Thomas Stukley is forty-six in 1566 when he is employed as a captain by the lord deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney, in a vain effort to induce Shane O'Neill to enter into negotiations with the government.

The Ulster lord seeks to use him as intermediary with Sidney and in the same year requests his presence in fighting the Scots, an arrangement favored by the lord deputy.

Sidney then seeks permission of the crown for Stukley to purchase the estates and office of Sir Nicholas Bagenal, marshal of Ireland, for three thousand pounds, but Elizabeth refuses to permit the transaction.

The lands lie mostly in the east of Ulster, a territory anciently in Hiberno-Norman possession, which has been much fought over by the Irish and Scots, and will be used by the English within a decade as a base for their efforts at colonization of the province.