Sir Charles Wilmot

Charles Wilmot, 1st Viscount Wilmot of Athlone (c. 1572 – 1644) was an English soldier active in Ireland.

He was the son of Edward Wilmot of Culham (otherwise of Newent, Gloucestershire and Witney, Oxfordshire) and Elizabeth Stafford. On 6 July 1587 he matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, aged 16, but left the university without a degree, and took service in the Irish wars, perhaps in attendance on his neighbour, Sir Thomas Norris, who was also a member of Magdalen College. In 1592 he became a captain, and early in 1595 he was sent to Newry; in the same year he was also in command of sixty foot at Carrickfergus. In 1597 Norris, now President of Munster, made Wilmot sergeant-major of the forces in that province; he was promoted colonel in 1598. He was knighted by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex at Dublin on 5 August 1599, and on the 16th was sent with instructions to the council of Munster for its government during Norris's illness. On 23 June 1600 Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy directed George Carew to swear in Wilmot as a member of the Munster council, and during the next two years he took a prominent part in the closing stages of the Nine Years' War.

In July 1600 Wilmot was left by Carew in command of Carrigafoyle Castle on the River Shannon; shortly afterwards he was given command of a force of 1,050-foot and fifty horse, with which in October he defeated Thomas Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron Kerry, and in November captured Listowel Castle after sixteen days' siege. Florence Maccarthy Reagh is said to have urged Wilmot's assassination at this time, but he was warned by Florence's wife. On 8 December he was granted the office of constable of Castlemaine Castle, and in July 1601 was appointed governor of Cork. A year later Carew left Munster, suggesting Wilmot's appointment as vice-president; Robert Cecil, however, wrote that the queen would not 'accept Wilmot or any such', but Wilmot became commander-in-chief of the forces during Carew's absence, and in September 1602 was made governor of Kerry; in the same month he captured 'Mocrumpe,' and throughout the winter was engaged in clearing Kerry of the rebels. In the last week of December and first week of January 1602–3 he inflicted a series of reverses on the Irish in Beare and Bantry, completely over-running the country. In February he turned north-west, again captured Lixnaw, and subdued the Dingle peninsula, effecting a junction with Carew over the Mangerton pass.

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