Henry Bagenal

 ( 1550s Births ) 

In May 1586, Bagenal was sent by his father to the court to report. He sought measures to weaken Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, an enhancement of the role of the marshal, and a presidency in Ulster with a shire hall and jail to dispense royal justice. Whilst on his visit, he wrote to Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (a relative of his wife) on 16 September 1586 to ask whether he had a parliamentary borough to spare; he was elected MP for both Grantham and Anglesey and chose the latter. He returned to Ireland in September 1587 to deputize for his father. He succeeded his father as marshal of the army in Ireland and chief commissioner for Ulster in October 1590, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His proposals for action were not accepted, as a decision had been taken to adopt a conciliatory attempt to O'Neill. To Bagenal's contempt, O'Neill asked for the hand of Bagenal's sister Mabel Bagenal in marriage; he refused, but they eloped anyway.

On 17 August, the council dismissed Bagenal's claim that O'Neill had conferred with Cormac MacBaron O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell before the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits. Bagenal's claims were proven correct by the testimony from captured woman Joan Kelly, who was present at the confederate camps.

In May 1595, Bagenal led an army of 1,750 to relieve the garrison at Monaghan. His forces were attacked by O'Neill and sustained heavy losses. Bagenal was forced to withdraw to Newry and had to be resupplied by sea as O'Neill had blocked the Moyry Pass. Bagenal managed to resupply the Armagh garrison in December 1598 and June 1597, but had more difficulty in resupplying a fort on the Blackwater. In an attempt to do so, he was mortally wounded by O'Neill's forces during Battle of the Yellow Ford in County Armagh. As Bagenal approached O'Neill's trenches, a bullet struck his forehead through his raised visor.