1649; Anne (1629–1670), Charles (1631–1688), Thomas (1635–1679), William (1640–1690) and John (1647–1680). After the death of Sir John Lucas in 1671, Charles inherited the family estates and title of Baron Lucas. Career Lucas graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1615 and as with other members of the gentry who for various reasons had no prospect of inheriting the family estates, he followed a military career. Like many contemporaries from England and Scotland who later fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, such as Nicholas Slanning, Sir Thomas Fairfax and George Monck, he supported the Protestant Dutch Republic in the Eighty Years War with Spain. By 1627, he was captain of a troop of cavalry in the Dutch States Army and was knighted by King Charles I on 14 April 1628. From 1629 to 1640, Charles ruled without Parliament, and as the 1630s progressed, political and religious disputes with his opponents in all three kingdoms grew increasingly bitter. In 1638, the Covenanters took control of government in Scotland and both sides began preparations for military conflict. As part of a policy of securing the allegiance of professional soldiers like Lucas, in December 1638, the Chief governor of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, suggested giving him a position in the Irish Army. This was intended to prevent Presbyterian settlers in Ulster supporting their co-religionists in Scotland. As Royalists in a county dominated by supporters of Parliament, the Essex-based Lucas family was of greater significance than it might appear and at the same time his brother John joined the newly-established household of the eight year old Prince of Wales. Although Charles approved Strafford's recommendation, Lucas was still a member of the Dutch army and played no part in the first of the Bishops' Wars in 1639. In February 1640, he was appointed General of Horse in Ireland and during the second Bishops' War commanded a regiment in Yorkshire. Following the execution of Strafford in May 1641 and the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion in October, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, assumed command of Protestant forces in Ireland and appointed Lucas to the Irish Privy Council. Lucas took part in operations to recover territory lost to the rebels, including the Battle of Kilrush on 15 April 1642, before the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August ended the flow of reinforcements and money from England. He suffered a