Michael Jones (soldier)
Colonel Michael Jones (died December 1649) fought for King Charles I during the Irish Confederate War but joined the English Parliamentary side when the English Civil War started.
The son of a Welsh Anglican Bishop who had settled in Ireland, he trained as a lawyer. After fighting for the crown during the early part of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 he joined the Roundheads and fought as a cavalry officer in England. In 1645, he commanded the besiegers at the siege of Chester, and was instrumental in the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Rowton Heath.
By 1647 his reputation was such that at the end of the First English Civil War he was chosen to lead the Parliamentary expedition to Ireland. His old commander the Royalist Earl of Ormonde surrendered Dublin to him without a fight in June 1647 saying that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones". When Jones landed in Dublin, he brought with him 5000 English Parliamentarian soldiers. In addition to this, he inherited 3000 English Royalist soldiers who had been under Ormonde's command. Jones persuaded these men to switch their allegiance to the Parliamentarians in order to fight the Irish Confederate Catholics.
Jones marched to Trim which was being besieged by a Confederate Leinster army under the command of General Thomas Preston. He raised the siege, but in doing so exposed Dublin to attack by the Confederate Leinster army. However, when the main Confederate army attempted to march on Dublin, Jones smashed it at the Battle of Dungans Hill. This was the best trained and best equipped Confederate army and the loss of its manpower and equipment was a body blow to the Confederation.
However, although Jones reported to the English Parliament that he was now in a position to re-conquer Ireland, in fact, he remained confined to Dublin and its environs, which were systematically raided and burned by Owen Roe O'Neill and the Irish Ulster Army. Jones' men, deprived of supplies, suffered badly from disease in the winter of 1647-48.
The Confederate loss at Dungans Hill, coupled with other defeats caused the Confederates to ally themselves with the Royalists under the overall command of the Earl of Ormonde. With nearly all of Ireland under Royalist control and declaring allegiance to Charles II the English Parliamentarians sent Oliver Cromwell to pacify Ireland. However in a pre-emptive strike Ormonde attacked Dublin hoping to deny Cromwell and his expeditionary force a port to land at and a base from which to operate. Jones and his army destroyed this plan by roundly defeating the Royalist army at the Battle of Rathmines in August 1649. This victory allowed Cromwell's expeditionary force to land unopposed at Ringsend two weeks later.
Jones served on Cromwell's Irish campaign, besieging Waterford and Duncannon, but to Cromwell's great distress Jones died of fever at the Siege of Waterford in December 1649.
External links
- Biography of Michael Jones British Civil Wars website