The Royal Irish Yacht Club is a

yacht club A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

located in

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

Harbour, County

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Dun Laoghaire–Rathdown.svg , area_total_km2 = 125.8 , area_footnotes = , seat_type = County town , seat = Dún Laoghaire , blank_name_sec1 = Vehicle indexmark ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

. The club was founded in 1831, with the

Marquess of Anglesey Marquess of Anglesey ( cy, Ardalydd Môn) is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo, second in command to the Duke of Wellington. The Marques ...

, who commanded the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Sevent ...

being its first

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

John Skipton Mulvany John Skipton Mulvany (1813 – 10 May 1870) was a notable Irish architect. He was the fourth son of Thomas James Mulvany, one of the founder members, with his own brother John George, of the Royal Hibernian Academy.Langtry, Joe and Nikk ...

designed the clubhouse, which still retains a number of original architectural features since being opened in 1851.

History

The Royal Irish Yacht Club was founded in 1831 in Kingstown (later renamed Dún Laoghaire), Ireland. In that same year, the club was granted an ensign by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

of a

white ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross ...

with the Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Ireland beneath the Union Jack in canton. In the club's constitution, it was unique amongst yacht clubs in that it required yacht owners to provide the club's commodore with information about the coast and any deep sea fisheries they encountered on all of their voyages. In 1846, the club was granted permission to use the Royal prefix by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. The club built a new clubhouse in 1851. Despite the Republic of Ireland breaking away from the United Kingdom, the Royal Irish Yacht Club elected to retain its Royal title. In 1848, a yachting trophy called "Her Majesty's Plate" was established by Queen Victoria to be contested at Kingstown where the Royal Irish Yacht Club is based. The

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

at the time,

George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, (12 January 180027 June 1870) was an English diplomat and statesman from the Villiers family. He served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs three times as part of a distinguishe ...

suggested it should be contested by the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the

Royal St. George Yacht Club The Royal St. George Yacht Club is a yacht club housed in a Victorian style clubhouse, located in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. Each season the Club hosts a number of National and International Sailing events. It is notably home to the Dublin Univers ...

in an annual regatta, a suggestion that was approved by both clubs with the Royal St. George hosting the first competitive regatta.

Ensign

The club's original British white ensign was granted by Royal Warrant in 1831. Though the Royal Irish Yacht Club later changed the ensign to remove the St George's Cross and replace the Union Jack with the flag of the Republic of Ireland in canton, the original ensign may still be used by British members of the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Notable former members

* First Duke of Wellington (elected 1833) *

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

(elected 1846) *

Admiral Sir Charles Napier Admiral Sir Charles John Napier KCB GOTE RN (6 March 1786Priscilla Napier (1995), who is not elsewhere free from error, gives the birth year as 1787 (p. 1, and book title), but provides no evidence. All other authorities agree on 1786. – 6 N ...

(elected 1848) * Sir Thomas Lipton (elected 1906) * Conor O'Brien (elected 1923)

References

External links

Royal Irish Yacht Club
{{coord, 53, 17, 40, N, 06, 07, 57, W, display=title Royal yacht clubs Dún Laoghaire Yacht clubs in Ireland Organisations based in the Republic of Ireland with royal patronage Water sports in County Dublin 1831 establishments in Ireland

History

Ensign

Notable former members

See also

References

External links