Chichester, Arthur, Baron Chichester of Belfast (1563 -1625)

Arthur Chichester was the second son of Sir John Chichester (d.1569), of Raleigh, Pilton, in North Devon, and Gertrude Courtenay, daughter of Sir William Courtenay (1477–1535) of Powderham, Devon. On completing studies at Exeter College, Oxford, he commanded HMS Larke against the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1595 he accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his last voyage to the Americas. The following year he commanded a company in the siege of Cadiz, for which he was knighted. In 1598 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex appointed him Governor of Carrickfergus, following the death of his brother Sir John Chichester who had been killed at the Battle of Carrickfergus. In Ireland he pursued a scorched earth policy. Following the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont, he succeeded Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire, as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 3 February 1605. In Ireland he became a deeply despised person. He regarded Irish Catholicism a major threat to crown of Britain. In 1606 he married Lettice Perrot, widow successively of Walter Vaughan of Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire, and John Langhorne of St Brides, Pembrokeshire, and daughter of Sir John Perrot, a former Lord Deputy of Ireland. Chichester was a leading figure during the Plantation of Ulster, and was instrumental in the founding and development of Belfast. In 1613 he was given the title Baron Chichester of Belfast. Ill health in 1614 led to his retirement and his term of office was ended in February 1616. He died from pleurisy in London in 1625 and was buried seven months later in St Nicholas' Church, Carrickfergus. The Barony of Chichester became extinct on his death, but was revived the same year in favour of his younger brother Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester.