James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven (c. 1617 – 11 October 1684) was the son of Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven

Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven

Mervyn Touchet , 2nd Earl of Castlehaven , convicted rapist and sodomite, was the son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and his wife, née Lucy Mervyn. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and 12th Baron Audley on 20 February 1616/7...

 and his first wife, Elizabeth Barnham (1592 – c. 1622). Castlehaven played a prominent role in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...

 that took place in the middle of the 17th century, and was particularly active in the conflicts in Ireland at this time.

Titles and Family

He succeeded to the Irish earldom of Castlehaven

Earl of Castlehaven

Earl of Castlehaven was a peerage title in the Peerage of Ireland, created on September 6, 1616. It was held in conjunction with the Barony of Audley , the Barony of Audley of Orier , and the Barony of Audley of Hely .Upon...

 and Baron Audley of Orier on 14 May 1631, when his father was attainted and beheaded. Most of his estates in England were taken over by others.

He was created Baron Audley of Hely with remainder "to his heirs forever" on 3 June 1633, with place and precedency of George, his grandfather, formerly Baron Audley

Baron Audley

The title Baron Audley was first created on 8 January 1313 by writ in the Peerage of England for Nicholas Audley of Heighley Castle a member of the Audley family of Staffordshire.....

, in an effort to nullify his father's attainder. However, this was considered insufficient, legally, until a bill was passed by Parliament in 1678 allowing him to inherit the original Barony of Audley.

He married twice, first Elizabeth Brydges, daughter of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos

Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos

Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos was an English nobleman and courtier.-Early life:He was the only son of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, who died on 18 November 1602, and Mary Hopton, who was daughter of Sir Owen Hopton. He was M.P. for Cricklade, in 1597.Brydges and his family were friendly...

 and of his wife Lady Anne Stanley (1580–1647), who married the 2nd Earl of Castlehaven after Lord Chandos' death. (Anne Stanley was thus both the 3rd Earl's stepmother, and his mother-in-law.) He married secondly, about 19 June 1679, Elizabeth Graves.

War in Ireland

Castlehaven was involved in the defence of Ireland during the Confederate Wars

Irish Confederate Wars

This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....

 of the 1640s and in the subsequent Cromwellian invasion. During the outbreak of the Irish uprising

Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...

 in 1641-42, Castlehaven volunteered to help suppress the Irish rebels, but because he was a Catholic he was not trusted to take command. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested and detained at Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

. Fearing that he would meet the same fate of the Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...

, Tuchet manage to escape with the help of a friend and fled south into the Wicklow Mountains

Wicklow Mountains

The Wicklow Mountains form the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into Counties Carlow, Wexford and Dublin. Where the mountains extend into County Dublin, they are known locally as the Dublin Mountains...

, and from there made his way to the town of Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

, which had sided with the Irish insurgency.

Even though he considered himself English, he was appointed a member of the 25 strong Supreme council of the Confederation of Kilkenny. In 1644 the Irish Confederate Supreme Council decided to vote for Castlehaven as the commander of a 6,000 strong expedition force in a push against the Ulster Scottish army under Robert Monro. The campaign under Castlehaven proved indecisive, the large army being mostly used to defend the stronghold of Charlemont

Charlemont Fort

Charlemont Fort was a garrison built in Charlemont, County Armagh in 1602 by Lord Mountjoy. It was destroyed in 1920 by fire and the only building remaining today is the gatehouse. The name Charlemont came from Charles Blount's Christian name...

. Historians generally consider the expedition to have been a wasted opportunity: as a result of this, Owen Roe O'Neill

Owen Roe O'Neill

Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill , anglicised as Owen Roe O'Neill , was a seventeenth century soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster.- In Spanish service :...

 considered Castlehaven to be incompetent and Thomas Preston

Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara

Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara was an Irish soldier of the 17th century. He was a descendant of Sir Robert de Preston, who in 1363 purchased the lands of Gormanston, County Meath, and who was keeper of the Great Seal in Ireland some years later....

 also developed a dislike of him. (Castlehaven somewhat unconvincingly later blamed O'Neill for the failure of the expedition). That said, Castlehaven was not entirely lacking in military ability. Apart from Owen Roe O'Neill, he proved to be the only Irish Confederate commander capable of winning conventional set-piece battles. In 1643 he surprised and routed hundreds of Inchiquin's men in county Cork at the ford of the river Funcheon. In 1650 he won a second small (though inconsequential) victory over an English Parliamentarian force during the battle of Tecroghan

Battle of Tecroghan

The Battle of Tecroghan took place near Trim, in west Leinster, Ireland in June 1650. It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland and the English Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An English force under Hewson and Reynolds had surrounded the formidable castle of Tecroghan...

 with some aid from Ulick Burke

Ulick Burke

Ulick Burke, Bourk or Burgh is the name of:* Ulick Burke of Umhaill , founder of the Bourkes of the Owles* Ulick Burke of Annaghkeen , first head of the Clanricarde* Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde...

. The great weakness of Castlehaven was that he was largely an amateur, lacking the patience to conduct sieges and somewhat touchy- it is said that some referred to him as Tiarna Beag or 'Little Lord.'

Later Years

Castlehaven wrote his memoirs in 1681 in response to the hysteria of the Popish Plot

Popish Plot

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...

.

He died sine prole 11 October 1686, at Kilcash Castle

Kilcash Castle

Kilcash Castle is a ruined castle off the N24 road just west of Ballydine in South Tipperary, Ireland. The castle consists of a fortified sixteenth-century tower and an adjoining hall added at a later date.-History:...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and was succeeded in the Earldom by his youngest brother Mervyn. Mervyn's older brother George was passed over by virtue of being a Benedictine monk.

Sources

• Dictionary of National biography
• Biography