Patrick Sarsfield (c. 1660-21st August 1693 ) created the first Earl of Lucan. Born Lucan, Ireland. Irish Jacobite and soldier.
Patrick was born in Lucan. His father Patrick Sarsfield married Anne, daughter of Rory O'Moore, who organised the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The family possessed an estate of £2000 a year. Patrick, who was a younger son, entered Dongan's Regiment of Foot on the 6th February 1678. In his early years he is known to have challenged Lord Grey for a supposed reflection on the veracity of the Irish people
September 1681 and in December of that year he was run through the body in a duel in which he engaged as second. During the last years of the reign of King Charles II he saw service in the English regiments that were attached to the army of Louis XIV of France. The accession of King James II led to his return home.
He took part in the suppression of the Western rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor
Patrick was born in Lucan. His father Patrick Sarsfield married Anne, daughter of Rory O'Moore, who organised the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The family possessed an estate of £2000 a year. Patrick, who was a younger son, entered Dongan's Regiment of Foot on the 6th February 1678. In his early years he is known to have challenged Lord Grey for a supposed reflection on the veracity of the Irish people
September 1681 and in December of that year he was run through the body in a duel in which he engaged as second. During the last years of the reign of King Charles II he saw service in the English regiments that were attached to the army of Louis XIV of France. The accession of King James II led to his return home.
He took part in the suppression of the Western rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor
on the 6th July 1685. In the following year he was promoted to a Colonelcy. King James had adopted the policy of remodelling the Irish Army so as to turn it from a protestant-led force to a Roman catholic-led one, and Sarsfield, whose family were Catholics, was selected to assist in this reorganization. He went to Ireland with Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief by the King.
In 1688 the death of his elder brother, who had no son, put him in possession of the family estate, which in those troubled times can have been of small advantage to him. 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 Williamite War in Ireland he secured Connaught for the Jacobites. The King who is said to have described him as a brave fellow who had no head, promoted him to to the rank of Brigadier and then Major General. It was not until after the Battle of the Boyne ( 1st July 1690 ) and during the siege of Limerick ( 1690 ) that Sarsfield became prominent as a leader. His capture of a convoy of military stores and artillery at Ballyneety, near Pallasgreen between Limerick and Tipperary, in a raid apparently guided by a rapparee known as " Galloping " O'Hogan, delayed the siege of the town until winter rains forced the English to retire.
This achievement made him the popular hero of the war with the Irish. His generosity, his courage and his commanding height, had already commended him to the affection of the Irish. On the 3rd October 1691 the Treaty of Limerick formally brought the war in Ireland to an end. It had been a campaign in which for the first time the recently constituted British or Royal Army went into battle. Irishman fighting Irishman on the soil of Ireland and on foreign battlefields would be a part of Ireland's unfolding history. After the sudden death of Tyrconnell at Limerick patrick Sarsfield acted as the chief negotiator for the Jacobite forces. Along with Sarsfield fifteen thousand Jacobite soldiers were allowed to sail to France, and it is they who would become the celebrated
' Wild Geese ' who in their red coats ironically resembled their Irish counterparts in the British Army.
Patrick Sarsfield received a commission as Lieutenat-General from King Louis XIV and fought with distinction in Flanders until he was mortally wounded at the battle of Landen or Neerwinden on the 19th August 1693. He died two or three days after the battle, at Huy, Belgium, where he is buried in the grounds of St. Martin's Church.
In 1688 the death of his elder brother, who had no son, put him in possession of the family estate, which in those troubled times can have been of small advantage to him. 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 Williamite War in Ireland he secured Connaught for the Jacobites. The King who is said to have described him as a brave fellow who had no head, promoted him to to the rank of Brigadier and then Major General. It was not until after the Battle of the Boyne ( 1st July 1690 ) and during the siege of Limerick ( 1690 ) that Sarsfield became prominent as a leader. His capture of a convoy of military stores and artillery at Ballyneety, near Pallasgreen between Limerick and Tipperary, in a raid apparently guided by a rapparee known as " Galloping " O'Hogan, delayed the siege of the town until winter rains forced the English to retire.
This achievement made him the popular hero of the war with the Irish. His generosity, his courage and his commanding height, had already commended him to the affection of the Irish. On the 3rd October 1691 the Treaty of Limerick formally brought the war in Ireland to an end. It had been a campaign in which for the first time the recently constituted British or Royal Army went into battle. Irishman fighting Irishman on the soil of Ireland and on foreign battlefields would be a part of Ireland's unfolding history. After the sudden death of Tyrconnell at Limerick patrick Sarsfield acted as the chief negotiator for the Jacobite forces. Along with Sarsfield fifteen thousand Jacobite soldiers were allowed to sail to France, and it is they who would become the celebrated
' Wild Geese ' who in their red coats ironically resembled their Irish counterparts in the British Army.
Patrick Sarsfield received a commission as Lieutenat-General from King Louis XIV and fought with distinction in Flanders until he was mortally wounded at the battle of Landen or Neerwinden on the 19th August 1693. He died two or three days after the battle, at Huy, Belgium, where he is buried in the grounds of St. Martin's Church.
Colonel Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell ( 1630 - 14th August 1691 )
