Coote, Sir Charles

Coote, Sir Charles (d. 1661), a remarkable survivor and beneficiary of the Confederate War. With his brother Richard, he established a successful planter army in Leitrim, Sligo, and Roscommon. A defector to parliament over Ormond's negotiations with the Confederate Catholics, Coote returned from England as lord president of Connacht to take Sligo town in 1645. Combining his western army with the Laggan army, he defeated the Scots at Lisburn (1649) and the Confederate Catholics at Scarrifhollis, Co. Donegal (1650). He received Galway's submission in 1652 and influenced the settlement of Connacht by having Sligo, Leitrim, and the barony of Tirawly (Co. Mayo) exempted from transplantation so that western army arrears could be satisfied. This ‘Old Protestant’ was never trusted by the Cromwellian arrivistes, especially the Independents. Not surprisingly he was a prime mover at the convention of 1660 for the Restoration of Charles II, who rewarded him with lands and the title of earl of Mountrath.

Hiram Morgan