Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet

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For other people named Charles Coote, see Charles Coote (disambiguation).

Charles Coote
Baronet Coote of Castle Cuffe
A painted portrait of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty, showing a clean-shaven man with long curly hair or such a wig, clad in armour, standing in front of some drapery giving a view on a distant landscape
Detail from the portrait below
Tenure1621–1642
SuccessorCharles, 1st Earl of Mountrath
Born1581
Died7 May 1642
Spouse(s)Dorothea Cuffe
Issue
Detail		Charles & others
FatherNicholas Coote
MotherEleanor Stanhope

Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet (1581–1642), of Castle Cuffe in Queen's County, was an English soldier, administrator and landowner who lived in Ireland. He fought in the Siege of Kinsale (1601–1602) in the Nine Years' War and led the decisive cavalry charge at the Battle of Kilrush(1642) of the Irish Confederate Wars.

Birth and origins

Charles was born in England, the first son of Sir Nicholas Coote[1] and his second wife, Eleanor Stanhope.[2][3][a] His father was a knight from Blo' Norton in Norfolk.[4] His mother, Eleanor, was a daughter of Sir Michael Stanhope and sister of John Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope (died 1621), who furthered Charles's early career.[2]

Early life

In 1600 Coote moved to Ireland[5] as a captain of a company of 100 men[6] in an infantry regiment in the army of Lord Mountjoy,[7] lord deputy of Ireland, where he fought in the last few years of the Nine Years War and was at the Siege of Kinsale in 1601–1602, which ultimately led to Hugh O'Neill's defeat.

In 1605 Coote was appointed Provost-Marshal of Connaught for life and in 1613 was appointed to the office of General Collector and Receiver of the King's composition money for Connaught, also for life. He was knighted in 1616 by Oliver St John, lord deputy of Ireland.[8]

Marriage and children

Before 1617 Coote married Dorothea, younger daughter and coheir of Hugh Cuffe of Cuffe's Wood, County Cork.[9]

Charles and Dorothea had five children, four sons:[10]

  1. Charles, who would be created Earl of Mountrath.[10]
  2. Chidley[11]
  3. Richard, became Baron Coote of Coloony and was father of Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont[12]
  4. Thomas (died 1671) of Cootehill in County Cavan[13]

—and one daughter[10]

  1. Laetitia, married Sir Francis Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Killock, also called of Killeshandra, County Cavan[14]
Circle of Cornelius Johnson, Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet, ca. 1630

Honours

In 1620 Coote was promoted vice-president of Connaught. On 2 April 1621 he was made a baronet (of Castle Cuffe in Queen's County).[4] He became a substantial landowner and served as a commissioner to examine and contest Irish land titles. In 1634 he was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Queen's County, again for life. He was elected Member of Parliament (M.P.) in the 2nd Irish Parliament of King Charles I for Queen's County in 1640.[15]

Irish rebellion and death

When the Irish Uprising of 1641 began, Coote was appointed governor of Dublin and told to raise a regiment. Enraged by sectarian violence, such as the Portadown Massacre, against Protestants, Coote and his soldiers retaliated with massacres of Catholics and made no distinction in their ethnic cleansing between Gaels and the traditionally Royalist Old English Catholic population of The Pale. Coote then marched south to County Wicklow, and marching north in 1642 defeated the rebels at Swords and Kilsallaghan.

According to William Blundell, "The cruelties of the Irish to the English are in everybody's mouth, and set forth in printed pageants sold in London. Some cruelties, on the contrary part, are those that follow. An English parson that lived in Ireland told me that one of his own coat, born in Wirral in Cheshire and beneficed in Ireland, killed with his own hands one Sunday morning fifty-three of his own parishioners, most or all of them (as I remember) women and children... Colonel Washington told of great cruelties committed by the soldiers against the Irish; among other things, that he saw one take an infant upon his pike and toss it up in the air. Captain Robert Bramwell told me he was in danger of his life from his own party for covering a young gentlewoman with his cloak who had been stripped by them; they afterwards dashed out her brains. One Captain Phillipson (as I take it), one of the English officers, told me that about one hundred or two hundred of unarmed Irish that climbed up to the top of trees to avoid the soldiers, were all killed with shot from below... Archdeacon Prior told me that Major Morice hanged a gentlewoman, only because she looked (as he was pleased to put it) like an Irish lady. The Politician's Catechism relateth briefly other sad particular of this nature. Few of the populous county of Fingal left alive; all perished by fire and sword, being innocent people and having nothing Irish-like in them but the Catholic religion. The army killed man, woman and child in the County of Wicklow. A gentlewoman, big with child, was hanged on the arch of a bridge. Mr. Comain, who never bore arms, was roasted there alive by Captain Gines. They murdered all that came their way from within two miles of Dublin. Mrs. Eustace of Cradockston in the County of Kildare (sister to Sir William Talbot), of eighty years of age, after she had entertained them with victuals, was murdered by the Protestant officers, with another old gentlewoman and a girl of eight years of age. Mr. Cauley of Westmeath, showing his protection, was killed with shot, the protection being laid on his breast to try as if it were proof. Mr. Thomas Talbot, a great servitor in Queen Elizabeth's wars in Ireland, aged ninety years, was murdered though he had a protection. From seven hundred to eight hundred women, children, and labourers were murdered in one day in the King's land within seven miles of Dublin. And yet it may be a question whether those great transplantations to Connaught and to America exceed not all that hath been said."[16]

