He was a prominent Parliamentarian commander in the Civil War.
In January 1647 a Parliamentarian commander, Henry Ireton, and Bridget, a daughter of Oliver Cromwell, were married at the manor house.
Inchiquin, the Parliamentarian commander in Cork, also defected to the Royalists after the arrest of King Charles I.
The Parliamentarian commander, Colonel Alexander Rigby, escaped in the confusion, having learned the Royalist password.
It narrowly missed killing the Parliamentarian commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax.
At the beginning of August Ormonde handed over Dublin, together with 3000 royalist troops under his command, to the Parliamentarian commander Michael Jones.
Even worse was a scorched earth policy carried out by Parliamentarian commanders to subdue Irish guerrilla fighters, which caused famine throughout the country.
The following day, the Parliamentarian commanders held a council of war at Speen.
The change in attitude on the part of the Parliamentarian commander may have been a recognition that excessive cruelty was prolonging Irish resistance.
The Parliamentarian commander, Colonel Ruthven, had been unwilling to wait for reinforcements under the Earl of Stamford to arrive and had marched to face the Royalists.