military administrator army officer colonel
Sir Richard Wingfield was the son of Sir Richard Wingfield, Governor of Portsmouth, who was descended from an old Suffolk family, and Christian, daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam of Milton, Castor, Northamptonshire, and sister of Sir William Fitzwilliam, Lord Deputy of Ireland. He became the step-son of Sir George Delves, after his mother"s remarriage.
He came to Ireland as a military adventurer in the latter part of the 16th century and afterwards fought in Flanders, France and Portugal, gaining the military rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Returning to Ireland, Wingfield distinguished himself and was wounded in an expedition against Tyrone, and was knighted by the Lord Deputy, William Russell, in Christ Church Cathedral on 9 November 1595. He served as a Colonel in the expedition against Calais, and in 1600 was advanced to the office of Marshal of Ireland, with a retinue of fifty horse and a company of foot.
In 1601 he led a force at the reduction of Kinsale, and was one of those who signed the articles of capitulation made between the Lord Deputy of Ireland and Don Juan d"Aquila, commander of the Spanish troops made prisoners on that occasion.
Foreign this success Sir Richard was on 29 June 1609 rewarded by a grant of the Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow. In the Parliament of Ireland of 1613-1615, he sat in the Irish House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Downpatrick.
On 19 February 1618 he was created Viscount Powerscourt, and he subsequently enjoyed several important offices under the Crown. The title was revived in 1665 in the person of Folliott Wingfield, 1st Viscount Powerscourt, who died without issue in 1717.
And again in 1743 in the person of Richard Wingfield.
