ANTRIM, RANDAL MACDONNELL, 1st Earl of (d. 1636), called “Arranach,” having been brought up in the Scottish island of Arran by the Hamiltons, was the 4th son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell (q.v.), and of Mary, daughter of Conn O’Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone. He fought at first against the English government, participating in his brother James’s victory over Sir John Chichester at Carrickfergus in November 1597, and joining in O’Neill’s rebellion in 1600. But on the 16th of December he signed articles with Sir Arthur Chichester and was granted protection; in 1601 he became head of his house by his elder brother’s death, his pardon being confirmed to him; and in 1602 he submitted to Lord Mountjoy and was knighted. On the accession of James I. in 1603 he obtained a grant of the Route and the Glynns (Glens) districts, together with the island of Rathlin, and remained faithful to the government in spite of the unpopularity he thereby incurred among his kinsmen, who conspired to depose him. In 1607 he successfully defended himself against the charge of disloyalty on the occasion of the flight of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, and rendered services to the government by settling and civilizing his districts, being well received the following year by James in London. In 1618 he was created Viscount Dunluce, and subsequently he was appointed a privy councillor and lord-lieutenant of the county of Antrim. On the 12th of December 1620 he was created earl of Antrim. In 1621 he was charged with harbouring Roman Catholic priests, confessed his offence and was pardoned. He offered his assistance in 1625 during the prospect of a Spanish invasion, but was still regarded as a person that needed watching. His arbitrary conduct in Ireland in 1627 was suggested as a fit subject for examination by the Star Chamber, but his fidelity to the government was strictly maintained to the last. In 1631 he was busy repairing Protestant churches, and in 1634 he attended the Irish parliament. He made an important agreement in 1635 for the purchase from James Campbell, Lord Cantire, of the lordship of Cantire, or Kintyre, of which the MacDonnells had been dispossessed in 1600 by Argyll; but his possession was successfully opposed by Lord Lorne. He died on the 10th of December 1636. Antrim married Alice, daughter of Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, by whom, besides six daughters, he had Randal, 2nd earl and 1st marquess of Antrim (q.v.), and Alexander, 3rd earl. Three other sons, Maurice, Francis and James, were probably illegitimate. The earldom has continued in the family down to the present day, the 11th earl (b. 1851) succeeding in 1869.
See also An Historical Account of the MacDonnells of Antrim, by G. Hill (1873).
ANTRIM, RANDAL MACDONNELL, 1st Marquess of (1609–1683), son of the 1st earl of Antrim, was born in 1609 and educated as a Roman Catholic. He travelled abroad, and on his return in 1634 went to court, next year marrying Katherine Manners, widow of the 1st duke of Buckingham, and living on her fortune for some years in great splendour. In 1639, on the outbreak of the Scottish war, he initiated a scheme of raising a force in Ireland to attack Argyll in Scotland and recover Kintyre (or Cantire), a district formerly possessed by his family; but the plan, discouraged and ridiculed by Strafford, miscarried.[1] Soon afterwards he returned to Ireland, and sought in 1641 to create a diversion, together with Ormonde, for Charles I. against the parliament. He joined in his schemes Lord Slane and Sir Phelim O’Neill, later leaders of the rebellion, but on the outbreak of the rebellion in the autumn he dissociated himself from his allies and retired to his castle at Dunluce. His suspicious conduct, however, and his Roman Catholicism, caused him to be regarded as an enemy by the English party. In May 1642 he was captured at Dunluce Castle by the parliamentary general Robert Munro, and imprisoned at Carrickfergus. Escaping thence he joined the queen at York; and subsequently, having proceeded to Ireland to negotiate a cessation of hostilities, he was again captured with his papers in May 1643 and confined at Carrickfergus, thence once more escaping and making his way to Kilkenny, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic confederation. He returned to Oxford in December with a scheme for raising 10,000 Irish for service in England and 2000 to join Montrose in Scotland, which through the influence of the duchess of Buckingham secured the consent of the king. On the 26th of January 1644 Antrim was created a marquess. He returned to Kilkenny in February, took the oath of association, and was made a member of the council and lieutenant-general of the forces of the Catholic confederacy. The confederacy, however, giving him no support in his projects, he threw up his commission, and with Ormonde’s help despatched about 1600 men in June to Montrose’s assistance in Scotland, subsequently returning to Oxford and being sent by the king in 1645 with letters for the queen at St Germains. He proceeded thence to Flanders and fitted out two frigates with military stores, which he brought to the prince of Wales at Falmouth. He visited Cork and afterwards in July 1646 joined his troops in Scotland, with the hope of expelling Argyll from Kintyre; but he was obliged to retire by order of the king, and returning to Ireland threw himself into the intrigues between the various factions. In 1647 he was appointed with two others by the confederacy to negotiate a treaty with the prince of Wales in France, and though he anticipated his companions by starting a week before them, he failed to secure the coveted lord-lieutenancy, which was confirmed to Ormonde. He now ceased to support the Roman Catholics or the king’s cause; opposed the treaty between Ormonde and the confederates; supported the project of union between O’Neill and the parliament; and in 1649 entered into communications with Cromwell, for whom he performed various services, though there appears no authority to support Carte’s story that Antrim was the author of a forged agreement for the betrayal of the king’s army by Lord Inchiquin.[2] Subsequently he joined Ireton, and was present at the siege of Carlow. He returned to England in December 1650, and in lieu of his confiscated estate received a pension of £500 and later of £800, together with lands in Mayo. At the Restoration Antrim was excluded from the Act of Oblivion on account of his religion, and on presenting himself at court was imprisoned in the Tower, subsequently being called before the lords justices in Ireland. In 1663 he succeeded, in spite of Ormonde’s opposition, in securing a decree of innocence from the commissioners of claims. This raised an outcry from the adventurers who had been put in possession of his lands, and who procured a fresh trial; but Antrim appealed to the king, and through the influence of the queen mother obtained a pardon, his estates being restored to him by the Irish, Act of Explanation in 1665.[3] Antrim died on the 3rd of February 1683. He is described by Clarendon as of handsome appearance but “of excessive pride and vanity and of a marvellous weak and narrow understanding.” He married secondly Rose, daughter of Sir Henry O’Neill, but had no children, being succeeded in the earldom by his brother Alexander, 3rd earl of Antrim.
See Hibernia Anglicana, by R. Cox (1689–1690) esp. app. xlix. vol. ii. 206; History of the Irish Confederation, by J. T. Gilbert (1882–1891); Aphorismical Discovery (Irish Archaeological Society, 1879–1880); Thomason Tracts (Brit. Mus.), E 59 (18), 149 (12), 138 (7), 153 (19), 61 (23); Murder will out, or the King’s Letter justifying the Marquess of Antrim (1689); Hist. MSS. Comm. Series—MSS. of Marq. of Ormonde. (P. C. Y.)
ANTRIM, a county in the north-east corner of Ireland, in the province of Ulster. It is bounded N. and E. by the narrow seas separating Ireland from Scotland, the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea, S. by Belfast Lough and the Lagan river dividing it from the county Down, W. by Lough Neagh, dividing it from the counties Armagh and Tyrone, and by county Londonderry, the boundary with which is the river Bann.
The area is 751,965 acres or about 1175 sq. m. A large portion of the county is hilly, especially in the east, where the highest elevations are attained, though these are nowhere great. The range runs north and south, and, following this direction
