Burke was a younger son of William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde and succeeded his brother Richard. On 2 April 1689, he was created Baron Bourke of Boffin (over the Isle of Inishbofin where Burke is still a common surname amongst the islanders). This creation was made, in the Irish Peerage by the exiled James II, being one of seven peerages created four months after James's exclusion from the English throne.[1] He commanded a foot regiment as its colonel during the Williamite War in Ireland. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691 and outlawed. His younger brother Ulick Burke, 1st Viscount Galway was killed in the same battle.[2]
Burke was attainted, and a bill for his restoration was rejected in 1698. In 1703, however, he obtained a reversal in return for a fine of twenty-five thousand pounds and the commitment that his two eldest sons, Michael and Ulick, would be raised as Protestants, after a private act of the English Parliament.[3]
While Burke's elder sons, Michael and Ulick, conformed (to the Protestant faith), the younger Burkes remained Catholic and fought with the Wild Geese. Colonel Ulick Burke served the King of France, living as late as 1757. Lt. General Eamonn Burke was a member of the Irish regiment in Spain, and died at Bologna in 1744. William Burke was killed at Fontenoy in 1745. Burke's sister Honora Burke was married to the Jacobite soldier Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan.[4]
Family
In October 1684, John Burke married Mary Talbot (d.1711), the daughter of James Talbot (d.1691).[5] Their children were:
^Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1905). Illustrated guide to the Northern, Wester, and Southern Islands, and Coast of Ireland. Antiquarian Handbook Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis.
^Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1844). Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms. H. G. Bohn.
^Burke, Bernard (1884). The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time. University of California Libraries. London: Harrison & Sons.
Bibliography
Bourke, Eamonn (1995). Burke: People and Places. Whitegate and Castlebar: Ballinakilla Press and de Búrca Rare Books. ISBN 0-946130-10-8.
Burke, John (1832). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. 1. London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley.
Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1844). Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms. H. G. Bohn.
Burke, Bernard (1884). The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time. University of California Libraries. London: Harrison & Sons.
Cunningham, Bernardette (1996), "From Warlords to Landlords: Political and Social Change in Galway, 1540–1640", in Moran, Gerard; Gillespie, Raymond (eds.), Galway History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, The Irish County History & Society Series, Dublin: Geography Publications, pp. 97–130
MacMahon, Michael (1983). Portumna Castle and its Lords. Portumna: Shannon Books. ISBN 0-9538667-0-X.
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1905). Illustrated guide to the Northern, Wester, and Southern Islands, and Coast of Ireland. Antiquarian Handbook Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis.
