Field Marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

 Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon PC

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 (1675 – 20 December 1740) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 military officer and statesman.

Military career

Born in Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, Boyle started his military career as a volunteer in the service of the Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG KT was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormonde...

 at the Battle of the Boyne

Battle of the Boyne

The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...

 in 1690. He went on to fight in the Battle of Landen

Battle of Landen

The Battle of Landen , in the current Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, was a battle in the Nine Years' War, fought in present-day Belgium on 29 July 1693 between the French army of Marshal Luxembourg and the Allied army of King William III of England...

 in 1693. He was commissioned into Ormonde's Troop of Horse Guards the following year.

Boyle inherited the title of Viscount Shannon

Viscount Shannon

Viscount Shannon, in the County of Limerick, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1660 for the Honourable Francis Boyle, fourth son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. He was succeeded by his grandson, the second Viscount. He was a Field Marshal in the Army and served as...

 from his paternal grandfather, Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon

Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon

Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon : the Hon. Francis Boyle, fourth son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork was created a Viscount in 1660. He married Elizabeth Killigrew, the sister of Thomas Killigrew, the dramatist who joined Charles II during his period of exile and later became Master of the...

, in 1699. He entered the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 in 1708 as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Arundel

Arundel (UK Parliament constituency)

Arundel was twice a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The first incarnation strictly comprised the town centre of Arundel and was a borough constituency first enfranchised in 1332 and disfranchised in 1868 under the Reform...

, then he served successively as MP for Hythe

Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)

Hythe was a constituency centred on the town of Hythe in Kent. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons until 1832, when its representation was reduced to one member...

 and East Grinstead

East Grinstead (UK Parliament constituency)

East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. It first existed as a Parliamentary borough from 1307, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons elected by the bloc vote system...

. In 1720, Boyle was constituted the Commander in Chief of the Irish

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...

 military forces by King George II. In 1739, he received a promotion to the rank of field marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

; however, he died a year after receiving it.

Family

On 7 July 1702, he married Mary Sackville, widow of Lionel Boyle, 3rd Earl of Orrery

Lionel Boyle, 3rd Earl of Orrery

Lionel Boyle, 3rd Earl of Orrery , styled Lord Broghill between 1679 and 1682, was an Anglo-Irish politician....

, who died twelve years later, bearing no children. In January 1720, Boyle remarried, this time to Grace Senhouse, and they had one child, Grace Boyle, Countess of Middlesex.