Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery KB, PC (c. 1600 – 1686), styled The Honourable from 1621 until 1628 and then Lord Vaughan until 1634, was a Welsh soldier, peer and politician.
Born the son of a Welsh noble with an Irish peerage, Vaughan initially entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Carmarthenshire in 1624. He held the seat until 1629, when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament until 1640. Knighted in 1626, he appears to have little interest in politics, and after inheriting the estates and titles of his father in 1634, retired to the life of a country gentleman in South Wales. The outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 disturbed his peace, and after being courted by both King and Parliament, he declared as a Royalist. He raised troops for the king, and took control of the Southern Welsh counties on behalf of the Crown, for which he was rewarded with titles and responsibilities.
Carbery's successes were short-lived however. Never a natural soldier, within a year he was fighting Parliamentarian risings in his counties, and shortly after resigned his command. He saw out the wars in retirement, narrowly escaping a heavy fine from Parliament, and refusing to become involved in any further escapades. Restored to favour after the Restoration in 1660, Carbery received a number of important local positions. He became a literary patron later in his career, hosting the Anglican theologian Jeremy Taylor at his seat, Golden Grove (Gelli Aur), and the poet Samuel Butler, during his time as constable of Ludlow Castle. A scandal involving his treatment of servants forced him to relinquish many of his administrative posts, and he spent his last years in quiet retirement.
Background
Richard Vaughan was the elder of the two sons of John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery, and his first wife Margaret Meyrick, daughter of Sir Gelli Meyrick. In his youth he travelled abroad and went to Madrid in 1622, possibly with his father and the Prince of Wales on the occasion of the ill-fated Spanish Match.
Early career
Vaughan entered the English House of Commons in 1624, sitting for Carmarthenshire, the constituency his father had previously represented, until 1629. On the coronation of King Charles I of England in 1626, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath (KB). Vaughan was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Carmarthenshire in 1630, Custos Rotulorum of Pembrokeshire in 1643 and Custos Rotulorum of Cardiganshire a year later, which offices he held until the English Interregnum in 1646.
English Civil War
Vaughan succeeded his father as earl of Carbery in 1634 and joined the Irish House of Lords. Carbery was called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1637 and did not sit in either the Short or Long Parliaments summoned in 1640. He maintained a low profile in politics, and at the outset of the Civil War, his loyalties were sufficiently ambiguous for him to be courted as a supporter by both King and Parliament. Parliament appointed him lord lieutenant of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire in February 1642 and assigned to him the task of executing the militia ordinance in those counties. Carbery instead declared for the king, and he and his uncle, Henry Vaughan, raised a regiment and marched to the support of the king at Oxford in January 1643. As a reward for his loyalty, on 4 April Charles appointed Carbery lieutenant-general of Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire and sent him to secure the counties for the king. This presented little difficulty in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, as both were royalist leaning, but in Pembrokeshire the seaports of Tenby and Pembroke had active Parliamentarian sympathies. Carbery showed little appetite for a direct confrontation, and after securing an informal truce with the towns, settled down to await developments elsewhere.