Early Life
Inchiquin was the eldest son of Dermod O'Brien, 5th Baron of Inchiquin, by Ellen, eldest daughter of Sir Edmond FitzJohn FitzGerald of Cloyne and Ballymaloe House and Honora Fitzmaurice, second daughter of James of Desmond. His grandfather and namesake was killed in July 1597 at the passage of the Erne, fighting for Queen Elizabeth I. It appears from an inquisition taken after the death of his father that Inchiquin was born in September 1614. His wardship was given to Patrick FitzMaurice, and the custody of his property to Sir William St. Leger, lord president of Munster, whose daughter he married. He had a special livery of his lands in 1636, and afterwards went to study war in the Spanish service in Italy. He returned in 1639, and prudently yielded to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford's high-handed scheme for the colonisation of Clare. In a letter to Wentworth, Charles I took notice of this, and directed that he should not "in course of plantation have the fourth part of his lands in that county taken from him as from the other the natives there. On 2 April 1640 he was made vice-president of Munster, and sat as a peer in the Irish Parliament which Strafford held that year.
Read more about this topic: Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl Of Inchiquin
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