Redmond Roche

Redmond Roche (c. 1610 – after 1654) was an Irish politician who sat for Cork County in the Parliament of 1640–1649.

Birth and origins[]

Redmond was born about 1610^[a] probably at Castletownroche in Munster, Ireland. He was the fifth and youngest son of David Roche and his wife Joan Barry. His father had succeeded in 1600 as the 7th .^[1] As son of a viscount Redmond was entitled to the honorific "The Honourable" from birth. His father's family, the Roches, were Old English and descended from Adam de Rupe who had come to Ireland from Wales with Robert FitzStephen.^[2] Redmond's mother was a daughter of .^[3] Redmond's mother's family, the de Barrys, were Old English like his father's and descended from Philip de Barry, who had come to Ireland from Wales in 1183.^[4]

Marriages[]

Roche married first Jane Dowdall, the third daughter of Sir John Dowdall and his wife Elizabeth Southwell.

Redmond and Jane had one daughter:

• Jane, who married Richard Waller, Esq. of Dublin.

His first wife died before 1638.^[15]

He married secondly after 1636 Alice Smith, widow of William Wiseman of Bandon (died in 1636), daughter of Sir Richard Smith of Ballinatray and his wife Mary Boyle, sister of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork.

Nothing is known about children he may have had from the second marriage.

It is significant that both wives were Protestants.

Parliament[]

In the Irish general election for the Parliament of 1640–1649,^[d] the second Irish Parliament of Charles I, Roche's nephew by marriage Sir Donough MacCarty was returned as member (MP) for Cork County. MacCarty's father, the 1st Lord Muskerry had in 1599 married Roche's eldest sister Helen as his second wife.^[10] Helen was thus MacCarty's stepmother and Roche was his uncle by marriage. County MPs were then known as knights of the shire.^[19] Traditionally they had to be knights and the MacCartys had arranged for him to be knighted before his first term in the Irish Parliament of 1634–1635.^[20]

On 20 February 1641, MacCarty succeeded his father as the 2nd Viscount Muskerry. He had to give up his seat in the House of Commons to take his father's seat in the House of Lords. Roche contested and won the resulting by-election some time early in 1641.^[21] He had never been knighted and therefore became a knight of the shire who was only an esquire. This was already well accepted in the 17th century. The parliamentarian records show that at the time Roche lived at Caherduggan Castle, a tower house that stood along the road between Mallow and Doneraile.^[e]

Irish wars[]

Phelim O'Neill launched the Irish Rebellion of 1641 from the northern province of Ulster in October 1641.^[23] Redmond's brother Maurice, Lord Fermoy, was one of the first of the Catholic noblemen of Munster to join the rebellion and was its leader in the early times. Roche initially supported William St Leger and accompanied him on his expedition into County Waterford to repress the rebellion there,^[24] but later followed his family into the rebellion despite his links to the Boyles through his second wife. On 22 June 1642 Roche was expelled from parliament for having joined the rebels.^[25] Lady Dowdall, his mother in law by his first wife, Jane Dowdall, defended in 1642 but had to surrender it on 29 July 1642.

Roche surprised and seized Caherduggan Castle in April 1644.^[26]

Death[]

Redmond Roche died after 1654.^[27]

Notes, citations, and sources[]

Notes[]

Citations[]

Sources[]

• Asch, Ronald G. (2004). "Wentworth, Thomas, first earl of Strafford (1593–1641)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 56. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 142–157. ISBN 0-19-861408-X.
• Atkinson, Charles Francis (1911). "Great Rebellion" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 403–421, see page 420.
• Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348. – (for MacCarty and Roche)
• Coffey, Diarmid (1914). O'Neill and Ormond – A Chapter of Irish History. Dublin: Maunsel & Company. OCLC 906164979.
• Cusack, Mary Francis (1871). A Compendium of Irish History. Boston: Patrick Donahoe. OCLC 873009963.
• Dunlop, Robert (1898). "Roche, David, Viscount Fermoy (1573?–635)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 49. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. p. 68. OCLC 8544105.
• Dunlop, Robert; Cunningham, Bernadette (2004). "Roche, David, seventh viscount Roche of Fermoy (1573?–1635)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 47. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 460–461. ISBN 978-0-1986-1397-8.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. (for timeline)
• Furnivall, Frederick J. (1896). The English Conquest of Ireland A.D. 1166–185. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. OCLC 697742469.
• Gerard, John (1913). "Chronology, General". In Herbermann, Charles George (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 3. New York: The Encyclopedia Press. pp. 738–742. OCLC 1157968788.
• Harris, William Torrey (1930). Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language. Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Company. OCLC 1158283506.
• House of Commons (1878). Return. Members of Parliament – Part II. Parliaments of Great Britain, 1705–1796. Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1801–1874. Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of Scotland, 1357–1707. Parliaments of Ireland, 1599–1800. London: H. M. Stationery Office. OCLC 13112546.
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. 6. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts, barons
• McGrath, Brid (1997). "Redmond Roche Cork County". A Biographical Dictionary of the Membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640 to 1641 (Thesis). 1. Dublin: Trinity College. pp. 257–258. – Parliaments & Biographies (PDF downloaded from given URL)
• Nicholl, John (September 2016). "Some leather finds from Caherduggan Castle, Doneraile, Co. Cork. Ireland". Newsletter of the Archaeological Leather Group (44).
• O'Hart, John (1892). Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. 1 (5th ed.). Dublin: James Duffy & Co. OCLC 7239210. – Irish stem
• Ohlmeyer, Jane H. (2004). "MacCarthy, Donough, first earl of Clancarty (1594–1665)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 35. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 107–108. ISBN 0-19-861385-7.
• Ó Siochrú, Micheál. "MacCarthy, Donough". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 23 December 2020. – Online edition
• O'Sullivan, Mary D. (1983) [1st pub. 1942]. Old Galloway: the history of a Norman colony in Ireland. Galway: Kennys Bookshops and Art Galleries. ISBN 978-0-906312-21-6.
• Warner, Ferdinand (1768). History of the Rebellion and Civil-War in Ireland. 1. Dublin: James William. OCLC 82770539. – 1641 to 1643
• Perceval-Maxwell, Michael (1994). The Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. ISBN 0-7735-1157-1. – Preview