![Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Edward_Plunkett%2C_18th_Baron_Dunsany.jpg)
The title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest dignities in the
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
, one of just a handful of 13th- to 15th-century titles still extant, having had 21 holders, of the Plunkett name, to date. Other surviving medieval baronies include
Kerry
Kerry or Kerri may refer to:
* Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Kerry, Queensland, Australia
* County Kerry, Ireland
** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...
now held by the
Marquess of Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. The first Marquess served as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Origins
This branch of the Fitzmaurice famil ...
,
Kingsale,
Trimlestown,
Baron Louth
Baron Louth is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It has been created twice.
History
The title was created firstly c. 1458 for Sir Thomas Bathe, later Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Although he had at least one son, John Bathe of Ardee, the ...
and
Dunboyne
Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants.
Location
Dunboyne is centred on the ...
.
History
The first Baron of Dunsany was Sir
Christopher Plunkett, second son of
Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen. The elder Christopher married Joan Cusack, heiress of Killeen and Dunsany, and passed Killeen to his eldest son and Dunsany to the second. The date at which Christopher Plunkett became a
peer, and a hereditary member of the
Irish Parliament, is uncertain; according to Cokayne's ''Complete Peerage'', there is no record of a Dunsany as a peer before 1489, and the creation may well have been as late as 1462, the year Sir Christopher died. On the other hand, Debrett's listed the date of creation of the peerage as 1439, confirmed by
Letters Patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
in 1461.
The third Baron was a founder member of the military order known as the
Brotherhood of Saint George
The Brotherhood of Saint George was a short-lived military guild, which was founded in Dublin in 1474 for the defence of the English-held territory of the Pale. For a short time it was the only standing army maintained by the English Crown in ...
and supported the claims of the
pretender
A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate.Curley Jr., Walter J. P. ''Monarchs-in-Waiting'' ...
Lambert Simnel
Lambert Simnel (c. 1477 – after 1534) was a pretender to the throne of England. In 1487, his claim to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, threatened the newly established reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). Simnel became the ...
to the
English Crown. The fourth Baron was a soldier of some repute who was killed trying to put down a rising in 1521. His son, the fifth Baron, was a soldier and statesman who was accused of complicity in the rebellion of
Silken Thomas
{{Infobox noble, type
, name = Thomas FitzGerald
, title = The Earl of Kildare
, image = Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.jpg
, caption =
, alt =
, CoA =
, ...
.
The eleventh Baron was a follower of
King James II
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
, who was outlawed after the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
. He was restored to his estates after the
Treaty of Limerick
}), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a Frenc ...
, but neglected the necessary measures needed to have himself recognised as the holder of the peerage, and, as such, was not summoned to further Parliaments. The twelfth Baron conformed to the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
to preserve the lands of both Dunsany and Killeen, but did not take the necessary steps to confirm his right to the title and to the seat in the
Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland.
It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...
it would bestow.
The thirteenth Baron, son of the twelfth, did go through the necessary procedures to have his title and claim to a seat in the former Irish upper house properly admitted, and thus sat in the House of Lords as a peer of proven right. He was succeeded by his son, the fourteenth Baron, who served as
Lord Lieutenant of County Meath
This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath, Ireland.
There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 Augu ...
, and also sat in the
British House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...
as an
Irish Representative Peer
This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...
from 1836 to 1848.
The fifteenth Baron represented
Drogheda
Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1850 to 1852. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the sixteenth Baron. The latter was an
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, and also served as an Irish Representative Peer between 1864 and 1889. The seventeenth Baron, son of the sixteenth, sat as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Gloucestershire South and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1893 to 1899. His brother,
Horace Plunkett
Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of Jo ...
was a key figure in the development of Irish agriculture and the Irish cooperative movement.
