execution: 'This day the Earl of Strafford was beheaded. No man died more universally hated, or less lamented by the people.'
Shortly after his return from England—whither he had gone as a witness at Strafford's trial the rebellion of 1641 broke out in Ireland. Sudden as was the outbreak, the earl was not taken by surprise, for from the beginning he had carefully prepared against such a contingency. In Munster, therefore, the rebels, owing to the stand made by the Earl of Cork, found themselves completely checkmated. Repairing to Youghal he summoned all his tenants to take up arms, and placed his sons at their head without delay. In a letter to Speaker Lenthall, giving an account of his successes, he states that, his ready money being all spent in the payment of his troops, he had converted his plate into coin {State Papers of the Earl of Orrery, p. 7). At the battle of Liscarrol, 3 Sept. 1642, his four sons held prominent commands, and his eldest son was slain on the field. The Earl of Cork died on 15 Sept. 1643, and was buried at Youghal. He left a large family, many of whom were gifted with exceptional talents, and either by their achievements or influential alliances conferred additional lustre on his name. Of his seven sons, four were ennobled in their father's lifetime. Richard [q. v.] was first earl of Burlington; Roger [q. v.] was first earl of Orrery; Robert [q. v.], the youngest, by his scientific achievements, became the most illustrious of the Boyles; and of the eight daughters, seven were married to noblemen.
[Earl of Cork's True Remembrances, printed in Birch's edition of Robert Boyle's works; Budgell's Memoirs of the Boyles (1737), pp. 2-32; A Collection of Letters chiefly written by Richard Boyle, Earl of Corke, and several members of his family in the seventeenth century, the originals of which are in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, and a copy in the British Museum Harleian MS. 80; various papers regarding his examination before the Privy Council in 1598, Add. MS. 19832; copies of various of his letters from 1632 to 1639, Add. MS. 19832; copy of indenture providing for his children 1 March 1624, Add. MS. 18023; Earl of Strafford's Letters and Despatches; Cal. State Papers (Dom. series) reign of Charles I; State Papers of the Earl of Orrery; Cox's History of Ireland; Borlase's Reduction of Ireland; Biog. Brit. (Kippis), ii. 459-71; Lodge's Irish Peerage, i. 150-162; the Diary of the Earl of Cork and his correspondence, formerly at Lismore Castle, are with other Lismore papers being published (1886) under the editorship of Rev. A. B. Grosart, LL.D.]
BOYLE, RICHARD (d. 1644), archbishop of Tuam, was the elder brother of Michael Boyle [q. v.], bishop of Waterford, and the second son of Michael Boyle, merchant, of London, and Jane, daughter and co-heir to William Peacock. He became warden of Youghal on 24 Feb. 1602-3, dean of Waterford on 10 May 1603, [dean of Tuam in May 1604,] archdeacon of Limerick on 8 May 1605, and bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross on 22 Aug. 1620, these three preferments being obtained through the interest of his cousin, the first Earl of Cork. He was advanced to the see of Tuam on 30 May 1638. On the outbreak of the rebellion in 1641, he retired with Dr. John Maxwell, bishop of Killala, and others, to Galway for protection, where, when the town rose in arms against the garrison, his life was preserved through the influence of the Earl of Clanricarde. He died at Cork on 19 March 1644[-5], and was buried in the cathedral of St. Finbar. He is said to have repaired more churches and consecrated more new ones than any other bishop of his time. By his marriage to Martha, daughter of Richard (or John) Wright, of Catherine Hill, Surrey, he left two sons and nine daughters.
[Ware's Works (ed. Harris), i. 566, 616-7; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland (Archdall), i. 145.]
BOYLE, RICHARD, first Earl of Burlington and second Earl of Cork (1612–1697), was the second son of Richard Boyle [q. v.], first earl of Cork, by Catherine, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, and was born at the college of Youghal on 20 Oct. 1612 (Earl of Cork, True Remembrances). On 13 Aug. 1624 he was knighted at Youghal by Falkland, lord deputy of Ireland. In his twentieth year he was sent under a tutor to 'begin his travels into foreign kingdoms,' his father allowing him a grant of a thousand pounds a year (ib.) On the continent he spent over two years, visiting France, Flanders, and Italy. Shortly after his return he made the acquaintance of the Earl of Strafford, and commended himself so much to his good graces that he arranged a match between him and Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Henry Lord Clifford, afterwards Earl of
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