William Dongan, 1st Earl of Limerick (1630 – 1698) was an Irish Jacobite soldier and peer.

Biography

Dongan was the second son of Sir John Dongan, 2nd Baronet and Mary Talbot, daughter of

Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet (died 1634), was an Irish lawyer and politician. He sat as MP for County Kildare in the Parliament of 1613–1615 and was in 1628 one of the negotiators of the Graces. However, he is probably mainly remembered ...

. His older brother, Sir Walter Dongan, 3rd Baronet, was involved in the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and ...

. Dongan was declared innocent of any involvement in the rebellion and was in the service of

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

during his exile in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. Following the

Stuart Restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

, Dongan returned to Ireland, was restored to his lands and created Viscount Dungan 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 ...

in 1661, thereafter taking his seat in the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until the end of 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of Englan ...

. He succeeded Walter as

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in February 1662. During the 1660s and 1670s, he was closely associated with the attempts of his uncle, Richard Talbot, to secure better land concessions for Irish Catholics following the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 ( 14 & 15 Chas. 2. Sess. 4. c. 2 (I)) was an act of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists ...

. Owing to the influence of his uncle, Dongan profited from the accession of James II in 1685. In January 1686 Dongan was created Earl of Limerick, also in the Peerage of Ireland, and in May of that year he was made 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 ...

. In 1689 he raised a regiment, Lord Dongan’s Dragoons, in support of James during the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobitism, Jacobite supporters of James II of England, James II and those of his successor, William III of England, William III, it resulted in a Williamit ...

. He attended the brief

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 ...

summoned by James in Dublin in 1689. Following the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ) took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Sc ...

, Dongan fled to France in the

Flight of the Wild Geese The Flight of the Wild Geese was the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland ...

and he was

attainted In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

in 1691. His estate, amounting to 3,000 acres, was granted to

Godert de Ginkel, 1st Earl of Athlone Godard van Reede, 1st Earl of Athlone (14 June 1644 – 11 February 1703) was a Dutch States Army officer and nobleman who rose to prominence during the Williamite War in Ireland. During the Franco-Dutch War, his bravery and meticulous execution ...

; a grant later revoked by the English Parliament. Dongan died in exile in France in 1698. He had married Euphemia Maria, daughter of Sir Richard Chamber, in Spain. Their only son, Walter Dungan, Viscount Dungan, was killed while fighting for the Jacobites at the Battle of Boyne. Consequently, Dongan was succeeded in his titles by his younger brother,

Thomas Dongan Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715) was an Irish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New York from 1683 to 1688. He called the first representative legislature in the Province o ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Limerick, William Dongan, 1st Earl of 1630 births 1698 deaths 17th-century Irish nobility 1 Irish expatriates in France Irish Jacobites Members of the Irish House of Lords Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II People convicted under a bill of attainder Wild Geese (soldiers)