The seventeenth Baron was succeeded by his son, the
eighteenth Baron. He was a well-known poet, playwright and author of short stories and novels, best known now for his short stories in the field of fantasy, the
Jorkens
Joseph Jorkens (usually referred to simply as Jorkens) is the lead character in over 150 short stories written between 1925 and 1957 by the Irish author Lord Dunsany, noted for his fantasy short stories, fantastic plays, novels and other writin ...
stories, and his novel ''
The King of Elfland's Daughter
''The King of Elfland's Daughter'' is a 1924 fantasy novel by Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany. It is widely recognized as one of the most influential and acclaimed works in all of fantasy literature.; pp 1124 Although the novel faded into rela ...
''. The descendants of his younger brother,
Reginald Drax
Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL ( Plunkett; 28 August 1880 – 16 October 1967), commonly known as Reginald Plunkett or Reginald Drax, was an Anglo-Irish admiral. The younger son of the 17th Ba ...
, bear not only the Dunsany's surname Plunkett, but also other surnames inherited from their mother, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax, née Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton (1855–1916), giving them a rare
quadruple-barrelled surname of Plunkett-
Ernle
Ernle was the surname of an English gentry or landed family descended from the lords of the manor of Earnley in Sussex who derived their surname from the name of the place where their estates lay.
Origins
Onomastic
Onomasticians say that t ...
-Erle-Drax.
The nineteenth Baron was a career soldier, primarily in the
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
, while the twentieth, the painter and sculptor
Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany
Edward John Carlos Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (born Dublin, 10 September 1939 – died Navan, County Meath, 24 May 2011), with Irish, Brazilian and UK citizenship, was the grandson of the author Lord Dunsany, and a modern artist (painter ...
, was the first
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
holder of the title since the 12th Baron. , the title is held by the eighteenth Baron's great-grandson,
Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany
Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany (born 9 March 1983), is an Irish film director, producer and editor, as well as a landowner and holder of one of the oldest surviving Irish peerage titles, and one of the longest-inhabited houses in Ireland ...
, who in 2011, succeeded his father; as of 2022, he has one daughter.
Seat
The ancestral seat of this branch of the Plunkett family is
Dunsany Castle
Dunsany Castle ( ga, Caisleán Dhún Samhnaí), Dunsany, County Meath, Ireland is a modernised Anglo-Norman castle, started c. 1180 / 1181 by Hugh de Lacy, who also commissioned the original Killeen Castle, nearby, and the famous Trim Castle ...
in
County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Style
The title is listed in ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'' and ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' as Baron ''of'' Dunsany, but in ''The Complete Peerage'' as Baron Dunsany without the ''of''. In either case, the holder of the title is called ''Lord Dunsany'' in all but the most formal contexts.
Barons of Dunsany (1439)
*
Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany
Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany (c. 1410 – 1462) was an Anglo-Irish peer. He was the second son of Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen.
Family background and early life
The elder Christopher Plunkett ( Baron Killeen) of Rath ...
(1410–1463)
*
Richard Plunkett, 2nd Baron of Dunsany
Richard Plunkett, 2nd Baron of Dunsany (died c. 1482) was an Irish nobleman. He was one of at least five surviving sons of Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany, and his first wife Anne Fitzgerald, daughter of Richard FitzGerald. He succee ...
(died )
*
John Plunkett, 3rd Baron of Dunsany
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
(died 1500)
*
Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany
Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany (died 1521) was an Irish nobleman; he was killed in battle during the Irish Rebellion of 1520–1.
Family
He was the eldest son of John Plunkett, 3rd Baron of Dunsany, and his wife Catherine Hussey, daugh ...
(died 1521)
*
Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron of Dunsany
Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron Dunsany (died 1559) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the Tudor period.
Background
He was the only surviving son of Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany and his wife Amy (or Anny) de Bermingham, daughter of Philip de ...
(died 1559)
*
Christopher Plunkett, 6th Baron of Dunsany
Christopher Plunkett, 6th Baron of Dunsany (died 1564 or 1565) was an Irish nobleman.
