Rathlin Island Massacre

The Rathlin Island massacre took place on Rathlin Island, off the coast of Ireland on 26 July 1575, when more than 600 Scots and Irish were killed.

Walter Devereux, for his zeal in the service of Queen Elizabeth on this and other occasions, he in 1572 received the Garter and was created earl of Essex, the title which formerly belonged to the Bourchier family. Walter Devereux became the 1st Earl of Essex. Sorley Boy MacDonnell (c. 1505 - 1590), Scoto-Irish chieftain, went to Scotland to enlist support, and he spent the next few years in striving to frustrate the schemes of Sir Thomas Smith, and later of the Earl of Essex, for colonizing Ulster with English settlers. Sorley Boy was willing to come to terms with the government provided his claims to his lands were allowed, but Essex determined to reduce him to unconditional submission. In 1575, at the behest of the Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, the massacre on Rathlin Island was led by Sir John Norris and Francis Drake. John Norris was ordered to proceed by sea from Carrickfergus to Rathlin Island, where Sorley Boys children and valuables, together with the families of his principal retainers, had been lodged for safety; and while the chieftain was himself at Ballycastle, within sight of the island, the women and children were massacred by the English. Vice Admiral Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 ? January 28, 1596) was an English privateer, navigator, naval pioneer, pirate, politician, and civil engineer of the Elizabethan period.

He was the first Englishman (and the first of any nationality not on a Spanish ship) to circumnavigate the globe, from 1577 to 1580 and was knighted on his return by Queen Elizabeth I. He was second in command of the English fleet which defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. Both Norris and Drake landed on Rathlin, an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. The island was a stronghold of the MacDonnells. After the surrender of Bruces castle, its 200 occupants are killed, as are 400 others found hiding in caves and cliffs. The MacDonnell women and children, taking refuge on Rathlin island, were slaughtered. The massacre of the entire population of the Scottish settlement there, was to discourage Gaelic resistance. Revenge was swift, Sorley Boy then captured the castle at Carrickfergus where he killed over a hundred. Sorley Boy, now re-establishing his power in the Glynns and the Route, which the MacQuillins made ineffectual attempts to recover.

The English didn’t think the island was worth holding so Sorley Boy reclaimed it and used it as a base for raids on the mainland against the English.