John Crichton, 4th Earl Erne


John Henry Crichton, 4th Earl Erne, , styled Viscount Crichton from 1842 to 1885, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative politician.

Early life

Erne was the eldest son of Selina Griselda, Countess Erne and John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne of Crom Castle. His younger siblings included Col. Hon. Charles Frederick Crichton, Lt.-Col. Hon. Sir Henry George Louis Crichton, the aide de camp to King Edward VII, and Lady Louisa Anne Catherine Crichton.
His paternal grandparents were Lt.-Col. Hon. John Crichton, Governor of Hurst Castle and the former Jane Weldon. His father had succeeded to the earldom upon the death of his grand-uncle, Abraham Creighton, 2nd Earl Erne. His maternal grandparents were the former Amelia Montgomery and the Rev. Charles Cobbe Beresford, Rector of Termonmaguirk. His aunt, Anna Beresford, was the wife of Lord John Thynne.

Career

He was appointed High Sheriff of Donegal for 1867. He was then elected to the House of Commons for Enniskillen in 1868, a seat he held until 1880, and then represented Fermanagh from 1880 to 1885. Between 1876 and 1880 he served as a Lord of the Treasury in the Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli. In October 1885 he succeeded his father as fourth Earl Erne and entered the House of Lords, and served as Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh from 1885 to 1914.
He was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1889; and was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, being sworn in by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl Cadogan, at Dublin Castle on 11 August 1902.

Personal life

On December 28, 1870, Lord Erne was married to Lady Florence Mary Cole, daughter of William Willoughby Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen and the former Jane Casamaijor. Together, they were the parents of:
On 31 October 1914, his eldest son Henry, a Major in the Royal Horse Guards, was killed in action, aged 42, during the Great War, and was is buried at Zantvoorde British Cemetery in Flanders. Only a month later, Lord Erne died on 2 December 1914, aged 75, and was succeeded in his titles by his seven year old grandson John, his eldest son having predeceased him.

Descendants

His grandson, and heir, John Crichton, 5th Earl Erne was also killed in action, with the 5th Earl's death occurring on 23 May 1940 during the Second World War. He was also a grandfather of Lady Mary Kathleen Crichton, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who married James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn in 1928.
Through his daughter, Lady Mabel, he was a grandfather of Gerald and Robert, the 4th and 5th Dukes of Westminster.