Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany

He was the eldest son of John Plunkett, 3rd Baron of Dunsany, and his wife Catherine Hussey, daughter of John Hussey, 7th Baron Galtrim.[1] He succeeded his father as 4th Baron in 1500. His date of birth is uncertain but he was a grown man when he fought at the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504. He married Amy, daughter of Philip de Birmingham and Ellen Strangeways, and they had one surviving son, Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron of Dunsany.

In 1520 a major rebellion against the English King Henry VIII broke out in Ireland. It was led by the O'Connor and O'Carroll families, although Surrey, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, believed firmly that the moving spirit behind it was Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, who saw Surrey's rule as a threat to his own family's great power in Ireland (the Fitzgeralds were popularly known as "the uncrowned Kings of Ireland).

Dunsany, who was described as "a valiant man", and who had already seen military action at the Battle of Knockdoe, where ironically he had fought under the command of Kildare's father, raised troops to crush the rebellion : but in a skirmish with the O'Connors on 23 January 1521 his horse broke a leg and he was killed on the spot by his enemies.[2] He was buried at Dunsany, with an impressive memorial.