Justin MacCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel

Justin McCarthy, 1st Viscount Mountcashel, PC (Ire) ( – 1694), was a Jacobite general in the Williamite War in Ireland and a personal friend of James II. He commanded Irish Army troops during the conflict, enjoying initial success when he seized Bandon in County Cork in 1689. However, he was defeated and captured at the Battle of Newtownbutler later in the same year. He escaped and was accused of having broken parole. After the end of the war, he led an Irish Brigade overseas for service in the French Army. He died in French exile.

Birth and origins

Justin was born about 1643, probably in Blarney, County Cork, Ireland. He was the third son of Donough McCarthy and his wife Eleanor Butler. At the time of his birth, Justin's father was the 2nd Viscount Muskerry, but he would be advanced to Earl of Clancarty in 1658. His father's family were the MacCartys of Muskerry, a Gaelic Irish dynasty that branched from the MacCarthy-Mor line with Dermot MacCarthy, second son of Cormac MacCarthy-Mor, a medieval Prince of Desmond. This second son had been granted the Muskerry area as appanage.

Justin's mother was the eldest sister of James Butler, at that time Marquess of Ormond. Her family, the Butlers, were Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. Justin's parents were both Catholic; they had married before 1641.

Irish wars

Justin was born during the Irish Confederate Wars in the part of Ireland that was then held by the Irish confederacy. His father was then a member of the confederacy's Supreme Council and commander of its Munster army. Justin was two in 1645 when his mother hosted Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, sent as nuncio to Ireland by Pope Innocent X, at Macroom Castle. His father opposed Rinuccini's dealings in Irish politics and when the nuncio seized power in a coup d'état in 1646, Justin's father was detained at Kilkenny Castle and stripped of the command of the Munster Army.

Exile

In April 1650 his family lost Macroom Castle, where Justin had spent his childhood, in the context of the Battle of Macroom. Around that time, anticipating the loss of Macroom or because of it, his father sent Justin, his mother, and sisters to security in France. His mother then lived in Paris, in the convent of the Feuillantines.

After Rinuccini's departure, his father fought the Parliamentarians in the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. Muskerry fought to the bitter end, surrendering Ross Castle near Killarney to Edmund Ludlow in June 1652.

In 1658 his father was created Earl of Clancarty by Charles II in Brussels, where he was then in exile.215, line 2
/> By this advancement the title of the viscount of Muskerry became a subsidiary title of the family, which was given as courtesy title to the Earl's heir apparent, at that time his eldest brother Charles, who was therefore styled Viscount Muskerry thereafter.

Restoration

The family had their property confiscated under the Cromwellian regime, but it was restored to them at the Restoration of Charles II. Justin seems to have grown up mainly in France. He became a professional soldier and showed great skill in his profession, but poor eyesight hampered his career. He entered the French army in 1671, and then transferred to the Duke of Monmouth's regiment, then in French pay, and served against the Dutch.

On 4 March 1665, the Second Anglo-Dutch War broke out. Three months into the war, on 3 June 1665 O.S., his brother Charles, Lord Muskerry, was killed on the flagship, the ''Royal Charles'', in the Battle of Lowestoft, the first major naval engagement of the war and an English victory.215, line 13
/> His brother had an infant son, also named Charles, who succeeded him as heir apparent and was, therefore, styled Viscount of Muskerry. However, their father, the 1st Earl, died two months later, on 4 August 1665, and the younger Charles succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Clancarty. The 2nd Earl died about a year later, on 22 September 1666, still an infant. Thereupon Callaghan, the infant's uncle, succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Clancarty.

Justin McCarthy came to England in 1678 and was befriended by the future James II, who generally chose soldiers, especially Irish soldiers, as his boon companions. Charles II decided to use his services in Ireland, and made him a colonel in Sir Thomas Dongan's regiment. On the outbreak of the Popish Plot, however, the discovery of Colonel McCarthy's presence at Whitehall caused uproar: he fled the country, and the Secretary of State, Sir Joseph Williamson, who had issued his commission, was sent to the Tower of London.

Meddling in nephew's marriage

By 1683 Colonel MacCarthy was at Court again, where his growing influence was shown by the marriage he arranged for his immensely wealthy ne