Baron Dunsany
Encyclopedia
The title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest dignities in the Peerage of Ireland
, one of just a handful of 13th to 15th century titles still extant, having had 20 holders to date. The other surviving ancient baronies include Kerry, now held by the Marquess of Lansdowne
, Kingsale
and Trimlestown
.
, second son of Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen. The elder Christopher married Joan Cusack, heiress of Killeen and Dunsany and passed Killeen to his eldest son and Dunsany to the second.
The date at which Christopher Plunkett became a peer
, and an hereditary member of the Irish Parliament, is uncertain; according to Cokayne's Complete Peerage, there is no record of a Dunsany as a peer before 1489, and the creation may well have been as late as 1462, the year Sir Christopher died. On the other hand, Debrett's listed the date of creation of the peerage as 1439 (by writ; the Complete Peerage claims that peerages by writ did not exist in Ireland, despite evidence to the contrary), confirmed by Letters Patent in 1461.
The first Lord Dunsany's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, the eleventh Baron, was a follower of King James II
and was outlawed after the Glorious Revolution
. He was, however, restored to his estates after the Treaty of Limerick
, but neglected the necessary measures needed to have himself recognised as the holder of the peerage, and, as such, was not summoned to Parliament.
The twelfth Baron conformed to the Church of Ireland
to preserve the lands of both Dunsany and Killeen, but also did not take the necessary steps to confirm his right to the title and to the seat in the Irish House of Lords
it bestowed.
The thirteenth Baron, son of the twelfth, did go through the necessary procedures to have his title and claim to a seat in the former Irish upper house admitted, and thus sat in that body as a peer as of proven right. He was succeeded by his son, the fourteenth Baron, who served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath, and also sat in the British House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer
from 1836 to 1848.
The fifteenth Baron represented Drogheda
in the House of Commons
and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1850 to 1852. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the sixteenth Baron. The latter was an Admiral
in the Royal Navy
, and also served as an Irish Representative Peer between 1864 and 1889.
The seventeenth Baron, son of the sixteenth, sat as a Conservative
Member of Parliament
for Gloucestershire South and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1893 to 1899. His brother, Horace Plunkett was a key figure in the development of Irish agriculture and the Irish co-operative movement.
The seventeenth Baron was succeeded by his son, the eighteenth Baron. He was a well-known poet, playwright and author of short stories and novels, best known now for his short stories in the field of fantasy, the Jorkens stories, and his novel The King of Elfland's Daughter
. The descendants of his younger brother, Reginald Drax
, bear not only the Dunsany's surname Plunkett, but also other surnames inherited from their mother, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax, née Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton (1855–1916), giving them a rare quadruple-barrelled surname
of Plunkett-Ernle
-Erle-Drax.
, the title is held by the eighteenth Baron's great-grandson, Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany, who succeeded his father, the painter Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany, in 2011.
in Ireland.
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
, one of just a handful of 13th to 15th century titles still extant, having had 20 holders to date. The other surviving ancient baronies include Kerry, now held by the Marquess of Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. This branch of the family descends from the Hon...
, Kingsale
Baron Kingsale
The Barony of Kingsale is one of the most ancient peerage titles in Britain or Ireland. The Barony, in the Peerage of Ireland, dates to the thirteenth century, perhaps being created circa 1223, though other sources give different dates. The first creation was by writ. The title was officially...
and Trimlestown
Baron Trimlestown
Baron Trimlestown, of Trimlestown in the County of Meath, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1461 for Sir Robert Barnewall, the son of Nicholas Barnewall, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and the grandson of Sir Christopher Barnewall, Chief Justice of the King's Bench...
.
History
The first Baron of Dunsany was Sir Christopher PlunkettChristopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany
Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany was an Irish peer.Sir Christopher was the second son of Sir Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen; the elder Sir Christopher had married Joan Cusack, heiress of Dunsany Castle and Killeen, and appears to have given Killeen to their elder son, John,...
, second son of Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen. The elder Christopher married Joan Cusack, heiress of Killeen and Dunsany and passed Killeen to his eldest son and Dunsany to the second.
The date at which Christopher Plunkett became a peer
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, and an hereditary member of the Irish Parliament, is uncertain; according to Cokayne's Complete Peerage, there is no record of a Dunsany as a peer before 1489, and the creation may well have been as late as 1462, the year Sir Christopher died. On the other hand, Debrett's listed the date of creation of the peerage as 1439 (by writ; the Complete Peerage claims that peerages by writ did not exist in Ireland, despite evidence to the contrary), confirmed by Letters Patent in 1461.
The first Lord Dunsany's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, the eleventh Baron, was a follower of King James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
and was outlawed after the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
. He was, however, restored to his estates after the Treaty of Limerick
Treaty of Limerick
The Treaty of Limerick ended the Williamite war in Ireland between the Jacobites and the supporters of William of Orange. It concluded the Siege of Limerick. The treaty really consisted of two treaties which were signed on 3 October 1691. Reputedly they were signed on the Treaty Stone, an...
, but neglected the necessary measures needed to have himself recognised as the holder of the peerage, and, as such, was not summoned to Parliament.
