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SARSFIELD, PATRICK (? -1693)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 224 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SARSFIELD, See also:PATRICK (? -1693) , titular See also:earl of See also:Lucan, Irish Jacobite and soldier, belonged to an Anglo-See also:Norman See also:family See also:long settled in See also:Ireland. He was See also:born at Lucan, but the date is unknown. His See also:father Patrick Sarsfield married See also:Anne, daughter of Rory (See also:Roger) O'See also:Moore, who organized the Irish See also:rebellion of 1641. The family possessed an See also:estate of £2000 a See also:year. Patrick, who was a younger son, entered Dongan's See also:regiment of See also:foot on the 9th of See also:February 1678. In his See also:early years he is known to have challenged See also:Lord See also:Grey for a supposed reflection on the veracity of the Irish See also:people (See also:September 1681), and in the See also:December of that year he was run through the See also:body in a See also:duel in which he engaged as second. During the last years of the reign of See also:King See also:Charles II. he saw service in the See also:English regiments which were attached to the See also:army of See also:Louis XIV. of See also:France. The See also:accession of King See also:James II. led to his return See also:home. He took See also:part in the suppression of the Western rebellion at the See also:battle of Sedgemoor on the 6th of See also:July 1685. In the following year he was promoted to a colonelcy. King James had adopted the dangerous policy of remodelling the Irish army so as to turn it from a See also:Protestant to a See also:Roman See also:Catholic force, and Sarsfield, whose family adhered to the See also:church of See also:Rome, was selected to assist in this re-organization.

He went to Ireland with See also:

Richard See also:Talbot, afterwards earl of Tyrconnel (q.v.), who was appointed See also:commander-in-See also:chief by the king. In 1688 the See also:death of his See also:elder See also:brother, who had no son, put him in See also:possession of the family estate, which in those troubled times can have been of small See also:advantage to him. When the king brought over a few Irish soldiers to coerce the English, Sarsfield came in command of them. As the king was deserted by his army there was no serious fighting, but Sarsfield had a See also:brush with some of the Scottish soldiers in the service of the See also:prince of See also:Orange at Wincanton. When King James disbanded his army and fled to France, Sarsfield accompanied him. In 1689 he returned to Ireland with the king. During the earlier part of the See also:war he did See also:good service by securing See also:Connaught for the See also:Jacobites. The king, who is said to have described him as a brave See also:fellow who had no See also:head, promoted him to the See also:rank of brigadier, and then See also:major-See also:general with some reluctance. It was not till after the battle of the See also:Boyne (1st of July 1690), and during the See also:siege of See also:Limerick, that Sarsfield came prominently forward. His See also:capture of a See also:convoy of military stores at one of the two places called Ballyneety between Limerick and See also:Tipperary, delayed the siege of the See also:town till the See also:winter rains forced the English to retire. This achievement, which is said by the See also:duke of See also:Berwick to have turned Sarsfield's head, made him the popular See also:hero of the war with the Irish. His generosity, his courage and his commanding height, had already commended him to the See also:affection of the Irish.

When the cause of King James was ruined in Ireland, Sarsfield arranged the See also:

capitulation of Limerick and sailed to France on the 22nd of December 1691 with many of his countrymen who entered the See also:French service. He received a See also:commission as See also:lieutenant-general (marechal de See also:camp) from King Louis XIV. and fought with distinction in See also:Flanders till he was mortally wounded at the battle of See also:Landen or See also:Neerwinden, on the 19th of See also:August 1693. He died at Huy two or three days after the battle. In 1691 he had been created earl of Lucan by King James. He married See also:Lady Honora de See also:Burgh, by whom he had one son James, who died childless in 1718. His widow married the duke of Berwick. J. See also:Todhunter, See also:Life of Patrick Sarsfield (See also:London, 1895).

End of Article: SARSFIELD, PATRICK (? -1693)

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