SARSFIELD, PATRICK ( ?-1693), titular earl of Lucan, Irish Jacobite and soldier, belonged to an Anglo-Norman family long settled in Ireland. He was born at Lucan, but the date is unknown. His father Patrick Sarsfield married Anne, daughter of Rory (Roger) O'Moore, who organized the Irish rebellion of 1641. Patrick, who was a younger son, entered Dongan's regiment of foot on Feb. 9, 1678. During the last years of Charles II. he served in the English regiments which were at tached to the army of Louis XIV. of France. The accession of King James II. led to his return home.
He took part in the suppression of the Western rebellion at the battle of Sedgemoor on July 6, 1685. In the following year he was promoted to a colonelcy. King James had adopted the dangerous policy of remodelling the Irish army so as to turn it from a Protestant to a Roman Catholic force, and Sarsfield, whose family adhered to the church of Rome, was selected to assist in this reorganization. When the king brought over a few Irish soldiers to coerce the English, Sarsfield came in command of them. As the king was deserted by his army there was no serious fighting, but Sarsfield had a brush with some of the Scottish soldiers in the service of the prince of Orange at Wincanton. When King James fled to France, Sarsfield accompanied him.
In 1689 he returned to Ireland with the king. During the earlier part of the war he did good service by securing Connaught, and was promoted to brigadier, and then major-general. After the battle of the Boyne (July 1, 169o), and during the siege of Limerick, Sarsfield came prominently forward. His capture of a convoy of military stores at one of the two places called Bally neety between Limerick and Tipperary, delayed the siege of the town till the winter rains forced the English to retire. This achievement made him the popular hero of the war with the Irish. When the cause of King James was ruined in Ireland, Sarsfield arranged the capitulation of Limerick and sailed to France on Dec. 22, 1691. He received a commission as lieutenant-general (marechal de camp) from King Louis XIV. and fought with distinction in Flanders till he was mortally wounded at the battle of Landen (Aug. 19, 1693). He died at Huy two or three days after the battle. In 1691 he had been created earl of Lucan by King James. He married Lady Honora de Burgh, by whom he had one son James, who died childless in 1718.
See J. Todhunter, Life of Patrick Sarsfield (1895).