He was the fourteenth child of Richard Boyle , 1st Earl of Cork , who had arrived in Ireland in 1588 . Boyle was born in Lismore Castle , in County Waterford , Ireland , the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard Boyle , 1st Earl of Cork . Richard Boyle had arrived in Ireland in 1588 , obtained an appointment as a deputy escheator , and had amassed enormous landholdings by the time Robert was born .