The twelfth Baron conformed to the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
to preserve the lands of both Dunsany and Killeen, but also did not take the necessary steps to confirm his right to the title and to the seat in the Irish House of Lords
Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from mediaeval times until 1800. It was abolished along with the Irish House of Commons by the Act of Union.-Function:...
it bestowed.
The thirteenth Baron, son of the twelfth, did go through the necessary procedures to have his title and claim to a seat in the former Irish upper house admitted, and thus sat in that body as a peer as of proven right. He was succeeded by his son, the fourteenth Baron, who served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath, and also sat in the British House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer
Representative peer
In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords...
from 1836 to 1848.
The fifteenth Baron represented Drogheda
Drogheda (UK Parliament constituency)
Drogheda was a parliamentary borough constituency in Ireland, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1850 to 1852. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the sixteenth Baron. The latter was an Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and also served as an Irish Representative Peer between 1864 and 1889.
The seventeenth Baron, son of the sixteenth, sat as a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Gloucestershire South and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1893 to 1899. His brother, Horace Plunkett was a key figure in the development of Irish agriculture and the Irish co-operative movement.
The seventeenth Baron was succeeded by his son, the eighteenth Baron. He was a well-known poet, playwright and author of short stories and novels, best known now for his short stories in the field of fantasy, the Jorkens stories, and his novel The King of Elfland's Daughter
The King of Elfland's Daughter
The King of Elfland's Daughter is a 1924 fantasy novel written by Lord Dunsany. Written before the genre was named, it is considered to be among the pioneering works of modern fantasy. Its importance was recognized in its later revival in paperback by Ballantine Books as the second volume of the...
. The descendants of his younger brother, Reginald Drax
Reginald Drax
Admiral The Hon. Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL was a British admiral...
, bear not only the Dunsany's surname Plunkett, but also other surnames inherited from their mother, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax, née Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton (1855–1916), giving them a rare quadruple-barrelled surname
Double-barrelled name
In English speaking and some other Western countries, a double-barrelled name is a family name with two parts, which may or may not be joined with a hyphen and is also known as a hyphenated name. An example of a hyphenated double-barrelled surname is Bowes-Lyon; an example of an unhyphenated...
of Plunkett-Ernle
Ernle
Ernle was the surname of an English gentry or landed family descended from the lords of the manor of Earnley in Sussex who derived their surname from the name of the place where their estates lay.-Onomastic:...
-Erle-Drax.
, the title is held by the eighteenth Baron's great-grandson, Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany, who succeeded his father, the painter Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany, in 2011.
Seat
The ancestral seat of this branch of the Plunkett family is Dunsany Castle in County MeathCounty Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...
in Ireland.
Style
The title is listed in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage and Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage as Baron of Dunsany, but in The Complete Peerage as Baron Dunsany without the of. In either case, the holder of the title is called Lord Dunsany in all but the most formal contexts.Barons of Dunsany (1439)
- Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of DunsanyChristopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of DunsanyChristopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany was an Irish peer.Sir Christopher was the second son of Sir Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen; the elder Sir Christopher had married Joan Cusack, heiress of Dunsany Castle and Killeen, and appears to have given Killeen to their elder son, John,...
(1410–1463) - Richard Plunkett, 2nd Baron of Dunsany (d. c. 1480)
- John Plunkett, 3rd Baron of Dunsany (d. 1500)
- Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1521)
- Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1559)
- Christopher Plunkett, 6th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1564)
- Patrick Plunkett, 7th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1601)
- Christopher Plunkett, 8th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1603)
- Patrick Plunkett, 9th Baron of Dunsany (1595–1668)
- Christopher Plunkett, 10th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1690)
- Randall Plunkett, 11th Baron of Dunsany (d. 1735)
- Edward Plunkett, 12th Baron of Dunsany (1713–1781)
- Randall Plunkett, 13th Baron of Dunsany (1739–1821)
- Edward Wadding Plunkett, 14th Baron of Dunsany (1773–1848)
- Randall Edward Plunkett, 15th Baron of Dunsany (1804–1852)
- Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany (1808–1889)
- John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of DunsanyJohn William Plunkett, 17th Baron of DunsanyJohn William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany , whose seat was Dunsany Castle, County Meath, Ireland, was the second son of Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany , and Lady Anne Constance Dutton .John William Plunkett received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Trinity College, Dublin...
(1853–1899) - Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (1878–1957)
- Randal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of DunsanyRandal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of DunsanyRandal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish peer. He was the son of the famous author and playwright Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany and Lady Beatrice Child Villiers.-Family seat:...
(1906–1999) - Edward John Carlos Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (1939-2011)
- Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany (b. 1983)
External sources
- G. E. Cokayne: The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, by G.E.C. New edition, rev. and much enl., edited by the Hon. Vicary GibbsVicary Gibbs (MP)The Hon. Vicary Gibbs was a British barrister, merchant and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1892 to 1904.- Early life and family :Gibbs came from an old Devon family....
. London, 1910 et seqq., "Dunsany" Vol. IV, p. 552; Vol I, Appendix A. - Dunsany, 2000: Carty, Mary-Rose and Lynch, Malachy - "The Story of Dunsany Castle", ISBN (978)-0-95173821-4.
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors): Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.