Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Lisburne (1647 – 15 September 1691) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

peer and military commander. Rathfarnham Castle

He was the second son of Sir Arthur Loftus of

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

, co.

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and Lady Dorothy Boyle, daughter of

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as 'the Great Earl of Cork', was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continu ...

. His paternal grandfather was Adam Loftus. He was Ranger of

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

and of the King's parks in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and a Master of the

Court of Requests The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor ...

. From 1685 he was a member of 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 ...

and on 29 January 1686, King James II created him Baron of Rathfarnham and Viscount Lisburne in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

. A

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, he nevertheless took the Whig side in the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

and in 1689 commanded an English regiment in Ireland as the first Colonel of the

39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot The 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot to form the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881. History Early ...

. On 15 September 1691 he was killed by a cannonball at the Siege of Limerick. He had married twice: firstly Lucy, the second daughter of George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos, with whom he had a daughter, Lucy and secondly Dorothy, the daughter of Patrick Allen. He had no heir and thus both titles became extinct. His daughter Lucy married

Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton, Privy Council of England, PC (August 1648 – 12 April 1715) was an English peer and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. A man of great charm and political ability, he was also notoriou ...

who it is generally thought wrote the words of Liliburlero, and despite his notoriously debauched lifestyle, was a dominant force in English politics from the 1690s to his death in 1715.

References

* 1647 births 1691 deaths 17th-century Anglo-Irish people People from Rathfarnham Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by James II Irish soldiers in the British Army

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

Whig (British political party) politicians Members of the Privy Council of Ireland {{Ireland-viscount-stub