Letter from Belfast to Lord Blayney
From Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689 by Thomas Witherow
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APPENDIX 13
LETTER FROM BELFAST TO LORD BLAYNEY.
My Lord,—We herewith send you a copy of the Capitulation betwixt Lord Mountjoy and the City of Derry whereupon that place was put into the hands of Lieut.-Col. Lundy. We also send your Lordship a narrative of what passed betwixt my Lord Mountjoy and a gentleman we intrusted from hence, to manage both with his Lordship and the city; by all which your Lordship may perceive, that Lord Mountjoy proposeth managing the Protestant interest by less hazardous means than was intended, and we are unwilling to suspect his Lordship's sincerity, and think it may be prejudicial to us as yet to thwart his Lordship. Whereupon, we think it most advisable for us to defer putting anything in execution till a new notice is given, and that in the meantime we may take care that his Lordship be discovered herein, and we thereby judge what are the measures most proper for us to subdue. We believe your Lordship hath wrote to Lord Granard and Lord Kingston, and we now desire that you will, with the utmost speed, give them and other our friends intimation of this our altering our resolutions with the motives thereunto. We also desire that you would acquaint Lord Granard, that we do however rely so much on him, that if he judges our method best, and either hath or will make any steps towards countenancing thereof, so as to think his honour in the least engaged, that we will all unanimously stand by him. Your Lordship perceives, that it is likewise intended, that Enniskillen submit as Derry hath done. We refer it to your Lordship to consider if means ought to be used, that they at least delay so doing, and for your Lordship to act therein or prevent it as you think fit, etc.
BELFAST, Dec. 26th. 1
1 Further Account, p. 12.
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Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689
Thomas Witherow's thoroughly researched and well-annotated work is a classic account of the Siege of Derry, from the shutting of the gates against the Jacobite forces by the thirteen apprentice boys to the relief of the city by Major-General Kirke's fleet in July 1689. The defence of Enniskillen and the counteroffensive actions of the Enniskilleners is also ably documented.
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Fighters of Derry
William R. Young’s Fighters of Derry has for decades been one of the most overlooked works on the Siege of Derry and as a local genealogical resource. First published in 1932, the book was the product of ten years’ research into identifying participants at the siege which the author undertook when suffering from ill-health in the latter part of his life.
The book is essentially divided into two parts: the first contains 1660 biographical entries relating to the defenders of Derry, tracing, where possible, the family lineage; and the second part includes 352 entries on the Jacobite side. Apart from individual accounts of eminent protagonists in the siege, such as David Cairnes, Rev. George Walker, the Duke of Schomberg, Patrick Sarsfield, etc., there is also background given to many of the most influential families involved in the conflict.
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The Actions of the Enniskillen-men
While the epic siege of Derry is usually accorded its proper place in history, the contemporaneous exploits of the Enniskillen men are often overlooked. This is manifestly unjust because the Enniskilleners demonstrated bravery and heroism in battle at least equal to that of the defenders of Londonderry. Some, of course, rate the actions of the Enniskillen men more highly. As far as Revd Andrew Hamilton, the Rector of Kilskeery and author of A True Relation of the Actions of the Inniskilling Men (1690), was concerned ‘The Derry men saved a city but the Enniskilleners saved a kingdom.’
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