Boyle was born at Canterbury on 3 October 1566, the second son of Roger Boyle (d. 24 March 1576 at Preston, near Faversham in Kent), a descendant of an ancient landed Herefordshire family, and of Joan (15 October 1529 –20 … See more

In 1602, Richard Boyle bought Sir Walter Raleigh's estates of 42,000 acres (170 km ) for £1,500 (£364,720 in 2021) in the counties of Cork (including Myrtle Grove), Waterford See more

Lord Cork has been described as the "first colonial millionaire".
Historian Roy Foster, in his Modern Ireland, calls him an 'epitome of Elizabethan adventurer-colonist … See more

Boyle by this time had been the object of the attacks of Sir Henry Wallop, Treasurer at War, Sir Robert Gardiner, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Sir Robert Dillon, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and Sir Richard Bingham, Chief Commissioner of Connaught, … See more

The Great Earl's most famous enemy was Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Strafford arrived in Ireland in 1633 as Lord Deputy, and at first successfully deprived Boyle of much of his privilege and income. Boyle patiently husbanded forces in opposition to … See more

By his second wife, Catherine Fenton, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton and his wife Alice Weston, the 1st Earl of Cork had fifteen children:
• Roger Boyle (1 August 1606, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland–10 October 1615, Deptford, … See more