Enterprise of Ulster

Enterprise of Ulster (1571–5), an attempt to colonize eastern Ulster by allocating the task to private individuals. The main entrepreneurs were Sir Thomas Smith and his son Thomas, who were granted North Down and the Ards, and Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, who received Co. antrim. Smith, the queen's principal secretary and a leading political thinker, led the most innovative scheme, raising money through a joint‐stock company and producing promotional literature. His son's force of 800 had dwindled to a mere 100 by the time he landed in the Ards. Meanwhile Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neill, the local lord, burned places of shelter and fortification, forcing Smith to winter in Carrickfergus where his troops ran amok. They made little headway during 1573 and Smith junior was killed at Comber. Two subsequent expeditions achieved nothing.

Essex's much larger undertaking was financed by mortgaging his estates in England. By the time Essex arrived at Carrickfergus in August 1573 with 1,100 men, the Ulster Irish had united in opposition to colonization. He was tricked by Sir Brian, who had at first feigned submission, and then found himself in a protracted war against Sorley Boy MacDonnell. In 1574 the queen sent Essex reinforcements and made him governor of Ulster. He ordered massacres of the Clandeboye O'Neills at Belfast in November 1574 and the MacDonnells on Rathlin Island in July 1575. Essex's only achievement was the construction of a fort on the river Blackwater to contain the Tyrone O'Neills; he died in Ireland in 1576.

The Enterprise of Ulster was a costly and bloody episode which established no English plantations. It destabilized Ulster unneccessarily and, because of its semi‐autonomous status, got minimal support from the Dublin government.

Hiram Morgan