Family
He was the second son of Robert Plunkett Baron of Dunsany, and his wife Eleanor (née Darcy), daughter of the Lord Treasurer of Ireland, Sir William D ...
(died 1564)
*
Patrick Plunkett, 7th Baron of Dunsany
Patrick Plunkett, 7th Baron of Dunsany (died 1601 or 1602) was an Irish nobleman.
Family
Patrick was the son of Christopher Plunkett, 6th Baron of Dunsany, and his wife Elizabeth (née Barnewall), daughter of Sir Christopher Barnewall of Cri ...
(died 1601)
*
Christopher Plunkett, 8th Baron of Dunsany
Christopher Plunkett, 8th Baron of Dunsany (died 1603) was an Irish nobleman.
Family
Plunkett was the son of Patrick, the 7th Baron of Dunsany, and Mary Barnewall, 11th youngest daughter of the knight Christopher Barnewall of Turvey. His date of ...
(died 1603)
*
Patrick Plunkett, 9th Baron of Dunsany Patrick may refer to:
*Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
*Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
* Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
(1595–1668)
*
Christopher Plunkett, 10th Baron of Dunsany
Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...
(died 1690)
*
Randall Plunkett, 11th Baron of Dunsany Randall may refer to the following:
Places
United States
*Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community
* Randall, Indiana, a former town
* Randall, Iowa, a city
* Randall, Kansas, a city
* Randall, Minne ...
(died 1735)
*
Edward Plunkett, 12th Baron of Dunsany
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
(1713–1781)
*
Randall Plunkett, 13th Baron of Dunsany Randall may refer to the following:
Places
United States
*Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community
* Randall, Indiana, a former town
* Randall, Iowa, a city
* Randall, Kansas, a city
* Randall, Minn ...
(1739–1821)
*
Edward Wadding Plunkett, 14th Baron of Dunsany (1773–1848)
*
Randall Edward Plunkett, 15th Baron of Dunsany (1804–1852)
*
Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany
The title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest dignities in the Peerage of Ireland, one of just a handful of 13th- to 15th-century titles still extant, having had 21 holders, of the Plunkett name, to date. Other ...
(1808–1889)
*
John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany
John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (31 August 1853 – 16 January 1899) was an Anglo-Irish Conservative politician and peer.
Early life and career
Plunkett was the second son of Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany (1808–1889), and ...
(1853–1899)
*
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (1878–1957)
*
Randal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of Dunsany
Randal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of Dunsany (25 August 1906 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish peer. An only child, he was the son of author and playwright Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany and Lady Beatrice Child Villiers, daughter ...
(1906–1999)
*
Edward John Carlos Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (1939–2011)
*
Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany
Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany (born 9 March 1983), is an Irish film director, producer and editor, as well as a landowner and holder of one of the oldest surviving Irish peerage titles, and one of the longest-inhabited houses in Ireland ...
(born 1983)
As the title descends in the male line only, as noted by the current holder, the
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question.
...
is the holder's brother, the Hon. Oliver Plunkett (born 1985).
See also
*
Earl of Fingall
Earl of Fingall and Baron Fingall were titles in the Peerage of Ireland. Baron Fingall was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The seat of the title-holders was, from its establishment until 1953, Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland ...
(and Baron of Killeen)
References
Further reading
*
G. E. Cokayne
George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standar ...
: ''The
complete peerage
''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revis ...
of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, by G.E.C.'' New edition, rev. and much enl., edited by the Hon.
Vicary Gibbs. London, 1910 et seqq., "Dunsany" Vol. IV, p. 552; Vol I, Appendix A.
*Dunsany, 2000: Carty, Mary-Rose and Lynch, Malachy – "The Story of Dunsany Castle", .
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors): ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunsany
1439 establishments in Ireland
Baronies in the Peerage of Ireland
Noble titles created in 1439