Earl of Cork Bound Volume

Context

Creator(s): Boyle, Richard, Second Earl of Cork, 1612-1698

• Administrative History ↴

  Richard Boyle, Second Earl of Cork (1612-1698) was an Anglo-Irish Nobleman, Lord Treasurer of Ireland and Cavalier. He was born in The College, Youghal, Co. Cork. He was the sixth child and second son of Richard Boyle, First Earl of Cork and Catherine Fenton. His brother was the Chemist, Robert Boyle. Thomas Wentwoth, Lord Deputy of Ireland, helped to arrange Boyle’s marriage to Elizabeth heiress of Henry, Lord Clifford and this helped Boyle gain influence at court. He was a supporter of the Royalist cause and in the Civil War he supported King Charles I in 1639 in providing him with 100 horses for the King’s expedition against the Scots. He was elected to Parliament in 1640 for Appleby and was appointed also to the Privy Council of England. In 1641 he defeated the Irish army at the Battle of Liscarroll. In 1643, on the death of his father, he succeeded him as the second Earl of Cork. King Charles I created him Baron Clifford of Lanesborough in 1644. After the Civil War, he returned to Ireland in 1651. In February 1660 he was made Custos Rotulorum of County Cork and Waterford. He was appointed Privy Counsellor and Lord Treasurer of Ireland in November 1660. He was created the Earl of Burlington in 1664 and he also held the title, Viscount Dungarvan. In 1666 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire and he purchased Burlington House and Estate in 1667 in an incomplete state and set about completing it in the ensuing years. During the Restoration and the reign of King James II, the estates of Protestants seen as disloyal to the Catholic King were confiscated including the Earl of Burlington, Earl of Cork. In 1690, William of Orange became King and the estates returned to Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork. He spent much of his time in Yorkshire and he sent his grandson Henry to oversee the estates in Ireland. He died in 1698 in Londesborough, Yorkshire.

• Archival History ↴

  It is not certain how the item came to be in the Library of University College Cork. From research we have found that this item was listed as ‘lot 1440’ in the auction catalogue for the sale of the collection of the late Robert Day in September 1915. This item was originally accessioned as U.86 in UCC Library's Special Collections, before being listed and made available by UCC Library's Archives Service.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Unknown