Caryll Molyneux, 3rd Viscount Molyneux (1623/24 – 1700) was an English peer.

Life

He was the younger son of

Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux (1594–1636) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1629. Biography Molyneux was the son of Sir Richard Molyneux, 1st Baronet of Sefton and his wife F ...

and Mary Caryll, daughter of Sir Thomas Caryll of Bentone in Sussex. He inherited the title from his elder brother, Richard Molyneux, 2nd Viscount Molyneux, in 1654. He married Mary Barlow, daughter of Sir Alexander Barlow of Barlow (elder brother of the Catholic

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Ambrose Barlow Ambrose Edward Barlow, O.S.B. (1585 – 10 September 1641) was an English Benedictine monk who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He is one of a group of saints canonized by Pope Paul VI who became known as the Forty Martyrs of En ...

) and his wife Dorothy Gresley, by whom he had one surviving son, William, and five daughters, Mary, Frances, Margaret, Elizabeth and Anne. Molyneux joined the Royalist army at the outbreak of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, and served with his brother in the Lancashire Regiment, which was mostly Catholic, through almost all the fighting from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

(1642) to

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

(1651). After the death of his brother in 1654, he succeeded to the viscounty and the constableship of

Liverpool Castle Liverpool Castle was a castle in Liverpool, England, that stood from the early 13th century to the early 18th century (1237–1726). Construction The castle was probably erected in the 1230s, between 1232 and 1235, under the orders of William ...

. As a well-known Catholic Cavalier, he experienced harsh treatment from the victors; and the family estates suffered. It was not until the reign of James II that Molyneux's fortunes improved. He was then appointed

Custos Rotulorum of Lancashire This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Lancashire. * Bartilmew Hesketh c.1535 * Sir John Holcroft 1547–1560 * Sir Richard Molyneux, 1st Baronet by 1598–1623 * Sir Richard Molyneux by 1627–163 ...

(1685–89),

Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of thes ...

(1687–1688) and

Admiral of the Narrow Seas Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

, and was one of the few who fought with any success on James's side against the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

, seizing and holding Chester, until all further resistance was in vain. After using the castle to store arms, he was arrested on a fabricated charge of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

for a suspected Jacobite rebellion called "The Lancashire plot". Along with other Catholics, he was imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, but was acquitted in 1694. He did not however recover the hereditary constableship, and the castle was leased to the burgesses, who in 1704 were authorised by the Crown to destroy it. After Viscount Molyneux's death at Croxteth in 1700, his title passed to his only surviving son,

William Molyneux, 4th Viscount Molyneux William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

References

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

, Lancashire III (London, 1907), 67–73 * Henry Foley, ''Records S.J.'', VII (London, 1882), 513–516 *

Catholic Record Society The Catholic Record Society (Registered Charity No. 313529), founded in 1904, is a scholarly society devoted to the study of Reformation and post-Reformation Catholicism in England and Wales. It has been described as "the premier Catholic histo ...

, V (London, 1909), 109, 131, 218, etc. *

Thomas Phillipps Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacture ...

, ''The family of Sir Thomas Molyneux'' (Middlehill. 1820) *Gisborne Molineux, ''Memoir of the Molineux Family'' (London, 188
Molyneux family history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molyneux, Caryll Molyneux, 4th Viscount 1624 births 1700 deaths English army officers Lord-Lieutenants of Lancashire Cavaliers Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland People acquitted of treason