Richard Nugent, 1st Earl of Westmeath

Initially, Richard seems to have acted cautiously: he acknowledged the Crown's authority, and he was knighted at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin in 1603.

The Crown's suspicions about his loyalty were fully justified: Delvin was implicated in the conspiracy which led to the Flight of the Earls in 1607 and was imprisoned in Dublin Castle.

In 1608 Delvin, having apparently been given assurances of clemency by the Dublin Government, appeared at the English Court and asked for a royal pardon, pleading his youth and ignorance of the world in mitigation of his actions.

As a leading spokesman for the Roman Catholic community, his loyalty was sometimes questioned, especially after his opposition to the Plantation of Ossory in the mid-1620s, but from 1608 onwards his allegiance to the Crown does not seem to have been seriously in doubt.

This, and his inability to work with the stern and intimidating Strafford, who was virtually all-powerful in Ireland, caused Westmeath to largely retire from public life in the late 1630s.

[8] On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 the Earl, unlike many of the Anglo-Irish nobility, remained loyal to the Crown, although at least one of his sons (with his knowledge if not his approval) took the rebels' side.

According to family tradition, Lady Westmeath was nicknamed Jenny the Scraper due to her thrift and her determination not to allow any household scraps to be wasted.