Randal Mark Kerr McDonnell, 7th Earl of Antrim DL (1878–1933) was an Irish landowner and peer, known as

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 ...

until 1918.

Early life

Antrim was born at

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...

, the son of

William McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

, whose main seat was

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 ...

, which he inherited, with his father's peerages, in 1918. His mother was Lady Louisa Grey, sister of

Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey, (28 November 185129 August 1917) was a British peer and politician who served as Governor General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, the ninth since Canadian Confederation. He was a radical Liberal aristocrat ...

and granddaughter of Prime Minister Lord Grey. Antrim's middle names commemorated his descent in the male line from Lord Mark Kerr, whose wife inherited the Earldom of Antrim. Their son, Hugh Seymour Kerr, succeeded to the Earldom in due course and assumed the surname of McDonnell in 1836. Through

William 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 Mar ...

, Antrim was also a descendant of Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, and thus in the

Jacobite succession The Jacobite succession is the line through which Jacobites believed that the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland should have descended, applying male preference primogeniture, since the deposition of James II and VII in 1688 and his deat ...

to the throne.

Career

Educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, he was commissioned into the

Royal Lancaster Regiment The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the First and the Second World Wars, from 1680 to 1959. In 1959, the ...

. He was later appointed as a

Deputy Lord Lieutenant Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

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 ...

. G. E. Cokayne, ed., ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant'', vol. I (Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), p. 178

Personal life

He married Margaret Isabel Talbot, a daughter of

John Gilbert Talbot John Gilbert Talbot (24 February 1835 – 1 February 1910), was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. Background Talbot was the son of the Honourable John Chetwynd-Talbot, the fourth son of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, ...

,''

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. 1 (1999), p. 91 and they had four children: # Lady Rose Gwendolen Louisa McDonnell (1909–1993) # Randal John Somerled McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim (1911–1977) # Lady Jean Meriel McDonnell (1914–1998) # Hon. James Angus Grey McDonnell (1917–2005) Lord Antrim died in 1933 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Randal.

Notes

External links

Randal Mark Kerr McDonnell, 12th Earl of Antrim (1878-1932), Landowner

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, Randal Mark Kerr McDonnell, 7th Earl of 1878 births 1932 deaths Earls of Antrim Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst King's Own Royal Regiment officers People educated at Eton College Military personnel from the City of Westminster 19th-century British Army personnel