and was farmer of the customs revenues. He also acquired substantial lands in County Fermanagh and County Sligo. When Strafford returned to England in 1639, he entrusted Radcliffe with the management of Ireland's finances and also Strafford's own tangled financial affairs. Radcliffe built Rathmines Castle near Dublin: it was destroyed during the wars of the following decade but rebuilt in the eighteenth century. In 1640, Radcliffe, like Strafford, was arrested and impeached, but the charges against him were not pressed. He was freed in 1642, and in 1643 he was with Charles I at Oxford. He remained loyal to Strafford's family, and used his extensive knowledge of his master's financial affairs to salvage something for his widow and children. Exile In 1647 he fled to France, and joined the Court in exile. His association with Strafford, now seen as a martyr for the Royalist cause, made him a figure of some importance, and he became a confidential adviser to the future James II. Unfortunately, he was drawn into James's quarrels with his mother Henrietta Maria and his brother Charles II, and for a time Charles declared him persona non grata. Through Ormonde's goodwill, Radcliffe was eventually restored to favour, but had little influence in his last years. He wrote to his wife that he was "as weary as a dog of his office", and that only loyalty to James deterred him from retirement. He also complained, like many exiled Royalists, of his dire poverty, "not having had a new suit of clothes in five years". He died at Flushing in May 1657. By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Trappes and Mary Atkinson, he had one son Thomas. Thomas regained the family estates in County Sligo at the Restoration of Charles II, but died without issue in Dublin in 1679. Anne died two years after her husband, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Radcliffe wrote An essay towards the life of my Lord Strafford, from which the material for the various lives of the statesman has been largely taken. His description of Strafford's much-loved second wife Arabella Holles has been described as "lyrical", and suggests that he had a romantic devotion to her memory. Character Veronica Wedgwood describes him as a pious man of simple tastes, not outstandingly intelligent, but courageous, thorough and a skilled lawyer. On the other hand, he could be irritable, intolerant, and indiscreet. References Thomas