fessor Weiss, “Alternately a military leader and a diplomatic negotiator, he evinced a rare capacity for business, and a valour which nothing could daunt.”
Sec. 4 — His Services as Major-General, the Viscount Galway.
The commander-in-chief and his generals were received with all honours at Dublin on the 3d November, and were entertained at a splendid banquet by the magistrates on the 21st of that month, Sir Michael Mitchell being Lord Mayor, and re-elected thereafter for another year. Luttrell says, at London, about 14th November, “The Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, Monsieur Ruvigny, and several other general officers, are arrived here from Ireland.” On the 4th January 1692, General Ghinkel was waited upon at his lodgings in London by a deputation of seven members of Parliament, headed by Viscount Castleton and Sir Henry Goodrick, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, bearing the thanks of the House of Commons to him and his officers. They were next honoured by a public dinner from the city of London, which took place in February in Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Stampe, presiding.
Henry, Viscount Sydney (afterwards the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland), was in the beginning of 1692 the acting Lord Justice and Chief Governor. On the 27th February, says Luttrell, “Monsieur Ruvigny was made Lieutenant-General of all the forces in Ireland, independent of the Lord Sidney.” His military rank, however, was still Major-General, while Mackay was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General; and it was not King William’s fault that Mackay was not raised to a Scottish title of nobility.
The commander-in-chief, Baron de Ghinkel, was enrolled in the peerage of Ireland as Earl of Athlone. Ruvigny had in his person all the claims of his father and of the Huguenot soldiery for a similar royal recognition; he also was named by De Ghinkel as the most eminent of the gallant winners of the field of Aughrim. The king also designed him to serve him in Ireland, and to take the superintendence of a scheme of Protestant colonisation in that kingdom. He therefore was created Viscount Galway and Baron of Portarlington; the barony was the name of the landed estate which the king designed for him. The date of the king’s letter was the 3d of March 1692, “taking into our princely consideration the many good and acceptable services performed unto us by Henry de Massue de Ruvigny.” Henceforth his countrymen, with great pride and gratification, styled him Milord Gallway (or Galloway).
An Irish nobleman who bore that title had fallen at the Battle of Aughrim, fighting in the Jacobite army. He commanded an infantry regiment, and is described as “a nobleman of true courage and endowed with many good qualities.” The title of Viscount Galway was one of several honours, both English and Irish, heaped upon Richard Bourk or De Burgh, fourth Earl of Clanricarde. It expired with the fifth earl, along with a marquisate of Clanricarde given to him by Charles I. Richard and William, the cousins of the marquis, becoming successively sixth and seventh Earls of Clanricarde, Ulrick Bourk, a younger son of the latter, was created Viscount Galway in 1687. In Colonel O’Kelly’s enigmatical history of this war, entitled “Macariae Excidium,” he is called Ulysses, Lord of Cithera. This lord having fallen in battle, the Marquis De Ruvigny was free to choose the title of Viscount Galway, the county of Galway (in which Aughrim was situated) being referred to, and not the town.
As soon as the king had set out for Holland in March 1692 Lord Galway left London en route for Dublin to take the command of the forces in Ireland. His aide-de-camp and staff, whom he had sent on before him, he overtook at Coventry, and delighted with the sight of £4000 entrusted to him for satisfying arrears of pay. They again met at Chester, he being received with a salute of cannon, the garrison turning out to present arms and the city flag flying. He and his suite sailed in a yacht from Neston, and on arriving at the mouth of the Liffey, a gun was fired and boats came off, which safely deposited the Commander of the Forces within the metropolis of Ireland. Lord Galway was lodged (says Dumont de Bostaquet) on the quay of Dublin, near Essex Bridge, and was there waited upon by the Lords Justices, the Lord Chancellor, the Mayor, and the Aldermen. Soon he was immersed in the business of his office, crowds of officers having to be received and to be satisfied as to the arrears of pay. In about a fortnight Lord Galway set out on a tour of visitation to the military quarters, both maritime and inland. At Athlone he was entertained by Lieut-Colonel de Montault, who was in command of Cambon’s regiment. The heart of Ruvigny was touched with the poverty of the inhabitants, many
