William Nugent

William Nugent (Irish: Uilliam Nuinseann) (1550–1625) was a Hiberno-Norman rebel in the 16th century Kingdom of Ireland, brother of Christopher, fourteenth baron of Delvin (Sixth Baron Delvin), and the younger son of Richard Nugent, thirteenth baron of Delvin, from whom he inherited the manor and castle of Ross in County Meath.

He first acquired notoriety in December 1573 by his forcible abduction and marriage of Jane (Janet) Marward, heiress and titular Baroness Skryne, and ward of his uncle, Nicholas Nugent. He was for a short time in May 1575 placed under restraint on suspicion of being implicated in the refusal of his brother, Lord Delvin, to sign the proclamation of rebellion against the Earl of Desmond.

On 10 April 1577 he and his wife had livery granted them of the lands of the late Baron Skryne, valued at 130 lbs. a year. He was suspected of sympathising with the rebellion of Viscount Baltinglass, but eluded capture by taking refuge with Toirdhealbhach Luinneach Ó Néill, who refused to surrender him.

He was excluded by name from the general pardon offered the adherents of Lord Baltinglass, and by the unwise severity of Lord Grey he was driven to take up arms on his own account. With the assistance of the Ó Conchúir and Kavanagh septs, he created considerable disturbance on the borders of the Pale. The rising, though violent, was short-lived. Nugent spent much of the winter without shelter. His friends were afraid to communicate with him.

Nugent's wife, out of 'the dutiful love of a wife to husband in that extremity,' managed to send him some shirts. She was found out and punished with a year's imprisonment. Finally, in January 1582, with the assistance of Turlough Luineach, he escaped to Scotland, and from there made his way through France to Rome. Shortly afterwards, his uncle Nicholas, who had already been removed from his office as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, was charged with inciting William to rebellion, found guilty of treason, and hanged.

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