Lucius William O'Brien, 15th Baron Inchiquin (21 June 1864 – 9 December 1929) was the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

-born holder of a

hereditary peerage The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsidi ...

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 ...

, as well as

Chief of the Name The Chief of the Name, or in older English usage Captain of his Nation, is the recognised head of a family or clan (''fine'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic). The term has sometimes been used as a title in Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland In Eliza ...

of O'Brien and Prince of Thomond in the Gaelic

Irish nobility The Irish nobility could be described as including persons who do, or historically did, fall into one or more of the following categories of nobility: * Gaelic nobility of Ireland descendants in the male line of at least one historical grade o ...

Early life

O'Brien was born in England the second of four children, and oldest son, to

Edward O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin Edward Donough O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin Order of St Patrick, KP (14 May 1839 – 9 April 1900) was the holder of a hereditary peerage in the Peerage of Ireland, as well as Chief of the Name of O'Brien dynasty, O'Brien and Prince of Thomond ...

and first wife Emily A'Court, at Belmore near

Bishop's Waltham Bishop's Waltham (or Bishops Waltham) is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It has a foot in the South Downs National Park and is located at the midpoint of a long-established route betwe ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

Career

O'Brien was commissioned into the

Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

in 1885, transferring in 1886 to the English Rifle Brigade regiment in which he served until 1893. He was later Honorary Colonel of the Clare

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

Reserve Volunteers. Politically 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 ...

, O'Brien unsuccessfully stood for the British

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. ...

by contesting the Eastern Division of County Clare in 1885. He was State Steward to 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 Kingdo ...

in 1895. He succeeded his father's peerage in 1900, serving hence as an Irish Representative Peer in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. In 1921 he was appointed to the

Senate of Southern Ireland The Senate of Southern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Southern Ireland, established ''de jure'' in 1921 under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Act stipulated that there be 64 senators, but only 39 were selected ...

which was abolished the next year by the formation of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

. He was Deputy Lieutenant and

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, of which county he was High Sheriff for 1898. He was also a Justice of the Peace for the county of Salop,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

Family

On 14 January 1896, Inchiquin married, at

Richard's Castle Richard's Castle is a village, castle and two civil parishes on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in England. The Herefordshire section of the parish had a population of 250 at the 2011 Census. The Shropshire section o ...

, Ethel Jane Foster, daughter of Johnston Jonas Foster, of Moor Park near

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

, Shropshire, which became his English residence. Together they had six children: * Donough Edward Foster O'Brien, 16th Baron Inchiquin (born 5 January 1897, died 19 October 1968) *

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French footballer * Priscilla Hon (born 1998), Australian tennis player Other uses * Hon (Baltimore), a cultural stereotype of ...

Katharine Beryl O'Brien (born 19 April 1898) * Phaedrig Lucius Ambrose O'Brien, 17th Baron Inchiquin (born 4 April 1900, died 1982) * Hon Fionn Myles Maryons O'Brien (born 28 October 1903, died 2 August 1977), father of Conor Myles John O'Brien, 18th Baron Inchiquin * Hon Griselda Etheldreda Clodagh O'Brien (born 19 October 1906) * Hon Finola Helga Laetitia Monica O'Brien (born 22 September 1910, died 1975) Lord Inchiquin died on 9 December 1929, aged sixty-five, and was succeeded by two of his sons as barons.

Ancestry

Arms

References

Book cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Inchiquin, Lucius Obrien, 15th Baron 1864 births 1929 deaths People educated at Eton College 19th-century Irish people

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

People from County Clare Irish representative peers Members of the Senate of Southern Ireland Deputy Lieutenants of County Clare High Sheriffs of Clare Barons Inchiquin Irish chiefs of the name