Nicholas Bagenal

Sir Nicholas Bagenal or Bagenall (; 1509 – February 1591) was an English soldier and politician who became Marshal of the Army in Ireland during the Tudor era. Early life He was born the second son of John Bagenal (died 1558), a tailor who served as Mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Whittingham of Middlewich, Cheshire and cousin of William Whittingham, Dean of Durham. His elder brother, Sir Ralph Bagenal, was a courtier of Henry VIII. In 1538, Nicholas fled to Ireland to escape justice for killing a man in the Staffordshire village of Leek; his two brothers were apparently also involved in this crime. In Ireland, he became acquainted with Con O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone and on 7 December 1542 the Irish council, at the suit of Tyrone, begged the King to pardon Bagenal. Bagenal returned to England in April 1544 and took part in the campaign in France in the following summer. The Bagenals had family links with the Irish government through Sir Patrick Barnewall, who was the Master of the Rolls in Ireland and married to Anne Luttrell, a cousin of Nicholas. This connection may help to explain how Nicholas was recommended for military service in France in 1544. His descendants gave their name to Bagenalstown in County Carlow. During the Colonial wars, his whole family were involved in the undertaking of land in Ireland. The Barnewall connection continued: Bagenal's daughter Mary married Barnewall's nephew, the younger Patrick.