Career
He was one of a number of Irish Catholics given office in England following the Restoration. In 1662 Charles II sent Sir Richard Bellings to Rome to arrange the terms of England’s conversion to Romanism., On 1 June 1670 he was one of the signatories of the Secret Treaty of Dover for England. Others who signed it were Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, Sir Thomas Clifford, Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour and Jean-Baptiste Colbert for France.
That secret treaty engaged Charles II to declare himself a Roman Catholic, for which Louis XIV was to pay him two millions of francs, and, in the event of anticipated disturbances in England, provide military support.
lieutenant was the signing of this treaty which effectively created an alliance with England and France and against Holland, in March 1672. This was the second Dutch War of the reign of Charles the Second.
Bellings"s father was Richard Bellings (1613–1677) was a lawyer and political figure in 17th century Ireland, while his mother was Margaret Butler, a daughter of Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgaret.