David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy
David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy (1573–1635) was an Irish magnate, soldier, and politician. Birth and origins. David was born about 1573, probably in Castletownroche, County Cork, Ireland. He was the only surviving son of Maurice Roche and his first wife, Eleanor FitzGerald. His father was the 6th Viscount Fermoy (also counted as the 1st). His father's family, the Roches were Old English and descended from Adam de Rupe who had come to Ireland from Wales with Robert FitzStephen. His mother was a daughter of Sir Maurice FitzJohn FitzGerald of Totane, younger brother of James  FitzJohn FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond and third son of the "de facto" 12th Earl of Desmond. She also was a sister of James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, the "archtraitor", who led the first Desmond Rebellion. Her family were the FitzGeralds of Desmond, a cadet branch of the Old English Geraldines, whose senior branch were the FitzGeralds of Kildare. Early life and Desmond Rebellions. Despite these family relations, his father and grandfather fought against the rebels in the Desmond Rebellions during which two of his paternal uncles were killed. His father succeeded his grandfather as the 6th Viscount Fermoy in 1581 or  1582. David was about ten in 1583 when the Desmond Rebellions ended with the killing of Gerald FitzGerald, the rebel earl. His mother was still alive in 1590, but she predeceased his father, who remarried to Catherine FitzGerald, third daughter of the rebel earl by his second wife, Eleanor Butler. Marriage and children. Before 1593 Roche married Joan, daughter of James de Barry, 4th Viscount Buttevant, by his wife Ellen MacCarthy Reagh. His wife's family, the de Barrys, were Old English like his own and descended from Philip de Barry, who had come to Ireland from Wales in 1183 . David and Joan had five sons: —and four daughters: 7th Viscount. Roche succeeded his father as the 7th Viscount Fermoy on 24 October 1600. He is also counted as 2nd Viscount. Proclamation of James I. Queen Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, her Lord Deputy of Ireland, proclaimed James VI and I as King. Several Irish towns, dominated by Old English families delayed the proclamation still hoping for a Catholic succession. This was the case of Cork. On 11 April Mountjoy sent Captain Morgan to Cork to proclaim James. Thornton and Fermoy, as he  now was, proclaimed James I as King on 13 April 1603, outside the walls in the northern suburbs when the mayor, Thomas Sarsfield, hesitated to do so. House of Lords. Fermoy sat in the House of Lords of the Irish Parliament 1613–1615, the only Irish Parliament of James I. He coordinated the opposition to the electoral abuses of James I, together with Jenico Preston, 5th Viscount Gormanston The Irish Parliament of 1634–1635 was opened on 14 July 1634 by the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth (later to become Lord Strafford), who had taken up office in July 1633 . Lord Fermoy, an old man, sat by proxy in the House of Lords of the Parliament 1634–1635. Death and timeline. Fermoy died on 22 March 1635 at Castlerochetown and was buried at Bridgetown Abbey. He was succeeded by his son Maurice as the 8th Viscount (also counted as the 3rd).