# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wallop, Henry

1904 Errata appended.
​WALLOP, Sir HENRY (1540?–1599), lord justice of Ireland, eldest son and heir of Sir Oliver Wallop of Farleigh-Wallop in the county of Southampton, and nephew and heir of Sir John Wallop [q. v.], governor of Calais, was born apparently about 1540. He was J.P. for Hampshire in 1569, and, being in that year knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Basing, he was appointed, along with Sir William Kingsmill, to take a view of the defences of Portsmouth, and to provide the county of Southampton with arms and armour (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, pp. 368, 384). He was returned M.P. for the town of Southampton to the parliament which met on 8 May 1572, and established a reputation for usefulness. In 1575 he was placed on a committee of the house appointed to consider the nature of the petition to be made to the queen on the motions touching the reformation of discipline in the church, his own views tending in the direction of puritanism. In the same session he was appointed, with other members of the house, to confer with the lords in regard to private bills (D'Ewes, Journal, p. 277). Being a commissioner ‘for restraining the transport of grain out of the county of Surrey,’ he dissented from the view of his fellow-commissioners that they should regard their county as their family and send from it nothing that it wants, holding on the contrary ‘that markets shoulde be free for alle men to bye … and yt ys most reasonable that one contrye shoulde helpe an other with soche comodytes as they are able to spare.’ But being a ‘grete corn man’ his views on free trade were regarded as interested (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 629). He suffered much at this time from ague (ib. p. 631), and from Walsingham he received a friendly warning against a spare diet and too free indulgence in mineral waters (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 502).
In consequence of the death of Sir Edward Fitton [q. v.] Wallop was in July 1579 offered the post of vice-treasurer to the Earl of Ormonde in Ireland. He accepted with great reluctance, and received his commission on 10 Aug., but retained his seat in parliament (D'Ewes, Journal, p. 277). He landed at Waterford on 12 Sept., but his health was so bad that on reaching Dublin he was obliged for several weeks to keep to his chamber. His appointment coincided with the outbreak of the Desmond rebellion, and Wallop, taking a pessimistic view of the situation, was sharply reprimanded by Burghley for his unconscionable demands on the queen's purse. He apologised. Nevertheless, he was right in thinking the situation critical, especially after the death of Sir William Drury [q. v.] on 30 Sept. 1579. To Drury succeeded Sir William Pelham [q. v.], and towards the latter end of February 1580 Wallop moved to Limerick in order to be near the seat of the war. He speedily detected the possibility of turning the rebellion to the benefit of the state by erecting an English plantation in Munster, and on 22 April he expounded his views on the subject to Walsingham (Cal. State Papers, Irel. ii. 219). After a severe illness he went, towards the end of July, to Askeaton, where he made discovery of a feoffment of his estate by the Earl of Desmond before entering into rebellion, of which he subsequently made capital use.
In August Arthur Grey, fourteenth lord Grey de Wilton [q. v.], came over as viceroy, and Wallop, accompanying Pelham to Dublin, was present when the latter resigned the sword of state to Grey on 7 Sept. Himself an advocate of strong measures, he was utterly dissatisfied with Elizabeth's temporising government, especially at the practice of filling up the regiments with native Irish, and on 14 March 1581 he expressed a desire to be allowed to withdraw from his post. He was appointed a commissioner for ecclesiastical causes on 10 April. In July he accompanied Grey on an expedition against Sir Turlough Luineach O'Neill [q. v.] But Elizabeth's parsimonious government and his own ill-health filled him with despair. He had, he declared, since his appointment as vice-treasurer spent 2,000l. of his own money, and his inability to fulfil his obligations to the merchants of Dublin prevented him raising any fresh loans. He renewed his request to be allowed to retire; but Elizabeth knew too well the value of an honest servant to accede, and, in prospect of Grey's recall, she appointed Wallop and Adam Loftus [q. v.], archbishop of Dublin, lords justices on 14 July 1582 (Cal. Fiants, Eliz. 3975).
