and See also:influence of Cork in Ireland. " A most cursed man," he writes in his See also:diary on Wentworth's arrival, " to all Ireland and to me in particular." In reality these two great men had much in See also:common, held similar views of administration, and had the same talents for See also:practical statesmanship. Cork had already carried out in Munster the policy which Strafford desired to see extended to the whole of Ireland. But Cork belonged to the " spacious days of great Elizabeth," and for such a man there was no See also:room within the narrow despotism and intolerance of the government of See also:Charles. The subjection of the great was part of Strafford's settled policy, and consequently, instead of seeking his collaboration in developing the See also:country and in maintaining order, he studied merely to diminish his influence. He subjected him to various humiliations.

He forced him to remove his wife's See also:

tomb from the See also:choir in St See also:Patrick's at Dublin, and deprived him arbitrarily of the greater part of the revenues of Youghal, a portion of the Raleigh estates. " No physic," wrote See also:Laud, delighted, " better than a vomit if it be given in time, and there-fore you have taken a very judicious course to administer one so See also:early to my Lord of Cork. I See also:hope it will do him See also:good... ." 2 Cork, however, refrained from any systematic or retaliatory resistance, and even simulated an admiration for Strafford's See also:rule. At the latter's trial he was an important See also:witness, but took no active part in the prosecution, though he thoroughly approved of his condemnation and See also:execution. Scarcely had he returned to Ireland from witnessing his See also:rival's destruction when the rebellion See also:broke out, but his influence and preparations, supported by the military prowess of his sons, were sufficient to offer a successful resistance to the rebels in Munster and to See also:save the See also:province from ruin. This was his last great service to the state. He died about the 15th of September 1643, leaving a large and illustrious family by his second wife. Four of his seven sons received See also:independent peerages,—Richard, created Baron See also:Clifford and earl of See also:Burlington; See also:Lewis, Viscount Kinalmeaky, killed in 1642 at the See also:battle of Liscarrol; Roger, baron of Broghill and earl of See also:Orrery; and See also:Francis, Viscount See also:Shannon. Another son was Robert Boyle (q.v.), the famous natural philosopher and chemist. The See also:title passed to the eldest surviving son, RICHARD BOYLE, 1st earl of Burlington and 2nd earl of Cork (1612-1698), who matriculated at See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford, and was knighted in 1624. Returning See also:home after travelling abroad he married in 1635 Elizabeth, daughter and See also:heir of Henry, Lord Clifford, later earl of See also:Cumberland.

On the outbreak of the rebellion he sup- ported his See also:

father in Munster, fought at the battle of Liscarrol, and raised forces for the first See also:war with the Scots. In 164o he represented See also:Appleby in the See also:Long See also:Parliament, and in the See also:civil war he supported zealously the royal cause, being created in 1643 Baron Clifford of Lanesborough in the peerage of England, in addition to the earldom of Cork which he inherited from his father the same year. At the Restoration he obtained also the earldom of Burlington (or See also:Bridlington), and was appointed lord-See also:lieutenant of the See also:West See also:Riding of See also:Yorkshire, resigning this office through opposition to the government of See also:James II. He held the office of lord treasurer of Ireland from r68o till 1695. ' Lords See also:Journals. 2 Strafford Letters, i. 156. He died on th 5th of See also:January 1698.

End of Article: CORK, RICHARD BOYLE

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