After the Restoration, King Charles II Grants Lands in the Southeast of Ireland to His Irish Vice Treasurer

Charles II’s father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King on February 5, 1649, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic, and the Spanish Netherlands.

A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On May 29, 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.

Francis Aungier, 1st Earl of Longford, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1679. He was also an administrator in Ireland. He succeeded Sir George Carteret as vice-treasurer of Ireland in 1670, just 7 years after Carteret had founded New Jersey. Apparently Aungier had bought the post, worth £5,000 a year, for £11,000. He returned to England for the parliamentary session, in which his most important committee was on the bill for negotiating union with Scotland. Lord Robartes, the new lord deputy, complained of the inconvenience of Aungier’s absence. ‘Betwixt knavery and foolery’ he was suspended from office.  Aungier was named to the committee to prevent the growth of Popery which produced the test bill, and on Mar 24, 1673 he acted as teller for the successful motion to complete the passage of the pardon bill before continuing the debate on ease for Protestant dissenters.

Document signed, Whitehall, July 5, 1673, 3 long pages, to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, authorizing him to grant lands in the Counties of of Wexford and Wicklow to Francis Lord Angier, Baron Longford for 99 years in consideration of his “many acceptable and faithful services performed unto us”.  Countersigned by Secretary of State Lord Arlington.