Viscount Sir Theobald Bourke

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Bourke, Sir Theobald, Viscount, son of Sir Richard Bourke and Grace O'Malley, is said to have been born at sea in 1575. He was called in Irish "Tibbot-na-long" (Theobald of the ships). Lodge says he was cashiered from his command in Elizabeth's forces, for hanging Dermot O'Conor, a Connaught chieftain, who was under the President's protection. In 1597 he was sent to England, apparently as a prisoner. After his return, in 1599, he for a time sided with O'Neill, but ultimately espoused the government side, and was knighted after the battle of Kinsale for his "gallant and loyal behaviour." He and his half-brothers, Murrough and Donnell O'Flaherty, surrendered their estates to James I., and received them back on a Crown grant. In 1613 he represented the County of Mayo in Parliament, and in 1626 was created Viscount Bourke of Mayo. He died 18th June 1629, and was buried with his ancestors at Ballintober.

Sources

216. Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, Revised and Enlarged by Mervyn Archdall. 7 vols. Dublin, 1789.

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