an English soldier, politician and a key figure in effecting the Restoration of the Monarchy to King Charles II in 1660. During the operations on the Scottish border in the Bishops' Wars (1639–1640) he showed his skill and coolness in the dispositions by which he saved the English artillery at the Battle of Newburn (1640). At the outbreak of the Irish rebellion (1641) Monck was appointed as Colonel of Sidney's Regiment under the command of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde. All the qualities for which he was noted through life — his talent for making himself indispensable, his imperturbable temper and his impenetrable secrecy — were fully displayed in this post. The governorship of Dublin stood vacant, and Lord Leicester recommended Monck.
