Richard Ingle

Richard Ingle (1609–1653) was an English seaman, tobacco trader, privateer, and pirate in colonial Maryland. Along with another Protestant rebel, Captain William Claiborne, Ingle waged war against Lord Baltimore and Maryland Catholics in the name of English Parliament after his ship was seized and confiscated, siding with the Maryland Puritans in a period known as the "Plundering Time" during which unrest and lawlessness were widespread in the colony. Ingle and his men attacked ships and captured the colonial capital of the proprietary government in St. Mary's City, removing the Catholic Governor Lord Baltimore from power, in 1645. Most of Ingle's life and background are unknown.

Early life
Richard Ingle was born in England, possibly in London, into a Protestant family that schooled him. He became a trader and ship captain, transporting the goods of Maryland colonial traders from England and back, and later became a prominent trader of tobacco.

War with Lord Baltimore and Catholics in Maryland Colony
When the English Civil War broke out in the early 1640s, Ingle sided with the Puritans. He fell out with the Catholic leaders of the province of Maryland, and when the Royalist proprietary governor Leonard Calvert seized his ship, he escaped.

Ingle returned in February 1645 with the ship Reformation and attacked the Maryland colony in the name of English Parliament. He attacked the settlement of St. Mary's City, the colonial capital, and imprisoned leaders of the colony. Governor Calvert fled to Virginia.

Plundering Time
Captain Richard Ingle took control of the Maryland colonial government and along with fellow Protestant Captain William Claiborne, an Anglican church adherent, ushered in a period of unrest and lawlessness from 1644 to 1646 known as the "Plundering Time" and "Claiborne and Ingle's rebellion". Under Ingle's leadership, his men looted property of wealthy Roman Catholic settlers. Ingle claimed that he had a letter of marque to cruise the waters of Shesapeake (Chesapeake Bay) by permission of a new government in England. Local settlers regarded him as a pirate. He put two Jesuit priests, Andrew White and Thomas Copley, in chains and transported them back to England.

Governor Calvert returned in August 1646 and re-established his control of the colony.

Death
Though most of his men were granted amnesty, Richard Ingle, according to some sources, was specifically exempted from being released, made an example of, and executed as a pirate in 1653.