Henri de Massue, 2nd Marquis de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, (9 April 16483 September 1720) was a French Huguenot soldier and diplomat who was influential in the English service in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession.
Biography
Massue was born in Paris. He was the son of the 1st Marquis de Ruvigny, a distinguished French diplomat, and a nephew of Rachel, the wife of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton. He was a soldier and served in the French army under Turenne, who thought very highly of him. Probably on account of his English connections he was selected in 1678 by Louis XIV to carry out the secret negotiations for a compact with Charles II, a difficult mission which he executed with great skill. He succeeded his father as deputy-general of the Huguenots, and refused Louis's offer, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to retain him in that office. In 1690, having gone into exile with many fellow Huguenots, he entered the service of William III of England as a major-general, thereby forfeiting his French estates.
In July 1691 he distinguished himself at the Battle of Aughrim, and in 1692 he was for a time commander-in-chief in Ireland. In November of that year he was created Viscount Galway and Baron Portarlington, and received a large grant of seized estates in Ireland.