Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/64

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
MacDonnell
58
MacDonnell

of Buckingham, died in November 1649, at Waterford, where she was buried, though a monument was erected to her in Westminster Abbey. He married, secondly, about 1653, Rose, daughter of Sir Henry O'Neill, of Shane's Castle, co. Antrim, the only sane member of a family of five. She survived him, dying on 27 April 1695, and was buried in St. Nicholas's Church, Carrickfergus. Antrim had no issue by either of his wives, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother,

Alexander MacDonnell, third Earl of Antrim, who died about 1696. On the death Of his father in 1636 he spent the three following years travelling on the continent. He returned to Ireland shortly before the outbreak of the rebellion, and sided more determinedly than did his brother with the Irish. In 1642 he obtained a regiment from the confederates, but during the war he seems to have played a pacific part, inclining rather to Ormonde than to the extreme catholic party. In 1651 he served under Ever Mac Mahon, the warlike bishop of Clogher, and was taken prisoner at Tecroghan by Sir Theophilus Jones [q. v.] He forfeited the estate he inherited from his father in the barony of Glenarm, co. Antrim, receiving 3,500 acres in Connaught as an innocent papist. From 1656 to 1665 he appears to have resided in England, where he had influential friends. He represented Wigan in Lancashire at intervals from 1660 to 1683, and was restored by the Act of Explanation to his estate in Glenarm. On the death of his brother in 1683 he succeeded to the earldom of Antrim. During the rebellion in 1689 he marched with his regiment to the relief of Londonderry, but the citizens, mistaking him for an enemy, shut the gates in his face, for which he suffered forfeiture as an adherent of James II. He recovered his estate by the Articles of Limerick, but before his outlawry was reversed (Thesis of the Earl of Antrim's Case, October 1696), he died at Thistlewater, near London, about 1696, and was buried at Holywell in Wales.

He married, first, Elizabeth Annesley, daughter of the Earl of Anglesey, who died childless in 1669; secondly, Helena, daughter of Sir John Bourk of Derrymaclachtney in co. Galway, by whom he had a son, Randal, fourth earl of Antrim, and a daughter married to Henry Wells, esq., of Bambridge in the county of Southampton. He also had an illegitimate son, Daniel MacDonnell, for whom he provided liberally in his will.

[Lodge's Peerage, ed. Archdall, vol. i.; Hill's MacDonnells of Antrim; Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormonde; Clarendon's Rebellion and State Papers; Macray's Cal. of Clarendon State Papers; Gilbert's History of the Irish Confederation and Aphorismical Discovery (Irish Archaeological Society); Reid's Hist, of the Presbyterian Church; Cox's Hibernia Anglicana; Strafford's Letters; Thurloe's State Papers; Whitelocke's Memorials; Hill's Montgomery MSS.; M'Skimin's Hist. of Carrickfergus; Ludlow's Memoirs; Gardiner's Hist. of England, and Great Civil War.]

R. D.

MACDONNELL, Sir RICHARD GRAVES (1814–1881), colonial governor, was eldest son of Richard MacDonnell, D.D., who was provost of Trinity College, Dublin, from 1852 till his death on 24 Jan. 1867. His mother was Jane, second daughter of Richard Graves, dean of Ardagh. Macdonnell was born in Dublin 3 Sept. 1814, and was educated at Trinity College, where he was a scholar 1833, and graduated B.A. 1836, M.A. 1836, LL.B. 1846, and LL.D. 1862. He was called to the Irish bar 1838, and to the English bar, at Lincoln's Inn, 25 Jan. 1841. On 20 July 1843 he was appointed chief justice of the Gambia, and on 1 Oct. 1847 governor of the British settlements on the Gambia. While holding that post he conducted several exploring expeditions, opening up the interior of Africa from the Gambia to the Senegal. He also organised and accompanied some military expeditions, with success, against native tribes who had long oppressed the traders of the river. In 1832 he became governor of St. Lucia, and on 10 Jan. 1863 administrator and captain-general of the island of St. Vincent. From 8 June 1866 to 4 March 1862 he was governor of South Australia, where he aided in opening up the Murray river and in developing the resources of the colony. He was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from 28 May 1864 till October 1866, and governor of Hong-kong from 19 Oct. 1866 till 1872, when he retired from the public service on a pension. He was gazetted C.B. 12 Feb. 1862, was knighted by the queen at Buckingham Palace 28 Jan. 1866, and was created K.C.M.G. 23 Feb. 1871. His wife, whom he married in 1847, was Blanche Ann, the third daughter of Francis Skurray of Brunswick Square, Brighton.

He died at Hyeres, France, 5 Feb. 1881, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery 14 Feb.

He contributed letters or papers to 'The Church of the Future,' an address by the Rev. Thomas Binney, 1869, and to 'Christian Union, as discussed by the Bishop of Adelaide, Sir R. C. MacDonnell, &c.,'1859, and he published a lecture on 'Australia,' Dublin,