Lieutenant Colonel Richard Boyle (died 1649) was an Anglo-Irish Royalist officer who was murdered in Drogheda five days after the city fell to Oliver Cromwell's

New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...

Biography

Boyle was the son of Richard Boyle,

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ga, Ard-Easpag Thuama) is an archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Catholic Church. Histor ...

, and his wife Martha, daughter of Rice Wight of Brabouef Manor at

Artington Artington is a village and civil parish in the borough of Guildford, Surrey, England. It covers the area from the southern edge of the built-up centre of Guildford and steep Guildown, the start of the Hog's Back and part of the North Downs AONB, ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and his wife Elizabeth Needler. On 11 September 1649 Boyle was captured during the storming of Drogheda at the end of the siege. Five days later he was having dinner with Lady More (sister of John Gordon, Earl of Sutherland) when an English Parliamentary soldier entered the room and whispered something to him. Boyle stood up to follow the soldier, his hostess inquired where he was going, and he replied "Madam, to die". He was shot on leaving the room. In the opinion of Lady

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and pr ...

, this "was an answer in the great tradition of those

Cavaliers The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

who had died with honour and a jest on their lips in the Civil War".

Notes

References

* * * * Year of birth unknown

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

1649 deaths People executed under the Interregnum (England) by firearm Executed people from County Galway Executed English people Executed military personnel People from Tuam {{Ireland-bio-stub