Richard Purcell of Loughmoe

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Richard Purcell of Loughmoe (died 15 September 1624) was the fourth-to-last Baron of Loughmoe. He became baron in the early 1600s after his older brother Ralph died. He expanded Loughmoe Castle and served on a jury in Clonmel.

In 1846, a chronicler described Purcell as an Anglo-Irish figure who opposed Queen Elizabeth I, in reference to his suspected involvement in Essex’s Rebellion around 1599.

Around 1606 his rights to the Loughmoe estate were challenged by his sister-in-law, Margaret. During the dispute, Margaret’s brother Adam Tobin, the Sheriff of Tipperary, seized Richard’s goods and cattle as security. It is said that Richard confronted Tobin and Tobin was murdered. Purcell was arrested and held in Dublin Castle. In November 1606 he wrote to the Lord Deputy claiming his innocence. A jury in Tipperary later acquitted him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter.

In February 1612, Purcell, John Tobin of Killogh and Pierce Butler of Knockgraffon were summoned to Clonmel for refusing to present several parishioners as recusants. They appeared before Chief Baron Methwolde and were fined £200 each.

Richard Purcell died in 1624, and the title passed to his son Theobold. A writer, Brien Purcell Horan, said Richard had at least two younger brothers and traced his descendants down to a great-grandson named Nicholas, but further details are unknown. Because the Loughmoe title was not a formal peerage, detailed genealogies were not always kept, and who inherited the lands and castle simply became the Baron, with relatives knowing their place in the family order.