Hugh Seymour McDonnell, 4th Earl of Antrim ( Kerr; 7 August 1812 – 19 July 1855) ''styled'' Viscount Dunluce from 1834 to 1845, was an Anglo-Irish peer of Irish and Scottish descent.

Early life

Born Hugh Seymour Kerr on 7 August 1812 at

Portman Square Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal gardens. It mar ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he was the sixth, but eldest surviving, son of Vice-Admiral Lord Mark Robert Kerr and

Charlotte Kerr, 3rd Countess of Antrim Randal William MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim Order of the Bath, KB Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (4 November 1749 – 29 July 1791) was an Irish peer. Early life He was born on 4 November 1749, the only son and heir of Alexander MacD ...

. Among his many siblings were Lady Georgina Anne Emily Kerr (who married the Rev. Hon. Frederic Bertie, son of the 4th Earl of Abingdon), Lady Caroline Mary Kerr (who married the Rev. Horace Robert Pechell, parents of Adm.

Mark Robert Pechell Admiral Mark Robert Pechell (6 July 1830 – 9 July 1902) was a British Royal Navy officer who took part in the Baltic Expedition during the Crimean War 1854-55. Biography Pechell was the second son of the Rev. Horace Robert Pechell (1792-188 ...

), Lady Charlotte Kerr (who married

Sir George Osborn, 6th Baronet Sir George Robert Osborn, 6th Baronet Justice of the Peace, JP Deputy Lieutenant, DL (29 October 1813 – 11 January 1892), of Chicksands Priory in Bedfordshire, was an English politician. Early life Osborn was born on 29 October 1813 in London ...

), Lady Emily Frances Kerr (who married Henry Richardson and Sir Steuart Macnaghten, son of Sir Francis Workman-Macnaghten, 1st Baronet), Lady Letitia Louise Kerr (who married Cortlandt MacGregor Skinner), Charles Fortescue Kerr, ''styled''

Viscount Dunluce A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is so ...

, Capt. Mark McDonnell (who married Jane Emma Hannah Macan, daughter of Maj. Turner Macan), and Lady Frederica Augusta Kerr (who married

Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon (30 April 1784 – 16 October 1854), styled Lord Norreys until 1799, was an English peer. Background Bertie was the third son of Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon, and Charlotte Warren, a daughter of Pe ...

). His father was the third son of

William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian General William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, (13 March 1737 – 4 January 1815), styled Lord Newbattle until 1767 and Earl of Ancram from 1767 to 1775, was a British soldier and peer. Early life He was the son of William Kerr, 4th Marq ...

, and Elizabeth Fortescue (a daughter of Chichester Fortescue of

Dromisken Dromiskin (historically ''Druminisklin'', from ) is a village and townland in County Louth, Ireland. It is situated 10 km south of Dundalk, about 1 km inland from the Irish coast. The village is in a civil parish of the same name. ...

). His maternal grandparents were Randal William MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim and Hon. Letitia ( Morres) Trevor (widow of the Hon. Arthur Trevor and eldest daughter of 1st Viscount Mountmorres). His maternal aunt was Anne Catherine MacDonnell, 2nd Countess of Antrim (who married

Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet (25 January 1771 – 1 August 1813) was a British politician. In early life his name was Henry Vane. He changed his name to Vane-Tempest when he inherited from his uncle John Tempest, Jr., in 1793. Early ...

, and Edmund Phelps), who succeeded her father's earldom while the marquisate became extinct upon his death in 1791. Through his aunt Anne, he was a first cousin of

Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (17 January 1800 – 20 January 1865) was an Anglo-Irish heiress and noblewoman. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet. She married Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, C ...

Career

Upon the death of his mother on 26 October 1835 at Holmwood at

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a Civil parishes in England, civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The r ...

Row, near Henley, he succeeded as the 4th

and the 4th

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

, both 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 ...

, as his elder brother, Charles Fortescue Kerr, Viscount Dunluce, had died in 1834. On 27 June 1836, his name was legally changed to Hugh Seymour McDonnell by Royal licence.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 178.

Personal life

On 3 May 1836 at

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Church of England, Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London ...

, he married Lady Laura Cecilia Parker (1809–1883), daughter of

Thomas Parker, 5th Earl of Macclesfield Thomas Parker, 5th Earl of Macclesfield (9 June 1763 – 31 March 1850), was a British peer. Early life He was the younger son of Thomas Parker, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield and the former Mary Heathcote, who were first cousins. Among his siblings w ...

and, his second wife, Eliza Wolstenholme (the daughter of William Breton Wolstenholme). Together, they were the parents of:Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes.'' Crans, Switzerland:

Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd 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 geneal ...

, 1999, volume 1, page 91. * Lady Helen Laura McDonnell (1837–1922), who married Sir Malcolm Murray-MacGregor, 4th Baronet, son of

Sir John Murray-Macgregor, 3rd Baronet Sir John Atholl Bannatyne Murray-Macgregor of Macgregor, 3rd Baronet (20 January 1810 – 11 May 1851) was a Scottish baronet and colonial administrator, who served briefly as List of presidents of the British Virgin Islands, President of the Bri ...

and the former Mary Charlotte Hardy (youngest daughter of Rear-Admiral

Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Baronet, GCB (5 April 1769 – 20 September 1839) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1 ...

), in 1864. Lord Antrim died at

Glenarm Castle Glenarm Castle, Glenarm, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the ancestral home of the Earl of Antrim. History There has been a castle at Glenarm since the 13th century, where it resides at the heart of one of Northern Ireland's oldest estates ...

on 19 July 1855 and was buried at

Bonamargy Bonamargy () is a townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. As he died without male issue, the earldom passed to his younger brother, Mark McDonnell.Mrs E. M. Fullerton, "Ker, Marquess of Lothian" in ''

The Scots Peerage ''The Scots Peerage'' is a nine-volume book series of the Scottish nobility compiled and edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, published in Edinburgh from 1904 to 1914. The full title is ''The Scots Peerage: Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Rober ...

'', ed. Sir

James Balfour Paul Sir James Balfour Paul (16 November 1846 – 15 September 1931) was the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the officer responsible for heraldry in Scotland, from 1890 until the end of 1926. Life James Balfour Paul was educated at Royal High School, Edinbur ...

, vol. V (Edinburgh, 1908
pp. 482–3
His widow, the dowager Countess of Antrim, died at Beaufort Gardens,

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, London on 26 January 1883.

References

External links

Seymour McDonnell, Hugh, 1812 – 1855, 4th Earl of Antrim
at the Stirling County Archives
Lady Helen Laura MacGregor (née McDonnell)
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antrim, Hugh Seymour Kerr McDonnell, 4th Earl Of 1812 births 1855 deaths 04