 Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English-born politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing English colonisation of Ireland (commenced by the Normans) in the 16th and 17th centuries, as he acquired large tracts of land in plantations in Munster in southern Ireland.