Donough MacCarty, 4th Earl of Clancarty

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Donough [Donagh] MacCarty, 4th Earl of Clancarty (born 1668, Blarney; died 1 October 1734, Praalshof near Altona, Germany) was an Irish supporter of James II, banished after the victory of William of Orange; His peerage was attained in 1691. He lived out his life in exile in The Netherlands and Germany.

As the heir of his father's massive Irish estates at Cork and Kerry (inherited 1676, age 8) his upbringing was a matter of high policy. He married Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of 2nd Earl of Sunderland, in 1684, then principle secretary of state in England ^[1]. The marriage was a legal construct, and went unconsummated for years.

Imprisoned in the Tower for his part in the Jacobite resistance in Ireland, he escaped in 1694 to James II's court on the continent. He returned to England in the new year 1698, to finally begin his married life, only to be turned in by his brother in law, Lord Spencer. Months later, he was permitted to flee to exile in Altona, near Hamburg, with his wife ^[2].

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[edit] Secondary sources

• Kenyon, J.P. Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland 1641-1702 London: Longmans, Green and co. 1958.