ARTHUR CHICHESTER
(Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Chichester)
The Irish Earls of Ulster, after a failed rebellion against English rule, fled to the European continent. As Chichester realized, this created an opportunity for the King to name new Earls and grant them the lands and possessions of the Earls who had fled. And since the Irish people were loyal to their traditional Earls. He suggested that English and Scots colonists be recruited to settle the lands. The King agreed and referred to the project as the “Ulster Plantation”. This was the reason that Northern Ireland had a much larger Protestant population percentage than the rest of Ireland and wanted to remain part of England when Ireland obtained its independence.
Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Chichester, (known between 1596 and 1613 as Sir Arthur Chichester), of Carrickfergus in Ireland, was an English administrator and soldier who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1605 to 1616. He was instrumental in the founding and expansion of Belfast, now Northern Ireland's capital. Several streets are named in honour of himself and his nephew and heir Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, including Chichester Street and the adjoining Donegall Place, site of the Belfast City Hall.
