Dr Henry Jones' Account of the 1641 Rising

In 1641, Dr Henry Jones was dean of the Church of Ireland diocese

of Kilmore. His life, and those of many other British settlers in the

Ulster Plantation, fell into disarray when the rising began in

October of that year. Jones managed to escape Cavan and

established and chaired the 1641 Commission, responsible for

taking around 8000 depositions or witness statements relating to

the rising. Jones also wrote a number of pamphlets about the

rising, including this new edition of his description of the events in

Cavan between October 1641 and June 1642, entitled A relation

of the beginnings and proceedings of the rebellion in the county

of Cavan. This fully annotated edition of the pamphlet comes with

an extensive introduction which details County Cavan in the early

seventeenth century, Jones’ background and his account of the

rising there while also rescuing from obscurity an important

companion piece to the 1641 depositions which affords the reader

a unique insight into this chaotic period of Irish history.