Laurence Esmonde, 1st Baron Esmonde

Sir Laurence Esmonde, 1st Baron Esmonde (1570?–1646), was an Irish peer who held office as governor of the crucial fort of Duncannon. He was a leading Irish Royalist commander in the English Civil War, but was later suspected of disloyalty and forced to surrender Duncannon. He was the ancestor of the Esmonde Baronets.

Early life

Esmonde was the second son of Walter Esmonde of Johnstown, Wexford, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Michael Furlong of Horetown. He became a convert to Protestantism and served with credit against Spain in the Low Countries. In 1599 he was appointed to the command of 150 foot, and was actively engaged during the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill; and it appears from a letter of his to Lord Shrewsbury that he even endeavoured to procure the assassination or banishment of O'Neill but in this he was unsuccessful. His services were, however, rewarded with the honour of knighthood.

During one of his expeditions into Connaught he fell in love with the sister of Morrough O'Flaherty, whom he married, and by whom he had a son Thomas; but the lady was as remarkable for her Roman Catholic faith as for her personal charms, and fearing lest her infant son might be brought up a Protestant, she fled with him to her family in Connaught. Esmonde thereupon repudiated her and married the twice-widowed Ellice, or Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Walter Butler, fourth son of James, ninth earl of Ormonde.^[1] In December 1606 he succeeded Sir Josias Bodley as governor of the important fort of Duncannon, a post which he continued to hold till his death in 1646. In 1611, on the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester planning a plantation in Wexford, he and Sir Edward Fisher were appointed to survey the confiscated territory, and for his services he was rewarded with a grant of fifteen hundred acres.

Later career

In 1619, having purchased a grant of certain lands in Wicklow from Sir Patrick Maule, Esmonde became involved in a transaction known as the case of Phelim MacPheagh O'Byrne, which was thought to reflect discredit on him. He was charged with packing juries and torturing witnesses in order to wrest the land out of the possession of the O'Byrnes.^[2] The "finding of title" by Anglo-Irish and New English landowners to dispossess the Old Irish had become a common practice and the original landowners were largely helpless to resist these attacks on their rights. O'Byrne's charges against Esmonde were dismissed and he in turn was convicted of perjury and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. O'Byrne however was undeterred, addressing a flood of petitions to the English Crown, accusing Esmonde and the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Falkland, of conspiracy and perjury. O'Byrne did not regain his lands but he did damage his enemies' reputations, and Falkland's recall was thought to be partly due to the O'Byrne case.^[3] Wedgwood, in her biography of the Earl of Strafford, notes that Strafford himself, when Lord Deputy, acquired much of the O'Byrne property by less than scrupulous means; bad as Esmonde's conduct may have been, it does not seem to have been any worse than that of many of his contemporaries.

Peerage

He owned large properties in Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, and was created Baron Esmonde of Lymbricke, Wexford, on 20 May 1632. The peerage was destined to die with him: his second marriage produced no heir, and while he treated his only son Thomas generously enough, he would not admit that his marriage to Thomas's mother was lawful.

Attack on Strafford

In 1639 he was summoned before the Star Chamber for having conspired with Lord Mountnorris and Sir Piers Crosby to libel the Lord Deputy, the Earl of Strafford, in the matter of one Robert Esmonde, a relative of Lord Esmonde, whose death Strafford was accused of causing by ill-treatment while he was being questioned about customs evasions.^[4] Stafford, a formidable, even at times a terrifying personality, who was then at the height of his power, had the charge dismissed and brought a counter-suit for libel. The charge in fact seems to have been false, but it was one of many accusations repeated at his impeachment two years later. Esmonde was one of many of the Anglo-Irish nobility who helped to bring Strafford down, by supporting the impeachment, which led to his attainder for treason and execution, only to see their own security destroyed in the ensuing Irish Rebellion of 1641.^[5]

Siege of Duncannon

After the outbreak of the English Civil War he seems to have tried to maintain a neutral position between King Charles I and the English Parliament; but by 1646 the suspicions of the Irish Confederacy as to his loyalty had been aroused by the fact that many of his officers and soldiers were Roundheads and had broken the Cessation (the truce which had been signed between the King and the Irish Confederates).. They advised James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde 'to have a care of the fort of Duncannon.' Ormonde was unable or unwilling to interfere, but the Confederates were further alarmed by the defection of Lord Inchiquin to the side of Parliament. On the orders of the Confederacy, General Preston began the Siege of Duncannon in January 1646. The place was 'extremely decayed with age ;' but though 'the governor (Esmonde) was old and unable to act anything in this exigence,' 'the defendants behaved themselves exceeding well.'

The death of Esmond's second in command, Captain Lorcan, however, so discouraged them that they beat a parley, and without consulting Esmonde surrendered the fort on St. Patrick's Day. Next day a relief force from the English Parliament appeared in the river, but finding the place in the enemies' hands immediately sailed away. Esmonde, surviving the surrender of Duncannon by only two months, died at Adamstown, and was buried at Lymbricke in a church he had himself built.

Appearance

He is said to have been a man of 'sanguine complexion, of an indifferent tall stature, a compact, solid, corpulent body, with robustious limbs.'

Inheritance

Having no issue by his second wife Elizabeth Butler, he bequeathed his immense property to Thomas Esmonde, the son of his repudiated first wife. Thomas could not inherit the barony, since his father, while willing to name him as his heir, would not admit his legitimacy, but in 1629 he was created the first of the Esmonde Baronets.

References

1. Burke, Extinct Peerage; Kilkenny Archæological Journal, 1856-7 ; Carew Ca. iv. 93, 397 ; Russell and Prendergast, Irish Cal. iii. 379
2. Irish Cal. ii. 44, iii. 531, iv. 452, v. 124 ; Carte, Ormonde, i. 27-32 ; Gilbert, History of the Confederation, i. 167-217 ; Hickson, Irish Massacres, i. 24-8, 38-46, ii. 263-75; Gardiner History of England, chap. lxxv.
3. Crawford, Jon G. A Star Chamber Court in Ireland- the Court of Castle Chamber 1571-1641 Four Courts Press Dublin 2005 pp.352-3
4. Wedgwood, C.V. Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford 1593-1641 - a revaluation Phoenix Press Reissue 2000 pp.246-7
5. Wedgwood pp.391-3

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Esmonde, Laurence". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.