Capstock (Capstocke), Francis (d. 1596), deputy surveyor of Ireland and corrupt ally of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork, was appointed clerk of the pipe roll in the exchequer on 6 February 1589, and chief engrosser on 11 February. On 1 June 1592 he was made deputy surveyor to Sir Geoffrey Fenton (qv), and on 27 November 1593 he was appointed clerk of the queen's works and buildings in Ireland. It was in his post of deputy surveyor that he became involved in the land transactions of Richard Boyle. Boyle abused his position as deputy escheator to John Crofton (1540–1610; escheator general from 1576) during the crown's campaign for the resumption of land titles, and made his fortune by undervaluing lands that belonged to the crown, which he eventually leased himself. Capstock, who as deputy surveyor was responsible for checking such valuations, was befriended by Boyle, with whose undervalued assessments he subsequently agreed. For this complicity in Boyle's self-enrichment, he was paid in both land and money. On 1 February 1589 he was granted a lease of the tithes of Co. Kildare for twenty-one years. His alliance with Boyle continued until his death, which occurred before 17 August 1596.
Sources
CSPI; T. O. Ranger, ‘Richard Boyle and the making of an Irish fortune, 1588–1614’, IHS, x (1956–7), 257–97; J. L. J. Hughes (ed.), The patentee officers in Ireland, 1173–1826 (1960)