In addition, Coote was the driving force behind the death by hanging of Friar Peter O'Higgins,[17] the Dominican Prior of Naas who had been responsible for fearlessly saving Protestant lives during the recent sectarian violence in the district surrounding his monastery.[18] Despite the efforts of James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond and the many Protestants whom he had rescued to save his life, Fr. O'Higgins was executed at St Stephen's Green on 24 March 1642.[19]

On 10 April 1642, Ormond sent Coote to relieve the beleaguered garrisons at Birr, Burris, and Knocknamease, after which he rejoined Ormond's main force, which defeated the Irish Confederates at the Battle of Kilrush on the 15th. Coote led the decisive cavalry charge.[20] In early May he helped capture the garrisons of Philipstown and Trim, but was killed at Trim on 7 May 1642 while leading a sally against an Irish force trying to surprise the town.

Legacy

On 22 September 1992 Pope John Paul II beatified Fr. Peter O'Higgins as one of the 17 Irish Catholic Martyrs.[21][22]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Cokayne, however, maintained Coote was the son of his father's first wife, Anne Cooper, a daughter of Thomas Cooper of Thurgarton, in Norfolk.[4]

Citations

  1. ^ Burke 1883, p. 133, right column, line 51. "Sir Nicholas Coote, living in 1636. He had issue, Charles, his heir ..."
  2. ^ a b Armstrong 2009, 1st paragraph, 2nd sentence. "His mother was almost certainly Nicholas Coote's second wife, Eleanor, daughter of Sir Michael Stanhope and his wife, Anne, and sister of the courtier Sir John Stanhope, who sponsored Charles Coote's early career in Ireland, perhaps from 1600."
  3. ^ Lenihan 2004, p. 293. "Coote, Charles, 1st Baronet (d. 1642), soldier and political administrator, was the elder of the two sons of Sir Nicholas Coote and his second wife, Eleanor Stanhope."
  4. ^ a b c G. E. C. 1900, p. 226–227. "Coote: cr. 2 April 1621 ... Sir Charles Coote, Knt., of Castle Cuffe, in Queen's county, 1st s. of Sir Nicholas Coote, of Blownorton, co. Norfolk, by his 1st wife, Anne, da. [daughter] of Thomas Cooper, of Thurgarton, in that county ..."
  5. ^ G. E. C. 1900, p. 227. "... landed in Ireland in 1600, joining the war against O'Neil ..."
  6. ^ Burke 1883, p. 133, right column, line 53. "Sir Charles Coote, removing to Ireland, served in the wars there against O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, as a captain 0f 100 foot."
  7. ^ Henderson 1887, p. 156, left column, line 4. "... first landed in Ireland in 1600 as captain in Mountjoy’s army ..."
  8. ^ Shaw 1906, p. 160, line 1. "1616, Nov. 5. Charles Coote, provost-marshal of Connaught" (in Ireland by Sir Oliver St. John, lord deputy of Ireland)."
  9. ^ Burke 1883, p. 133–134, right column: "Sir Charles Coote m. [married] prior to 1617, Dorothea younger dau. [daughter] and co-heir of Hugh Cuffe, Esq. of Cuffe's Wood, co. Cork ..."
  10. ^ a b c Armstrong 2009, 1st paragraph, last sentence. "They had four sons and one daughter; the eldest son, also Charles (qv), became 1st earl of Mountrath."
  11. ^ Burke 1883, p. 134, left column, line 4: "II. Chidley, of Killester, co. Dublin, a military man like his father ..."
  12. ^ Burke 1883, p. 134, left column, line 85. "III. Ancestor of the Earl of Bellomont"
  13. ^ Burke 1883, p. 134, left column, line 86. "IV. Thomas, of Coote Hill in Cavan; lieut.-col. of the Earl o0f Ossory's regiment of foot ... d.s.p. [predeceased his father] 27 November 1671."
  14. ^ Burke 1883, p. 134, left column, bottom: "Letitia, m. [married] to Sir Francis Hamilton of Killeshandra."
  15. ^ House of Commons 1878, p. 630. "1639 / 5 Mar / Sir Charles Coote, knt. and Bart. / Maryborough / ditto [Queen's County]"
  16. ^ Philip Caraman (1966), The Years of Siege: Catholic Life from James I to Cromwell, Longmans. London. Pp. 91-92.
  17. ^ Borlase & Hyde 1680, p. 265, line 22. "... when the Marquess did not suspect the poor man in danger, he heard that Sir Charles Coot (who was Provost-Martial General) had taken him out of Prison, and caused him to be put to death ..."
  18. ^ Clavin 2009, 3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence. "Ormond presented at least twenty petitions from protestants testifying that Higgins should be spared."
  19. ^ Patrick J. Corish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Pages 148–156.
  20. ^ Bagwell 1909, p. 18. "The English cavalry had it all their own way, Coote charging like a man of thirty."
  21. ^ "Peter O'Higgins OP". Newbridge College.
  22. ^ Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Pages 148–156.

Sources

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(of Castle Cuffe)
1621–1642 		Succeeded by
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