Jump to content

Hugh McDonnell, 4th Earl of Antrim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Earl of Antrim
Born
Hugh Seymour Kerr

(1812-08-07)7 August 1812
Died19 July 1855(1855-07-19) (aged 42)
Spouse
Lady Laura Cecilia Parker
(m. 1836; died 1855)
ChildrenLady Helen Laura Murray-Macgregor
Parent(s)Lord Mark Robert Kerr
Charlotte Kerr, 3rd Countess of Antrim
RelativesWilliam John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian (grandfather)
Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim (grandfather)
Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (cousin)

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

[edit]
Glenarm Castle, the seat of the Earls of Antrim

Born Hugh Seymour Kerr on 7 August 1812 at Portman Square in London, he was the sixth, but eldest surviving, son of Vice-Admiral Lord Mark Robert Kerr and Charlotte Kerr, 3rd Countess of Antrim.[1] 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), Lady Charlotte Kerr (who married Sir George Osborn, 6th Baronet), 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, 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).[2]

His father was the third son of William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, and Elizabeth Fortescue (a daughter of Chichester Fortescue of Dromisken). His maternal grandparents were Randal William MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim and Hon. Letitia (née 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, 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.[2]

Career

[edit]

Upon the death of his mother on 26 October 1835 at Holmwood at Shiplake Row, near Henley, he succeeded as the 4th Viscount Dunluce and the 4th Earl of Antrim, both in the Peerage of Ireland, 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.[2]

Personal life

[edit]
Portrait of his wife, Laura McDonnell, Countess of Antrim, between c. 1835 and c. 1845

On 3 May 1836 at St George's, Hanover Square, he married Lady Laura Cecilia Parker (1809–1883), daughter of Thomas Parker, 5th Earl of Macclesfield and, his second wife, Eliza Wolstenholme (the daughter of William Breton Wolstenholme). Together, they were the parents of:[3]

Lord Antrim died at Glenarm Castle on 19 July 1855 and was buried at Bonamargy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. As he died without male issue, the earldom passed to his younger brother, Mark McDonnell.[6] His widow, the dowager Countess of Antrim, died at Beaufort Gardens, South Kensington, London on 26 January 1883.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Ab-Adam to Basing. St. Catherine Press, Limited. p. 178. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b c 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.
  3. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 91.
  4. ^ "Lady Helen Laura MacGregor (née McDonnell)". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  5. ^ "Sir Malcolm MacGregor, 4th Bt". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  6. ^ Mrs E. M. Fullerton, "Ker, Marquess of Lothian" in The Scots Peerage, ed. Sir James Balfour Paul, vol. V (Edinburgh, 1908) pp. 482–3.
[edit]
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Antrim
1835–1855
Succeeded by