Robert Lundy

Robert Lundy (died 1717[1]) was a Scottish army officer best known for serving as Governor of Londonderry during the early stages of the Siege of Derry.

Later, the Viceroy solicited intervention by Mountjoy and finally dispatched a strong but poorly disciplined Irish force commanded by Sir Richard Hamilton to march north against the Protestants.

In April 1689 he was in command of a force of Protestants who encountered some troops under Richard Hamilton at Strabane, when, instead of holding his ground, he told his men that all was lost and ordered them to shift for themselves; he himself was the first to take flight back to Derry.

King James, then at Omagh on his way to the north, similarly turned in flight towards Dublin on hearing of the skirmish, but returned next day on receiving the true account of the occurrence.

Lundy dissuaded Cunningham from landing his regiments, representing that a defence of Derry was hopeless; and that he himself intended to withdraw secretly from the city.

The people flew to arms under the direction of Major Henry Baker and Captain Adam Murray, who organised the famous defence in conjunction with the George Walker.

[16] Lundy is reviled in Ulster loyalism as a traitor to this day, and is burned in effigy during the celebrations to mark the anniversary of the shutting of the gates of Derry in 1688.