Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara (1585-October 1655) was an Irish Confederate general who commanded the Leinster Army during the Irish Confederate Wars.
Biography[]
Thomas Preston was born in County Meath, Ireland in 1585, the son of Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston. Because his brother succeeded to the title of Viscount Gormanstown, he pursued a military career in the Spanish Army and fought in the Thirty Years' War. He served alongside Own Roe O'Neill in Flanders, defending Leuven against the French and Dutch in 1635. He returned to Ireland after the Irish Rebellion of 1641 to support his fellow Irish Catholics, and he was appointed general of Leinster, leading the largest and best equipped of the Irish Catholic forces. He had a mixed performance as a commander in Ireland, winning the siege of Duncannon in 1645 but losing a string of battles from the Battle of New Ross in 1643 to the disastrous Battle of Dungan's Hill in 1647. His Leinster army was all but wiped out at Dungan's Hill, and his alcoholism and royalist tendencies led Owen O'Shiel to leave Preston's command in 1646. Preston's Old English roots and rivalry with Owen Roe O'Neill caused him to seek a conclusive treaty with the Cavaliers in 1648, and he fought alongside the Royalists at the Siege of Waterford in 1652. After Waterford fell, he moved his troops to Galway, which he was also forced to surrender. He was allowed to leave for France with his garrison, and he was made Viscount Tara by King Charles II of England. He died at Charles' court in Paris in 1655.