Sir Richard Nagle (1636 – 6 April 1699) was an Irish Jacobite politician and lawyer. He held the positions of Attorney-General for Ireland,

Speaker of the Irish House of Commons The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons was the presiding officer of the Irish House of Commons until its disestablishment in 1800. In the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons, the Speaker was the dominant politica ...

Lord Justice of Ireland The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...

and Secretary of State and War for Ireland under King James II. He fled to France in 1691, joining James II at Saint Germain, where he resumed his duties as nominal Secretary of State and War. He later served as

Commissioner of the Household A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

.Corp, p 360.

Biography

Richard was born into an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

family at Carrigacunna Castle, in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, the son of James Nagle of Annakissy, and James' wife, Honora Nugent. This was his family's seat. His brother Pierce was a future High Sheriff of Cork. Although Richard was initially destined to join the clergy, he was educated in law at Gray's Inn and was called to the bar in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. "Active and skillful", he had a successful career as a lawyer. The Earl of Tyrconnell brought Richard to England with him in 1685 to meet James II.D'Alton, p 147. James created him Attorney-General for Ireland and knighted him in 1686. He also appointed him to the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. As an MP for Cork, Nagle was elected Speaker by the Irish House of Commons in 1689. This parliament is known to posterity as the "

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May 16 ...

". It spurned the outcome of the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

, recognising King James's divine right to the Irish crown over William of Orange's parliamentary one. William, made King of England during the revolution, was set on conquering Ireland from James, and to achieve that end he launched the

Williamite War The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called th ...

. Richard was diametrically opposed to the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 was passed by the Parliament of Ireland, Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Oliver Cromwell, Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists f ...

(he was the author of ''A Letter from Coventry'', an anti-settlement pamphlet), which had punished royalists and Catholics who had fought against parliament in the

Civil Wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

; he unsuccessfully advocated its repeal in this session.D'Alton, p 149. James's

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The Ar ...

forces were routed by William's at the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...

, in 1690; King James retreated to Dublin. It was here he convened a council that advised him to flee to France. Nagle was one of its members. They reasoned that if he did not leave "he would run a great risk of being taken by the enemy". James followed their advice. Nagle, accompanied by Tyrconnell, visited him at his court-in-exile, Saint Germain, at the end of 1690.D'Alton, p 150. In Nagle's absence, his duties as Secretary of State were executed by the Baron Nugent of Riverston. Upon the death of Tyrconnell, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Nagle became one of the Lords Justice of Ireland. The others were Francis Plowden and Baron Fitton of Gawsworth. They administered what remained of Jacobite Ireland in the place of the Lord Lieutenant, though they did not assume command of the armed forces.Murray, p 223. Sir Richard Nagle married Jane (Joan) O'Kearney on 19 September 1669 at Clonbrogan, Ireland. Jane's sister, Mary O'Kearney, married Sir Richard's brother, Pierce Nagle of Annakissy, the high sheriff of County Cork in 1689.

Bibliography

References

*Corp, Edward T: ''A Court in Exile: the Stuarts in France, 1689–1718''. Cambridge University Press. 2009. *Cruise O' Brien, Conor: ''The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke.'' Chicago University Press. 1993. *D'Alton, John: ''King James' Irish Army List''. IGF. 1997. *Gibson, CB: ''The History of the County and City of Cork – Volume II''. READ BOOKS. 2008. *Historical and Archaeological Society, Cork: ''Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society''. The Society. 1917. *Murray, Robert Henry: ''Revolutionary Ireland and its Settlement''. Macmillan. 1911. *Seward, Paul: ''Parliamentary History: Speakers and Speakership''. Blackwell Publishing. 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagle, Richard Politicians from County Cork Irish Jacobites 1636 births 1699 deaths Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Irish MPs 1689 Speakers of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801)