Robert Colville

Sir Robert Colville (c.1625–1697) was a wealthy Irish landowner and politician. Background and early career Colville was probably born in Ardquin, County Down, the eldest son of Dr. Alexander Colville, and educated at Trinity College Dublin. His father, a clergyman who was born in Scotland, came to Ireland in the 1620s and, by means which have never been explained, acquired great wealth. The most likely explanation for his accumulation of riches is that he was simply a sharp man of business, but gossip attributed his good fortune to his dealings with the Devil (whom he reportedly cheated). His main residence was Galgorm Castle near Ballymena, County Antrim, which he bought from Sir Faithful Fortescue in about 1645. He was almost certainly a relative of Robert Echlin, Bishop of Down and Connor, whose mother was Grizel Colville of Kinross. Not much appears to be known of Robert's mother, although we do know that she openly professed the Presbyterian tradition; her son is said to have had mixed religious feelings, moving in middle age from Presbyterianism to conformity with Anglicanism, while retaining a certain sympathy for his mother's beliefs. His father on the other hand was a lifelong opponent of Presbyterianism, and the lurid stories about his necromancy probably originated with those of his enemies who belonged to that tradition.