Arthur Chichester, Baron Chichester

Arthur Chichester, Baron Chichester (born May 1563, Devon, England—died February 19, 1625, London) was an English lord deputy of Ireland from 1604 to 1614, who developed the plan for colonizing Ulster with English and Scottish settlers.

A member of a family of Devonshire gentry, he served in the successful expedition against the Spanish port of Cádiz (1596), where he was knighted. From 1597 to 1599 he fought the Spanish in the Netherlands.

Sent to Ireland as a general in 1599, Chichester helped suppress the Ulster rebellion led by the great Irish chieftain Hugh O’Neill, 2nd earl of Tyrone. In 1604 King James I appointed Chichester lord deputy. He immediately began to enforce harsh measures against Roman Catholics, but his Irish Catholic opponents persuaded the English council to intervene and reverse his policies (1606).

Chichester’s main concern, however, was the Anglicization of Ulster. He gained his opportunity when O’Neill, realizing that he could not maintain his authority under Chichester’s rule, fled to the Continent with a number of other Ulster lords in 1607. Chichester immediately confiscated their lands and devised a scheme for the colonization of Ulster. Although his plan accommodated the interests of the native Irish landholders, the abortive Ulster rebellion of Sir Cahir O’Dogherty in 1608 convinced the London government that Chichester’s proposals were too moderate. Accordingly, a revised plan (1609) granted the largest estates to English and Scottish settlers and drastically reduced the amount of land held by the native Irish.

In 1613 Chichester was made a baron. As part of his continuing efforts to obtain anti-Catholic legislation, he attempted to create additional electoral districts in order to assure a large Protestant majority in the lower house of the Irish Parliament, but James I intervened (1614) and invalidated most of the scheme. Chichester was recalled in 1614 and retired with the honorary post of lord high treasurer.