20 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



as equerry to the King in exile, and was a close friend of the Duke- 

 of Ormond, by whose influence he was returned to Parliament for 

 County' Wicklow, and appointed Governor of Cork.^ Sir John Stephens, 

 who, like Sir William Flower, had held a commission in Ormond' s 

 old regiment as far back as 1643, and who, after the Restoration, 

 represented Fethard in the Irish Parliament — who had married a 

 sister of Flower's, and held the office of Governor of Dublin Castle 

 — was appointed Major ; and the other officers included Lord Callan, 

 afterwards the third Earl of Denbigh, Lord John Butler, Ormond's 

 youngest son, and Colonel Francis Willoughby, well known in the 

 ten years' warfare in Ireland, from 1641 to 1651. It is thus evident 

 that the note of pre-eminence and distinction which has ever been 

 associated with the Guards in England was characteristic of the Irish 

 regiment from the date of its institution. 



A corps, whose sphere of service was restricted in time of peace to 

 the capital, and which even in war was only likely to be actively 

 employed in circumstances of emergency, was natui-ally deprived for 

 some years of many opportunities of distinguishing itself, and it is 

 not very easy to recall the record of the regiment in the first few 

 years of its existence. Its earliest active service appears to have been 

 in suppressing the mutiny at Carrickfergus in 1666 already noted,^ but 

 down to 1673, such mention of it as we find is chiefiy in connection 

 with ceremonial display. On the occasion of the Duke of Ormond's 

 state entry into Dublin, in 1665, a pageant of unusual magnificence, 

 the regiment formed the guard of honoui', from St. James's Gate to 

 the Castle, the King's Company being in close attendance on the 

 Yiceroy, and following immediately the Guard of Battle-axes. In 

 1672, they were ordered for service with the fleet on the outbreak of 



1 Cholmondeley Papers, Hist. MSS. Com., 5th Rep. 



2 The following reference of the services by the Guards on this occasion is taken 

 from McSkimmin's " History of Carrickfergus," pp. 18, 19 : — 



" 1666, about the beginning of May, the garrison, consisting of about 200 men, 

 mutinied for want of their pay, and, choosing corporal Dillon for their commander, 

 seized the town and castle. On the 25th of the same month, the Earl of Arran, 

 son to the Duke of Ormond, arrived by sea in the Dartmouth frigate, with four 

 companies of Guards, and he assaulting the town by sea, and Sir William Flower 

 by land, the mutineers were forced to retreat into the castle, with the loss of 

 Dillon their commander, and two others. The Earl also lost two soldiei-s. Next 

 day the Duke of Ormond arrived from Dublin with the Horse Guards, and the 

 mutineers surrendered at discretion. The corporation (of Carrickfergus) received 

 thanks from the Government for their loyalty on this occasion, and gave a 

 splendid entertainment to the Earl of Arran." 



I 



