Randal William MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim


Randal William MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim was an Irish peer.

Biography

He was born on 4 November 1749, the only son and heir of Alexander MacDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim by his second wife Anne, daughter of Charles Patrick Plunkett. As Viscount Dunluce he sat in the Irish House of Commons for County Antrim from 1768 to 1775, and served as High Sheriff of Antrim in 1771. At this time Sir John Blaquiere wrote of him as "an idle, unsteady young man, not to be depended upon". He succeeded his father as sixth Earl of Antrim on 13 October 1775 and took his seat in the Irish House of Lords on 13 March 1776. On 5 May 1779 he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath. On 5 February 1783, on the institution of the order, he was nominated a Knight of the Order of St Patrick, but was never installed as he was unwilling to resign the Order of the Bath. He "relinquished the stall intended for him" as a Knight of St Patrick on 8 March 1783. Having no male issue, he was on 19 June 1785 created Viscount Dunluce and Earl of Antrim in the Peerage of Ireland, with a special remainder of those dignities, failing heirs male of his body, to his daughters in order of seniority, and the heirs male of their bodies respectively. He was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1786, and on 18 August 1789 he was created Marquess of Antrim in the Peerage of Ireland, but without a special remainder.
Antrim married on 3 July 1774 Letitia, widow of the Hon. Arthur Trevor and first daughter of Harvey Morres, 1st Viscount Mountmorres by his first wife Letitia, daughter of Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough. He died on 29 July 1791 at Antrim House, Merrion Square, Dublin, and was buried at Bonamargy. On his death the Marquessate of Antrim and such peerage honours as he had inherited became extinct, but the creations of 1785 devolved as below. His will, dated 14 August 1790, was proved at Dublin on 15 August 1791. His widow died of cancer in Grosvenor Square on 7 December 1801, and was buried at St James's Church, Westminster on 14 December. Her will was proved on 21 January 1802.

Successors