Francis Cosby

Francis Cosby (1510–1580) was an English soldier and settler in Ireland. He has been implicated in the Massacre of Mullaghmast. Life He was the second son of John Cosby of Great Leake, Nottingham. He settled in Ireland in the reign of Henry VIII. He was active in fighting on the edge of the English Pale, and was commended by the Lord Deputies Edward Bellingham and Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex. In 1558 Cosby was appointed general of the Kerne, and in 1562 was granted the suppressed abbey of Stradbally in Queen's County. In 1565 he became governor of Portlaoise, and seneschal of Queen's County. He helped to massacre, although the degree of his responsibility is not clear, many of the O'Mores at Mullaghmast, near Athy, who had been summoned to the fortress on avowedly peaceful business. The date 1577 in the Annals of the Four Masters is contradicted in the Annals of Lough Cé which says 1567.