Richard Nugent, 2nd Earl of Westmeath

He subsequently served as cavalry commander during the Irish Confederate Wars, seeing action at the Battle of Dungan's Hill in August 1647, where he was captured.

His conduct as a military leader was severely criticised by his own side: he was called a general who had never put an army in the field, nor gained the support of anyone who could perform an action worth sixpence.

He submitted to the Parliamentary forces in the latter year but was excluded from the Act of Settlement 1652 and transplanted to Connaught, despite his rather abject pleas to be allowed to remain, and protestations of loyalty to the new regime.

After the Restoration of Charles II, he received a large pension as a reward for his loyalty to the Crown, which, in accordance with the general policy of Indemnity and Oblivion, was prepared to overlook his later subservience to Cromwell.

The third Earl was a monk who spent most of his adult life in France, and on his death, the title passed to his two younger brothers, Thomas and John, in turn.