To a varying extent, England had been in control of parts of Ireland since 1169.  In 1603 England gained more control over Ireland with the Treaty of Mellifont signed with the last strong militant clan in Ireland, the O'Neill.  Wishing to strengthen their position they then started to bring in English and Scottish settlers to occupy their new land.  The settlement lands were allotted to Englishmen who had position or influence with the King of England, Charles I, who awarded specific areas to his supporters.  These landowners then brought in Protestant tenants from England and Scotland to farm their lands.

Before 1641 the old Irish Nobility still remained a power in the country alongside the newer English nobility.  Then the Irish rebelled against the English occupation in the "Great rebellion of 1641".  In an effort to put down the rebellion and to bring more Protestant English into Ireland, the English Parliament passed an "Adventurer's Act" which provided for the confiscation of rebel-owned Irish estates, and their subsequent sale to those subscribers known as Adventurers.  We don't yet know the basis under which the three Boles brothers, Thomas, Richard and William came to Ireland in order to seek their fortunes.  Did they come as soldiers or as farmers?  See the points in italics below.

Map of Places Relevant to The Boles of Cork

By the 1640's Thomas and Richard Boles, who had probably arrived in Ireland from England only a few years earlier, were married and raising their families in co. Cork.  Richard was on land at Moyge townlands just NE of Liscarroll.  Thomas also started near Liscarroll but then sold those lands to Richard, moved down to Imokilly (now Mogeely near Castlemartyr) where he was a tenant of Admiral Penn and his son, William Penn, and later became involved in trade through the port of Youghal.

A Davis pedigree from the 1800's connects these Boles to Sir William Boles of Clerkenwell, England although no references are given for the claim.  Sir William's ancestry is claimed to be connected to the Bolles of Lincolnshire although the exact family connection is lost today.  He has been associated in writings with Colonel Richard Boles "who fell in 1643 while gallantly defending himself in Alton Church against the forces of Sir William Waller and to whom there is a memorial tablet in Winchester Cathedral".  They would have been the right age to be cousins or even brothers but that has not been documented. 

The first reference to the Boles in Ireland has been found in letters written by Hodder, Lord Perceval's steward, reporting that their tenant Thomas Bowles' house was safe during the 1641 rebellion.  Lord Perceval was the landowner for the area around Moyge. (note: waiting for confirmation of exact material covered in these letters)  The Percevals also had estates in Somerset which gives us another possible site in England for the Boles origin.

Richard Boles made a deposition on April 28, 1645 that during the rebellion of 1641, Sir William Poore of Kilbolane (and others) did much mischief against Liscarroll and were in the fight in September 1642.  (Egmont MSS Vol. 1, pp. 27 and 253)  Full text of the deposition This confirms Richard Boles presence in co. Cork in 1641 and already as a landowner in the Liscarroll area.  In the deposition he mentions that his wife was "lying in", i.e. pregnant, in 1641.  This would likely have been his first possession of the property at Ballynalty, 3 miles from Liscarroll, to which his title was confirmed in 1666.  This doesn't confirm that he was actually a soldier although he would have certainly been tasked with defending his land. 

By 1649 Thomas was styled as Captain Boles and was also a merchant of some kind with a shop in Cork city while Richard had established himself as a malt merchant in the same city.  William established himself at Kanturk, co. Cork but little is known about him and he died "without issue".  A sister, Joanne Boles, married a Daniel Crone and settled near Christchurch, co. Cork.  Thomas' title as Captain may also have been awarded to him only after the rebellion as a reward for his support as it's first appearance is in the 1654 depositions. 

