Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (25 April 1621 – 16 October 1679) was a soldier, dramatist and politician from the British Isles who sat in the House of Commons of England at various times between 1654 and 1679. Lord Broghill, as Boyle was then called, fought in the Irish Confederate Wars (part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms) and subsequently became known for his antagonism towards Irish Catholics and their political aspirations. He was a noted playwright and writer on 17th century warfare.

Boyle was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and his second wife, Catherine Fenton daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton of Dublin. He was named after his parents' first son who died at age nine. He was created Baron of Broghill on 28 February 1628. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin in 1630 and at Gray's Inn in 1636. From 1636 to 1639 he travelled abroad in France, Switzerland and Italy and then took part in the Bishops Wars against the Scots on returning home.

Boyle returned to Ireland on the outbreak of the rebellion in 1641 and fought with his brothers against the Irish rebels at the battle of Liscarroll in September 1642. Boyle and the English in Ireland were left vulnerable by the outbreak of the English Civil War. Although initially under the command of the Royalist Marquis of Ormonde (later James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde), Lord Broghill consented to serve under the parliamentary commissioners in Cork against the Irish Confederates. Boyle fought with the Parliamentarians until the execution of the king, when he retired altogether from public affairs and took up his residence at Marston in Somersetshire.

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