Earl of Shannon is a title in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

. It was created in 1756 for the prominent Irish politician Henry Boyle, who served as Speaker of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

and as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer. The earldom is named after Shannon Park in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. The first Earl was made Viscount Boyle, of Bandon, and Baron Castle Martyr at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. Lord Shannon was the second son of Henry Boyle, second son of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, third surviving son of

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as 'the Great Earl of Cork', was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continu ...

. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He served as Master-General of the Ordnance for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and as Vice-Treasurer for Ireland. In 1786 he was created Baron Carleton, of Carleton in the County of York, in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself repla ...

. This title gave him and the later Earls an automatic seat in the British House of Lords. The third Earl, son of the second, notably served as Lord Lieutenant of County Cork. On his death the titles passed to his son, the fourth Earl, who briefly represented

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

. , the titles are held by the fourth Earl's great-great-great-grandson, the tenth Earl, who succeeded his father in 2013. The Honourable Sir Algernon Boyle, sixth son of the fifth Earl, was an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many 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. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The family seat was Castle Martyr (or Castlemartyr) in Castlemartyr,

, which was the ancient seat of the FitzGeralds.

Earls of Shannon (1756)

* Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon (1682–1764) * Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon (1728–1807) * Henry Boyle, 3rd Earl of Shannon (1771–1842) * Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Shannon (1809–1868) * Henry Bentinck Boyle, 5th Earl of Shannon (1833–1890) * Richard Henry Boyle, 6th Earl of Shannon (1860–1906) * Richard Bernard Boyle, 7th Earl of Shannon (1897–1917) * Robert Henry Boyle, 8th Earl of Shannon (1900–1963) * Richard Bentinck Boyle, 9th Earl of Shannon (1924–2013) *(Richard) Henry John Boyle, 10th Earl of Shannon (born 1960), known as Harry Boyle

Present peer

(Richard) Henry John Boyle, 10th Earl of Shannon (born 19 January 1960), also known as Harry Boyle, is the son of the 9th Earl and his wife Susan Margaret Rogers Hogg. Between 1963 and 2013 he was known formally as Viscount Boyle. In 2003, he was living at Edington House,

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. On 9 May 2013 he succeeded as Earl of Shannon, Viscount Boyle, Baron Castle Martyr, and Baron Carleton.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', vol. 3 (2003), p. 3579. As of 2023, Shannon is unmarried, and 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 a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

is his second cousin once removed, Robert Francis Boyle (born 1930), a grandson of a younger son of the 5th Earl.

Title succession chart

Line of succession

* ''Henry Boyle, 5th Earl of Shannon (1833–1890)'' ** ''Richard Boyle, 6th Earl of Shannon (1860–1906)'' *** ''Robert Boyle, 8th Earl of Shannon (1900–1963)'' **** ''Richard Boyle, 9th Earl of Shannon (1924–2013)'' ***** Richard Boyle, 10th Earl of Shannon (born 1960) **''Hon. Robert Francis Boyle (1863–1922)'' ***''Vivien Francis Boyle (1902–1962)'' ****(1) Robert Francis Boyle (born 1930) *****(2) David de Crespigny Boyle (born 1959) ******(3) Liam Francis Paton Boyle (born 2001) *****(4) Robert Andrew Boyle (born 1961) **''Hon. Edward Spencer Harry Boyle (1870–1937)'' ***''Patrick Spencer Boyle (1906–1978)'' ****''Michael Patrick Radcliffe Boyle (1934–2011)'' *****(5) Robert Algernon Radcliffe Boyle (born 1963) ******(6) George Patrick Radcliffe Boyle (born 1998) *****(7) Rupert Alexander Boyle (born 1968) ****''David Spencer Boyle (1942–2023)'' *****(8) James Patrick William Boyle (born 1983) Susan Morris et al., "Shannon, Earl of" in ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'', 150th edition, vol. 1 (Debrett's Ltd., 2019), pp. 4338–4341 .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon Earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...