Henry Hovenden

Henry HovendenEfn|Alternate spellings of his surname are Ovington, Ovenden and Hovendon.

Family background The Hovenden family had roots in Kent, England. Henry's parents were Giles Hovenden, an English settler in Laois, and Elizabeth Cheevers, daughter of Sir Walter Cheevers. He had five siblings – John, Peter, Richard, Walter and Joanne, all born and raised in Ireland – of which Henry was the youngest son.

Early life Sometime after 1558, young brothers Hugh and Brian, grandsons of Irish Gaelic nobleman Conn O'Neill,Efn|Shane O'Neill maintained that Matthew was not Conn's biological son. Giles had a pre-existing business connection with Conn. This is the residence where Henry Hovenden grew up. Henry Hovenden and Hugh O'Neill were raised by Giles' second wife Joan Walshe. In late 1588, 23 ships of the Spanish Armada were lost on Ireland's coast. Lord Deputy William FitzWilliam ordered the execution of Spanish survivors. Tyrone's mercenary forces, commanded by his Hovenden foster-brothers, proceeded to Inishowen upon hearing of the presence of Spanish fugitives there. Tyrone's instructions to the Hovendens are unknown; ultimately the Hovenden brothers organised the largest single massacre of Spanish Armada survivors in Inishowen.

O'Neill trusted Hovenden to such a degree that, in January 1596, he paused negotiations with Elizabeth I's Commissioners purportedly due to Hovenden's absence. During this time Hovenden was busy meeting with a Spanish messenger.thumb San Pietro in Montorio, Hovenden's burial place.Around 1596, Henry Hovenden was ostensibly sent to assist military leader Hugh Roe O'Donnell in pacifying Connacht, however the state intercepted a letter which boasted that "all the delays that could possibly be used for prolonging the causes here have not been omitted".

Unlike Henry and Richard, their brother Walter remained loyal to the Crown. On 7 December 1597, Walter was killed in battle by the Irish forces of rebel leaders Owny MacRory O'More and Richard Tyrrell.

Hovenden was one of six confederate witnesses present at a riverside conference with English officers on 7 September 1599. This was a follow-up to the well-known riverside parley between Tyrone and Lord Deputy Essex earlier that day. It is highly likely that Hovenden drafted O'Neill's public proclamation of 5 November 1599, which included a list of 22 proposed terms for a peace agreement to Queen Elizabeth I.

In late 1600, Hovenden was victim to a surprise attack by loyalist Niall Garve O'Donnell once Niall defected to the English army.

Henry Hovenden resided in Dungannon. He took part in the Flight of the Earls in 1607, leaving Ireland for Continental Europe. His wife remained in Ireland, and was granted relief in the form of his goods.

Hovenden had a son, named Robert, who married Catherine O'Neill, daughter of Turlogh MacHenry O'Neill of the Fews. Catherine's first husband was Turlough MacHenry Óg O'Neill, a grandson of Hugh O'Neill, by whom she was mother of Felim O'Neill of Kinard.

Death It appears Hovenden never returned to Ireland. He died on 24 September 1610 and was buried in San Pietro in Montorio, where various Irish nobles (including O'Neill) are buried. No commemorative slab was inscribed for Hovenden.

In media Hovenden is a character in Brian Friel's play Making History.