With his colleague he was on good terms, and Loftus urged his appointment as lord deputy on the grounds of his ‘sufficiency, carefulness, and perfect sincerity.’ Elizabeth expressed herself satisfied with their ‘good husbandry of extraordinary charges.’ The renewal of the treaty with Turlough Luineach in August 1582, whereby he consented to submit his claims to the ​consideration of commissioners appointed by the crown; the prosecution by Ormonde of the Earl of Desmond ending in the capture and death of the latter in November 1583; the capture, torture, and execution on 20 June 1584 of Dermot O'Hurley [q. v.], titular archbishop of Cashel, are the chief events marking their tenure of office. But the whole period was one of universal distress, when, as it was graphically said, ‘the wolf and the best rebel lodged in one inn, with one diet and one kind of bedding,’ and it was with a feeling of relief that Wallop and Loftus surrendered the sword of state to Sir John Perrot [q. v.] on 21 June 1584.
Immediately after the death of Sir Nicholas Malby [q. v.] Wallop had passed to himself on 16 March 1584 a patent of the castle of Athlone; but this he was obliged to surrender to Perrot on a pretext by the latter that he wanted to make it the seat of his government. Being appointed a commissioner for surveying the lands confiscated by the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond, Wallop proceeded to Limerick in September, and, having with much discomfort and some personal risk travelled through the counties of Limerick and Kerry, he returned to Dublin towards the latter end of November. During his ‘survey’ he had been much struck with the fertility of the soil in county Limerick, and at once put in a claim for the manor of Any (Knockainy) and Lough Gur. In March 1586 he purchased a lease of the abbey lands of Enniscorthy, estimated to contain about 12,464 acres. Here he established a flourishing colony composed of Englishmen and ‘the more honest sort of Irish,’ and started an export trade in ship planks and pipe-staves to the Madeiras and other wine-producing countries, ‘being the first beginner of that trade in the kingdom.’ In July the same year he obtained a lease for twenty-one years, at an annual rent of 22l. 17s. 8d. and the maintenance of two English horsemen, of the abbey lands of Adare in county Limerick.
Notwithstanding his disapproval of Perrot's expedition against the Antrim Scots, Wallop had at first regarded the deputy with favour, but, perceiving after a time that ‘under pretence of dutifulness’ he ‘carried an unfaithful heart,’ he joined the ranks of Perrot's enemies. His opposition led to an open breach between them at the council board, and, being violently reproached by the deputy, Wallop retaliated by actively collecting information against Perrot. His production of the Desmond feoffment in the second session of ‘Perrot's parliament’ frustrated an attempt on the part of the earl's friends to prevent his attainder, and obtained for him the queen's thanks. Lameness prevented him serving on the commission for the admeasurement of the forfeited lands in Munster; but on 26 April 1587 he was appointed a commissioner for passing lands to the undertakers in the plantation. At Michaelmas he again obtained possession of Athlone Castle, but was almost immediately obliged to surrender it to Sir Richard Bingham [q. v.] He received permission to visit England in November; but the treason of Sir William Stanley and the danger that suddenly presented itself of an invasion hindered him taking advantage of it, not, however, before he had so far prepared for his departure as to place his goods and plate on shipboard. The vessel to which they were entrusted was wrecked, and Wallop estimated his loss at 1,100l. On 22 Aug. 1588 he was appointed a commissioner for examining and compounding the claims of the Irish in Munster, and on 12 Oct. was instructed to examine certain Spanish prisoners at Drogheda. Ill-health caused him to be exempted from attending the lord deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliams (1526–1599) [q. v.], into Connaught that autumn, and he spoke somewhat slightingly of the necessity of it. He sailed for England early in April 1589, and remained there for rather more than six years, administering his office by deputy. On 22 May 1595 he was granted the abbey, castle, and lands of Enniscorthy (formerly in the possession of Edmund Spenser), to be held for ever by service of a twentieth part of a knight's fee, and the abbey and lands of Adare in free and common socage, ‘in consideration of his great expense in building on the premises for the defence of those parts.’ The latter estate he subsequently, on 1 Feb. 1597, obtained license to alien to Sir Thomas Norris [q. v.] In September 1591 he entertained Elizabeth with great magnificence at Farleigh-Wallop (Rymer, Fœdera, xvi. 120); but ill-health prevented him setting sail for Ireland till June 1595, and, being driven back by stormy weather to Holyhead, it was not until the middle of July that he landed at Waterford with treasure for the soldiers, whose wants he declared were extreme.