In 1649, Oliver Cromwell resolved to finally settle the rebellion by invading the country with his Parliamentary troops and totally subjugate the country.  He landed in Dublin in August and bloodily subdued one rebellious city after another.  In both Drogheda and Wicklow after the fall of the cities his troops massacred thousands of the residents.  This resulted in heavily garrisoned cities fighting to the last man rather than surrendering and being slaughtered while officers in other less well defended cities rebelled against their Royalist commanders and joined the Parliamentary side.  Both Thomas and Richard Boles were instrumental in the revolt in Cork city which resulted in the handing over of the city to Cromwell's forces but which also saved the city from destruction.  See Thomas and Richard Boles Role in the Revolt of Cork.  These transcripts describe both men as merchants and Thomas promised Captain Myhill that he would raise support amongst the townspeople.  Richard is described as being with a group of townspeople who were turning Irishmen loyal to Ormonde out of their houses.  This lends more strength to the argument that Thomas only received the title of Captain after these events although he was addressed with the title by 1654.

Cromwell used the Adventurer's Act to reward his supporters well.  He redistributed over half the country (11 of 20 million acres) to the New English establishment who were made up of the Adventurers, other Parliamentary supporters and English soldiers in lieu of arrears of pay and to the Hollow Sword Blade Company of England in payment for their arms for his army.  Richard and Thomas were probably just confirmed in the lands they already held.  The restoration of Charles II and the Act of Settlement in 1660 returned about one third of these lands to Catholic Royalists.  However, most of the new land owners including Thomas and Richard (in 1666) were able to maintain their lands by swearing fealty to the Crown.   Under the Act of Settlement, officers of Ormonde's Royalist army who had served under him up to 1649, received compensation out of the fund of confiscated lands.  A formal list of 49 Officers (referring to the year 1649 not just to 49 men as is often stated) was drawn up in 1660 to identify those who qualified for compensation.  This list includes both Thomas and Richard Boles which would indicate that both were serving in the Duke of Ormonde's army prior to 1649.  The distribution was finally completed in 1675, Richard receiving his title to larger land holdings at Ballynalty in 1666.

The 1659 Census of Ireland lists William Bowles in Kilfinnie, Kilfaghnabegg parish, co. Cork and Richard Bowles and his second son, Francis, living at Ballynalta, near Moyge in co. Cork.  Moyge is 2 miles northeast of Liscarroll in Northern Cork.  The ruins of the mansion built at Moyge by Richard's grandson in the mid-1700's still stand but are much overgrown.

The 1659 Census also lists a Thomas Bowles in co. Wicklow.  We do not yet know if this is referring to the same Thomas.  Thomas did very well after his support of Parliament in 1649 including the title of Captain and he passed on a sizable fortune along with his estate at Kilbree to his children upon his death in 1682 but did he also accept an appointment as a Sheriff in co. Wicklow from 1659 to 1661?  References for Thomas Bowles  If Thomas Bowles of Wicklow is a different person then Thomas Boles of Cork was missed in the census.

That census also lists a Simon Bowles at Mogalla townland, Isishskarra parish but so far we have no further records for him or where Mogalla was for certain.  He would likely have been at Magooly a couple of miles west of Inishcarra village and straight west of Cork city.  The name is also somewhat similar to Mogeely which is in Mogeely parish.  If Mogalla is actually Mogeely which includes the Castlemartyr area where Thomas' descendants lived this would indicate a connection between Simon and Thomas.

18th Century

(under construction)

19th Century

See The Boles of Cork Family Tree

Branches of the Boles of Cork

The Boles of Kilbree (Thomas Boles' line)

The Boles of Moyge (Imogeely or Mogeely) (Richard Boles' line)

The Boles of Aghern (Thomas Boles)

Branches of the Boles of Cork in Neighbouring Counties

The Boles of Woodhouse, co. Tipperary (Mogirban, Magorban, Moggerbane) (Richard's line)

The Boles of Ballintrane, co. Carlow (Ballintrain) (Richard's line)

The Boles of Dublin (Richard's line)

Note: I would like to express my appreciation to Nick Boles of London, a direct descendant of the Boles of Cork, who provided a huge amount of information and guidance to me while I was developing the Boles of Cork pages in particular but also on several other Bowles in Ireland and Bowles in England pages.