From "A New History of Ireland", v IX, p 173:
Lord of Meath from 1172-1186.

From Irish Roots, 1994 #1, page 27, 'Surnames of County Galway':
The name Burke is one of the most numerous among Galway surnames. The Norman progenitor of the family was William FitzAdelm de Burgo who was sent to Ireland with Hugh deLacy and in 1179 received a grant from King Henry II of England of large tracts of Connacht.

From --- W E Wightman, *The Lacy Family in England and Normandy, 1066-1194*, Oxford (Clarendon Press) 1966, pp. 190-191:
"Much more is known of the actions of Hugh II than of any previous member of the family. He paid no scutage in 1164-5, so that he was probably present in person on the campaign of 1165 from Shrewsbury into North Wales. He was in Ireland with the king from October 1171, and remained there after the king returned in April 1172. He was back in England by 29 December 1172, when he distinguished himself at the first public festival of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The archbishop was carried away by the occasion and expressed himself rather too strongly, only to be rebuked firmly by Hugh II. In the summer of 1173 he was in Normandy helping to quell the rising, and with Hugh de Beauchamp held the castle of Verneuil while it was being besieged by Louis VII in July.
He spent some time during the year in Ireland, where he had acquired the old kingdom of Meath, so that from now onwards he spent a good deal of time on the west side of St. George's Channel. In the same year he had been given the city of Dublin and its castle, a grant followed five years later by his promotion to Viceroy. That post he held until 1184, although he had been deprived of Dublin castle for a short period in 1181-2 as a penalty for marrying the daughter of Rory O'Connor, the last king of Connaught. At Durrow in July 1186 he had his head cut off by an Irishman while he was showing him how to use a pick, according to the graphic description in the chronicle of St. Mary, Dublin -- a commentary on his restless nature, apparently intolerant of inefficiency to the end."

Hugh became the first Viceroy of Ireland, Governor of Ireland and the Lord Palatinate of Meath. Hugh was one of the conquerors of Ireland during the Norman Conquest of Ireland.
In 1172, the King of England, Henry II, commissioned him, to receive the resignation of the Irish High King, Rory O'Connor.
In March of that same year, King Henry granted to Hugh the service of 50 knights and placed him in charge of Dublin Castle.
Hugh angered King Henry II by his marriage to Rose O'Connor the daughter of the last of the native Kings of all Ireland.
But he won the hearts of the Irish people because of his liberal and just conduct, making it his first care to preserve the native Irish in the possession of their lands. Hugh was granted the whole of the ancient Meath Province (the De Lacy Kingdom of Meath), totalling 900,000 acres, which included what is know as Meath and West-Meath, plus portions of other surrounding counties. In total his estate included West-Meath, Castleknock, Carlow, Longford, Offaly, Kildare and Wicklow, and part of Dublin. Within this territory, he built many castles including: Castle of Scryne, Navan, Trim Castle, Killeen Castle, Durrow and Castle of Leighlin in Carlow. The suspicions are that Hugh had intentions of creating a separate Kingdom of Ireland independent of English jurisdiction. He died in 1186.

Granted 800,000 acres of land (the ancient kingdom of Meath including the barony of Castleknock) of which Hugh de Lacy was the feudal overlord, and granted it to his vassal, Hugh Tyrrell, and also made him Justiciar of Ireland to counterpoise the strength of Richard de Clare, According to Giraldus Cambrensis, he was a short, swarthy, dark-haired, burly and ill-tempered man, but a great public administrator, very attentive to his private affairs. He built Trim Castle, parceled out Meath among his Barons. He did not stay long in Ireland on his first visit, as he was in Canterbury in Dec 1172, and fighting in France the following year.
However, he returned in 1174, briefly, and was in France in 1175. In 1176 he was in Shrewsbury and in 1177 at Oxford. He married first, Roesia de Monmouth, and secondly, about 1180 Rose O'Connor, daughter of Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland and King of Connacht, without the King's permission, and at which, in 1181, the King removed him from the Justiciaryship of Ireland and recalled him to England, fearing this alliance with the daughter of the high king would make him a threat to the English crown in Ireland.
He was back in favor the next year, as he was reinstated as Justiciar in 1182. He built the castles of Killeen, Co Meath, & Delvin, co Westmeath. Killed at Durrow by an Irishman, Gilla gan inathair O Meyney, who Hugh was showing how to use an iron tool. When Hugh bent down to work the tool, O Meyney cut his head off with an axe. His head was buried with his first wife, Roesia de Monmouth in the monastery of St Thomas in Dublin, while his body was buried in Bective Abbey, Meath, but 10 years later was moved to the tomb of his wife.9