Owing to the doubtful attitude of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone [q. v.], the situation of the kingdom was even more critical than when he first came to Ireland, and it was, in his opinion, no time to spare money. But Elizabeth was bent on trying less costly methods than an attempt to suppress Tyrone by force would have entailed, and on 8 Jan. 1596 Wallop and Sir Robert Gardiner were deputed to proceed to Dundalk to confer with him. Tyrone, though he professed to regard ​Wallop as favourably inclined towards him, absolutely refused to enter Dundalk, and the commissioners were fain to treat with him in the open fields. The negotiations lasted eleven days. Tyrone pitched his demands high, requiring liberty of conscience, the control of his urraghs or sub-chieftains, and the acknowledgment of O'Donnell's claims over Connaught. Wallop and Gardiner promised to submit his demands to the state, and on these terms they obtained a prolongation of the peace for three months. But the familiar style in which they had addressed him, as ‘our very good lord,’ signing themselves ‘your loving friends,’ drew down on them Elizabeth's wrath for having ‘kept no manner of greatness with the rebel.’ Wallop, although he was wounded to the quick by her reprimand, defended himself; but unfortunately he shortly afterwards gave occasion to Burghley to take him sharply to task for suggesting the desirability of providing the soldiers with frieze mantles after the manner of the native Irish. The suggestion appears reasonable enough, but Burghley, who apparently thought Wallop inclined to make a profit out of the business, told him it was ‘an apparel unfit for a soldier that shall use his weapon in the field.’ His rebuke and the insinuation it implied cut Wallop to the heart, and, conscious of his infirmities, he desired to relinquish his office. But Burghley, if he spoke sharply officially, did his best to console him in private.
Another year passed away. At first, notwithstanding the trouble created by Fiagh MacHugh O'Byrne [q. v.], his plantation at Enniscorthy flourished apace, and in January 1598 he supplied fifty thousand pipe-staves and the like number of hoop-heads to government. Then misfortune followed fast on misfortune. In May Brian Reagh attacked Enniscorthy, killed his lieutenant and forty soldiers, and made great havoc of his property. In June his second son, Oliver, was shot by a party of Irish rebels in the woods. In August he had to announce the defeat of Bagenal at the Blackwater. Never since he had known Ireland had the outlook been more hopeless. For himself, he had already one foot in the grave, and begged piteously to be relieved of his office before death overtook him. At last the welcome intelligence arrived, in March 1599, that the queen had yielded to his entreaties, and appointed Sir George Carey, kt. (lord justice until 26 Feb. 1600), his successor. But as the situation demanded ‘the continuance of such persons as he is, whose long service there hath given him so good knowledge and experience in that kingdom,’ he was required to remain some time longer in Ireland, and to receive 20s. allowance daily for his extra services. The order for his release arrived too late to be of service to him. The day before his successor arrived he died in office, on 14 April 1599.
By his last will, dated 31 March that year, he directed that his funeral should be as simple as possible. But he was accorded a burial in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, being interred near the middle of the choir, on the left side under the gallery, formerly called the lord-lieutenant's gallery. A brass plate (Addit. MS. 32485, Q. 3) recording his services was fixed to the wall by his son Henry in 1608, and a fair monument erected to him in Basingstoke church. His portrait, by Nicholas Hilliard, belongs to the Earl of Portsmouth. His wife Katherine, daughter of Richard Gifford of Somborne in the county of Southampton, survived him only a few weeks, dying on 16 July. She was interred beside him, as was also their son Oliver. Another son died in military service abroad. Wallop was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry (1568–1642), some time his deputy, and father of Robert Wallop [q. v.] the regicide. All private documents and memorials connected with Wallop perished in the fire that destroyed the manor-house of Farleigh-Wallop in 1667.
R. D.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.273 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 150 | ii | 8-9 | Wallop, Sir Henry: for in October read on 30 Sept. 1579 |
| 151 | i | 5 | for 21 June read 20 June |
| | | 18 | for 10 March read 16 March |
| | | 33 | for 1585 read 1586 |
| | ii | 19 | for 2 July read 22 Aug. |
| | | 33 | for Enniscelly read Enniscorthy |
| 152 | i | 6-5 f.e. | for George Carew . . . Totnes) [q. v.] read George Carey, kt. (lord justice until 26 Feb. 1600) |