| Notes |
- http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ancestorsearch&id=I832
Only son.
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Settled in co Fermanagh, Ireland early in reign of James I.
Came from Cole family of Slade, Devon.
Raised a regiment against the rebels in 1643, which he commanded with success
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Also married Susannah, dau and heiress of John Croft of Lancashire. (No mention of any issue)
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Captain William Cole, a Londoner who had served with the crown forces in Ireland since 1600 and had been appointed captain of boats and barks at Ballyshannon in 1603, played an important role in the 17th century history of Enniskillen Castle. He was destined to become the key player in the development of the new town of Enniskillen and was knighted in Dublin in 1617.
Sir William Cole (1576-1653) was given a lease of the crown lands of Enniskillen Castle and two thirds of the adjoining island, and in 1612 was allocated 320 acres for the new town, including the remaining third of the island. In the following year Enniskillen received its charter and the right to return two members to parliaments. Cole became the town?s first provost.
Cole?s career began to improve in 1607 when his duties were extended to include responsibility for the long boats and barges on Lough Erne as well as those at Ballyshannon.
Two years later he succeeded Edmond Ellis as constable of Enniskillen Castle, and was given the job of extending the accommodation at the castle which at the time housed only ten warders. In 1608 Sir Josias Bodley had described the castle as ?broken?, so this too had to be repaired.
By 1611, according to a report by Sir George Carew, Cole had begun to build a ?fair house on the foundation of the old castle? and had completed the turreted building now known as the Watergate. For his work on the castle between 1609 and 1613 Cole was paid £400.
http://www.enniskillencastle.co.uk
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Having first served in the Low Countries, he came to Ireland to try his fortune in 1601, and served under Sir George Carew, Lord President of Munster.
In 1607 he was appointed Captain of the Longboats and Barges at Ballyshannon and Lough Erne. His future was, however, uncertain until the Flight of the Earls and, particularly, that of Cuchonnacht Maguire of Enniskillen.
In 1609, Cole was made Constable or Governor of Enniskillen. He was knighted in 1617.
He became one of the principal promoters and implementers of the Plantation in County Fermanagh, receiving extensive grants of land in and around Enniskillen in 1610-12 and acquiring more by purchase.
When Enniskillen was incorporated as a parliamentary borough in 1613 he became its first Provost. At this stage, Enniskillen was seen as very much the county town of Fermanagh, and its original corporation included other influential settlers (mostly English) like Cole.
But in the period 1611-23, Cole obtained leases or grants, on increasingly advantageous terms, of the two-thirds of the island of Enniskillen which went with the castle and the one-third which was intended as an endowment of the town.
The building of the town was largely a Cole initiative (there were only an estimated 180 inhabitants in 1630).
(http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2010/01/florence-court-estate.html)
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1577 - 1653 (76 years)
